Austron Oscillator Products
Hello to the Group,
I picked up three or four Austron Inc (Austin Texas) Crystal
Oscillators, all appear to be Model 1170. 52.000000 MHz and 28 VDC
operation. The two power feed-through (capacitor type bulkhead)
connections are clean, bare and unsoldered, so I'm assuming these units
were never used.
The trusty Fluke Multi-meter indicated one of the two connections (XE1)
was near/same as chassis ground, so input power (+28Vdc to XE2) was
applied. Metered initial current was about 154 mA and the unloaded J1
output looks like a very clean sine of at least 6 to 8 Vp-p and nearly
spot on 52.00xxx initial start up.
There are two SMA jacks (J1 & J2), both seem to have the same output
wave form. Date of MFG is 10/81 and the part number is 302549-88
Little info on the current status of Austron seems to turn up in my
initial web searching. These type of search results often mean the
company is gone and/or swallowed up ("merged") by another company.
Would anyone here on the group have a basic history or Austron and
possibly some data on their crystal oscillator line. I did see other
oscillator models offered on Ebay as well as other products.
Based on the current draw, visual appearance, date of MFG and it being a
high precision oscillator, I'm assuming it's got an internal oven,
although it didn't start to get warm after the initial 20 min power on
time.
Thank you in advance for your replies, see some of you at Hamvention 2024.
cheers,
skipp
skipp025 at yahoo dot com
Skip,
An easy way to tell if there is an oven present is to let the unit cool
then power it up and watch the current draw. If it begins to decrease
markedly after a few minutes, it's ovenized.
-Mike-
WA6ZTY
On Mon, Feb 26, 2024 at 8:02 PM skipp isaham via time-nuts <
time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote:
Hello to the Group,
I picked up three or four Austron Inc (Austin Texas) Crystal
Oscillators, all appear to be Model 1170. 52.000000 MHz and 28 VDC
operation. The two power feed-through (capacitor type bulkhead)
connections are clean, bare and unsoldered, so I'm assuming these units
were never used.
The trusty Fluke Multi-meter indicated one of the two connections (XE1)
was near/same as chassis ground, so input power (+28Vdc to XE2) was
applied. Metered initial current was about 154 mA and the unloaded J1
output looks like a very clean sine of at least 6 to 8 Vp-p and nearly
spot on 52.00xxx initial start up.
There are two SMA jacks (J1 & J2), both seem to have the same output
wave form. Date of MFG is 10/81 and the part number is 302549-88
Little info on the current status of Austron seems to turn up in my
initial web searching. These type of search results often mean the
company is gone and/or swallowed up ("merged") by another company.
Would anyone here on the group have a basic history or Austron and
possibly some data on their crystal oscillator line. I did see other
oscillator models offered on Ebay as well as other products.
Based on the current draw, visual appearance, date of MFG and it being a
high precision oscillator, I'm assuming it's got an internal oven,
although it didn't start to get warm after the initial 20 min power on
time.
Thank you in advance for your replies, see some of you at Hamvention 2024.
cheers,
skipp
skipp025 at yahoo dot com
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com
Hi
Austron from that era could be an OCXO, it could easily be something else.
It likely was made custom for an OEM and their specific application. Like everybody else in the business, those custom specs did not get published “to the world”. The OEM didn’t want folks reverse engineering their gear. The oscillator manufacturer didn’t want to make it easy for a competitor to supply the part.
Best guess is that the main part number is something like 1170-0103A. That would be Austron’s internal number. The key is that “0103A” part. Each of those dashes would be a very different design. As I recall 1170 was a package size in their approach to numbering things. I could easily be wrong about that.
If it has another part number on the label like 302559-55, it’s a good bet that is the OEM’s part number. Sometimes you can work out who the OEM was from the way they do their own part numbers.
