[Radio Wrangler]

I'd suggest you've been lucky, Al. In the microwave section of the lab at HP there must have been over 30 Metcal setups failing at around one base per month. It was noticed that certain people had repeated failures and these were the folk who left them on.

In the firm where I now work there are 5 Metcal setups, and a couple of dead bases in the cupboard. Various generations of the base. The early ones seem the worst. In the same environment and the same people, Weller TCPs just kept on going for years.

If fixed and used sympathetically, they seem to survive OK.

I'm not guaranteeing that if you continue leaving it on, it will fail. Nor do I want yours to fail. I'm just trying to warn you that you are taking an avoidable risk.

Which reminds me that I have two dead bases on my round tuit pile.

All I've had is experience in a place where a statistically-significant population of these things have been in use and patterns have shown up with a good level of confidence.

Why is it just me alone saying these things? Maybe I've got a bee in my bonnet? Maybe there aren't many people hereabouts who've worked amidst lots of metcals?

I actually like the things.

David