[time-nuts] Repair of HP/Agiletn/Symmetricom 5071A Lab Standards

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

A bit of digging into the error messages probably is in order. The 5071A isn’t great
in this regard so you only can get some of the data. 

There are two basic possibilities: 

1) It’s some sort of random failure. Corby is your best bet here.

2) Far more likely, It’s the tube. Cs tubes only last just so long. If yours has the high
performance tube option, 5 to 7 years of operation is about all they are good for. 
The only known source for proper replacement tubes is Symmetricom / Microsemi 
/ Microchip in Beverly Mass. 

Last time I had to do a tube replacement, cost was right at $40K. That was many years
ago. My guess is you probably can add at least $10K to that number. That’s only a guess.

Properly shipping a Cs (as in shipping it back to get fixed) is complicated. If you do the
legit thing and label it as Cs / Hazmat there are a lot of hoops to jump through. The 
person doing the shipment needs to have the proper training and credentials. I know this
sounds strange, but that’s how it works.

Fun !!!

Bob

> On Feb 3, 2021, at 1:35 PM, Jeff Sanders via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:
> 
> 3 February, 2021
> I have a 5071A Cesium Lab Reference.  The unit is throwing an alarm that indicates a Cesium Tube fault.  Does anyone have a recommendation on getting this unit repaired/
> Jeff Sanders, W5QR
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