[time-nuts] HP 5065A owners, a question!

[Charles Steinmetz]

John wrote:

> The 5065A is a Rubidium standard and unlike Cesium units it doesn't have a "wear out" mechanism.  With a little TLC they can run indefinitely.

We have heard a lot about vaporized Rb plating (condensing) out on the 
cooler spots of the envelope, and the need to refurbish tubes by heating 
the envelope to encourage the Rb to condense back to its original 
position to keep the physics package running.

All of the discussion I recall pertained to the small-cell telecom Rb 
units, but I may have missed posts about refurbishing 5065A Rb cells. 
Is the 5065A free from this mode of deterioration, and/or is there a 
similar fix for them?  (I could easily imagine that it takes a much 
longer time for a large Rb cell to show degradation from this cause.)

Best regards,

Charles