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DAB radios ought to be very reliable but experience shows this not always to be the case. The reasons are poorly understood in the Restart community, as faults in the digital circuits often cannot be pinned down accurately. Suggested causes are:

• Brittle solder joints or solder whiskers (lead-free solder used in modern equipment is more brittle than older lead/tin solder and prone to the growth of tin "whiskers" which can cause short circuits).
• Manufacturing defects in the integrated circuits.
• Inaccurate or unstable power supply voltage (most digital circuits require an accurately controlled power supply of 3.3 or 5V with a margin of only +/-5%).