[TenTec] Re; tantalums failing

[GRG]

I have several Harris RF-230 marine radios with plenty of the tantalum 
caps used as filters. They are 47uf @35v and the normal voltage is 
10vdc.they are from the early 1980's and the failure rate is very high 
and when they blow it sounds like a shotgun. I have learned my lession 
from scraping the carbon off the epoxy glass boards and replacing the 
tantalum caps with electrrolytics. So far I had had good luck with that 
and they are a lot less expensive tan the $2.00+ for each tantalum.
I have also found tantalum coupling caps both shorted and open. As far 
as I know, these radios were always in an air conditioned environment on 
drilling rigs in the gulf of Mexico and not on ships in a high salt air 
environment.
It may be unfair but when I see them in a radio now, I get ready for 
trouble. I know that they are touted as the basis for modern electronics 
such as cell phones, but
who keeps a cell phone for very long anyway.? I would expect a radio 
that I paid many thousands of $$$ for to last forever, hopefully anyway.
Thanks, George W5GRG, AFA6GG