154 ma at 28V ( = 4.4W) is bit low for an oven of that era at start up. It’s not crazy low, but something >= 2X that would be more common. Terminated output levels up in the > 13 dbm range (on two independent outputs) likely would chew up a good chunk of that power.
In some applications, people used little plug on connectors to supply power to an OCXO. Just why always baffled me. Was it done in this case? Who knows … doing it that way was rare.
If it comes up on frequency and moves < 10 ppm in the first 10 minutes, it’s not an OCXO. If it moves > 40 ppm in < 10 minutes, it is an OCXO.
Bob
On Feb 26, 2024, at 10:32 PM, skipp isaham via time-nuts time-nuts@lists.febo.com wrote:
Hello to the Group,
I picked up three or four Austron Inc (Austin Texas) Crystal Oscillators, all appear to be Model 1170. 52.000000 MHz and 28 VDC operation. The two power feed-through (capacitor type bulkhead) connections are clean, bare and unsoldered, so I'm assuming these units were never used.
The trusty Fluke Multi-meter indicated one of the two connections (XE1) was near/same as chassis ground, so input power (+28Vdc to XE2) was applied. Metered initial current was about 154 mA and the unloaded J1 output looks like a very clean sine of at least 6 to 8 Vp-p and nearly spot on 52.00xxx initial start up.
There are two SMA jacks (J1 & J2), both seem to have the same output wave form. Date of MFG is 10/81 and the part number is 302549-88
Little info on the current status of Austron seems to turn up in my initial web searching. These type of search results often mean the company is gone and/or swallowed up ("merged") by another company.
Would anyone here on the group have a basic history or Austron and possibly some data on their crystal oscillator line. I did see other oscillator models offered on Ebay as well as other products.
Based on the current draw, visual appearance, date of MFG and it being a high precision oscillator, I'm assuming it's got an internal oven, although it didn't start to get warm after the initial 20 min power on time.
Thank you in advance for your replies, see some of you at Hamvention 2024.
cheers,
skipp
skipp025 at yahoo dot com
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com
Skipp,
Austron is long gone but many of us have boxes or racks full of their
instruments. They were an early entry into the time & frequency world.
You'll still see Austron mentioned on time-nuts, usually related to
Loran-C. And yes, Austron items often show up on eBay.
You can refine your google search with -- site:febo.com Austron -- and
that will find all time-nuts threads about Austron.
I'd like to be able to help you on the model 1170 but I have data sheets
only for 1100, 1105, 1115, 1118, 1120, 1150, 1151, and 1180. Perhaps you
could send a photo of the oscillator that you have, including the
connectors and pins.
/tvb
52MHz might have been made for GSM base stations. The GSM numerology works
out based on a 13MHz oscillator being needed in a handset to generate all
the clock frequencies required. In a base site a higher frequency could be
useful for the more complex signal processing needed. IIRC my GSM days
13MHz VCTCXOs were common for handsets - frequency would be locked to
incoming downlink through the "F bursts" so a relaxed spec could be used
(1ppm IIRC). With GSM precise locking between base stations wasn't so
critical, whereas with CDMA using soft handover and more recent standards it
becomes essential hence the use of GPS.
- John
Hi
If you dig around with Google, there are other similar parts at various “random” frequencies in the 50 to 55 MHz range. Best guess is that these went into something other than a GSM ( = fixed clock ) sort of system. The other minor gotcha in terms of GSM is that they shipped a bit before GSM was “invented” :) :).
Bob
On Feb 28, 2024, at 7:02 AM, john.haine--- via time-nuts time-nuts@lists.febo.com wrote:
52MHz might have been made for GSM base stations. The GSM numerology works
out based on a 13MHz oscillator being needed in a handset to generate all
the clock frequencies required. In a base site a higher frequency could be
useful for the more complex signal processing needed. IIRC my GSM days
13MHz VCTCXOs were common for handsets - frequency would be locked to
incoming downlink through the "F bursts" so a relaxed spec could be used
(1ppm IIRC). With GSM precise locking between base stations wasn't so
critical, whereas with CDMA using soft handover and more recent standards it
becomes essential hence the use of GPS.
