[time-nuts] SR620 - any gotchas buying a used one?

[Bob Camp]

Hi

The one that I *always* forget:

It has a fan. Who knows where it’s been. Pop the top and clean out any dust packed into the inside of the beast. 

It’s very easy to get used to gear that’s been in clean environments and get blind sided by the one that lived on the planet  dust world.

Bob

> On Nov 22, 2014, at 8:19 AM, Magnus Danielson <magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org> wrote:
> 
> David,
> 
> Do download the manual. Consider getting the hardprint manual.
> 
> The minumum you can expect of a seller is that they power the unit on, and it should not show an error on start-up.
> 
> You can try to ask for them to do the performance check in the manual.
> If the frequency measure is somewhat "off" from 10 MHz when measuring against the internal time-base, that is nothing to worry about, as it only tells you that you need to do calibration of frequency offset (which is a time-offset in the hardware that needs manual calibration of compensation constant, which isn't hard to do).
> 
> I recommend you to do both the performance check and calibration as you receive it. I had one which was "suspect", but doing the performance check and calibration removed any doubt, it was in fact somewhat better than my first SR620.
> 
> Cheers,
> Magnus
> 
> On 11/22/2014 12:51 AM, Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd) wrote:
>> After regrettably selling my 5370B a few years ago, I decided to look for a
>> used SR620.
>> 
>> Are there any particular issues with these that could be tested by the
>> seller prior to shipping it? I have not downloaded the manual yet, but I
>> assume there's a basic test in there - probably similar to that in the
>> 5370B manual.
>> 
>> Were these available with a Rb oscillator?  I see a seller on eBay that he
>> has some Rb ones for $1500 extra, but I don't see it as an option on the
>> SRS web site.
>> 
>> Dr David Kirkby
>> Managing Director
>> Kirkby Microwave Ltd
>> Registered office: Stokes Hall Lodge, Burnham Rd, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3
>> 6DT, United Kingdom
>> Registered in England and Wales as company number 08914892
>> http://www.kirkbymicrowave.co.uk/
>> Tel 07910 441670 / +44 7910 441670 (0900-2100 GMT)
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