[time-nuts] HP 5065A rubidium lifetime
Chuck Harris
cfharris at erols.com
Sat Mar 20 12:51:51 UTC 2010
The bulb on my HP5065A was silver gray in color when I had it out
of the oven. It still had plenty of output to make the system work.
-Chuck Harris
Bill Hawkins wrote:
> Corby,
>
> What I meant by "darkening" was that the photocell current and the
> second harmonic were at half of their minimum value given in the manual.
> I don't know what happens in the RVFR to cause that.
>
> Why would a clear bulb have a low output? Can you refer me to something
> to read? I haven't found the right words to get Google to reveal any
> useful links.
>
> Several years after I bought the 5065 in 2003, there was not enough
> second harmonic to maintain control, saturating the integrator. So I
> followed the cure for cell flooding given in the manual. After 10 days
> the second harmonic stopped improving at about 10 on the meter.
>
> Something appears to be microphonic in the photocell. A sharp tap to
> the case causes the second harmonic to peg the meter briefly. A Tracor
> 308 does something similar, but it doesn't have a meter for anything
> but error - the red Unlocked light comes on briefly.
>
> Perhaps my brain is darkening with age . . .
>
> Bill Hawkins
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