- John
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com
GSM standards development started in 1982 though there was prior work in several labs. Basic phy layer parameters were probably fixed by 1985 as the development cycle was quite long drawn out (especially for handsets as the "long pole" went through the tester!). Networks were launched in 1991 so devices must have been in procurement several years before then. When were these devices made? I think they might have locked BTS clocks to the incoming PCM 2.048 Mbit/s links, not sure about the RF, though given the way all the numbers are interrelated they might have had to.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Camp via time-nuts time-nuts@lists.febo.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2024 2:09 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@lists.febo.com
Cc: Bob Camp kb8tq@n1k.org
Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Austron Oscillator Products
Hi
If you dig around with Google, there are other similar parts at various “random” frequencies in the 50 to 55 MHz range. Best guess is that these went into something other than a GSM ( = fixed clock ) sort of system. The other minor gotcha in terms of GSM is that they shipped a bit before GSM was “invented” :) :).
Bob
On Feb 28, 2024, at 7:02 AM, john.haine--- via time-nuts time-nuts@lists.febo.com wrote:
52MHz might have been made for GSM base stations. The GSM numerology
works out based on a 13MHz oscillator being needed in a handset to
generate all the clock frequencies required. In a base site a higher
frequency could be useful for the more complex signal processing
needed. IIRC my GSM days 13MHz VCTCXOs were common for handsets -
frequency would be locked to incoming downlink through the "F bursts"
so a relaxed spec could be used (1ppm IIRC). With GSM precise locking
between base stations wasn't so critical, whereas with CDMA using soft
handover and more recent standards it becomes essential hence the use of GPS.
- John
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com To unsubscribe send
an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com
Hi
If you dig around on the internet, you can find examples of this oscillator (or one of its close cousins) with date codes in the 1980 to 1981 range. Assuming they followed a normal order process, that would map back to an original “first piece” order date in the late 1970’s. It’s a pretty good bet ( = half a bottle of warm beer) that spec likely dates to before 1978.
Bob
On Feb 29, 2024, at 6:03 AM, john.haine--- via time-nuts time-nuts@lists.febo.com wrote:
GSM standards development started in 1982 though there was prior work in several labs. Basic phy layer parameters were probably fixed by 1985 as the development cycle was quite long drawn out (especially for handsets as the "long pole" went through the tester!). Networks were launched in 1991 so devices must have been in procurement several years before then. When were these devices made? I think they might have locked BTS clocks to the incoming PCM 2.048 Mbit/s links, not sure about the RF, though given the way all the numbers are interrelated they might have had to.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Camp via time-nuts time-nuts@lists.febo.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2024 2:09 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@lists.febo.com
Cc: Bob Camp kb8tq@n1k.org
Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Austron Oscillator Products
Hi
If you dig around with Google, there are other similar parts at various “random” frequencies in the 50 to 55 MHz range. Best guess is that these went into something other than a GSM ( = fixed clock ) sort of system. The other minor gotcha in terms of GSM is that they shipped a bit before GSM was “invented” :) :).
Bob
On Feb 28, 2024, at 7:02 AM, john.haine--- via time-nuts time-nuts@lists.febo.com wrote:
52MHz might have been made for GSM base stations. The GSM numerology
works out based on a 13MHz oscillator being needed in a handset to
generate all the clock frequencies required. In a base site a higher
frequency could be useful for the more complex signal processing
needed. IIRC my GSM days 13MHz VCTCXOs were common for handsets -
frequency would be locked to incoming downlink through the "F bursts"
so a relaxed spec could be used (1ppm IIRC). With GSM precise locking
between base stations wasn't so critical, whereas with CDMA using soft
handover and more recent standards it becomes essential hence the use of GPS.
- John
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com To unsubscribe send
an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com
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