The world has been taken over by the L.E.D. They are everywhere - in every type of electrical appliance and, of course, they have multiplied like rabbits in Ham Radio rigs. Supporters of these insidious devices will argue that they draw very little current and therefore play no part at all in conservation of resources. I would argue in return that multiplied by a zillion these little lights suck out the power of a large nuclear power station. All for what? In most cases just to indicate if your rig is on or off.
Now is your chance to do your bit for the environment, and this is where the d.e.d comes in. These devices are simply made by taking a normal l.e.d. and then snipping off the connecting leads close to the diode itself. (The other evening I made over four-thousand d.e.d.s in just over two hours!) When the d.e.d. has been manufactured it is placed into the rig in the normal position on the front panel but, and this is most important, make no attempt to connect the shortened or removed leads to any sort of power source.
This device is indistiguishable from a normal l.e.d. when the rig is switched off and will emit the standard amount of darkness as its power-hungry brother. However, when the rig is switched on, the d.e.d. still emits darkness. All you have to do is remember if you have switched the rig on.
Not much to ask to help save the universe, is it?