[time-nuts] Re: 5071B

[Bob Camp]

Hi

The 1008 series passive hydrogen masers are in the same rough price range as the 5071. 
Would you be be more impressed by your neighbor having one than the other? :)

I suspect one of the reasons prices don’t get published is that some (but certainly not all)  
folks do indeed make a cost based decision between the two. The “which is best” debate
goes back at least into the 1980’s. There are applications that either one just might do
fine in. 

The 5071 and 1008 do most certainly go into labs, however they are not the “best of the 
best of the best”. Folks at PTB and NIST go to other devices when they are after “the best”. 
These are production boxes that go a lot of obscure places to do this and that. 

Some form of “super machine” that combined the long term stability of the 5071 with the
short term stability of a maser (passive or maybe even active) *and* came in roughly 
the same in terms of  cost, size, proven performance (on production units), and tube life 
as the 5071, would be a game changer. 

That’s long list (without hard numbers for each of the points). It is the kind of list the next 
generation probably needs to target to fully displace the current generation of devices. 

Bob

> On Jun 13, 2023, at 11:05 PM, Lux, Jim via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:
> 
> On 6/13/23 5:54 PM, Chris Caudle via time-nuts wrote:
>> 
>> See above.  I see plenty of cars which cost well more than that around
>> here, but having a 5071 probably doesn't impress your neighbors as much.
>> 
> I'd be impressed if I were your neighbor.
> 
> But then...
> 
> When I got my first munificent "new technology report" award from JPL ($300 - they don't do it any more) I was in a quandary of what to get.  A work colleague said "get yourself a surplus GPSDO.. how many things do you have at home that are accurate to 1 part in 10^12?"
> 
> The die was cast.
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