[time-nuts] Question for the cesium nuts.

[Rob Kimberley]

The only people I know making Cs now are Symmetricom (the old Datum/FTS +
recent Agilent acquisition), FEI (although they don't think they make many
now), and Temex in France. Heard rumours of some being made in Japan, but
not sure if and who. The Russians seem to concentrate on H2 Masers (Kvarz,
and Vremya).

Anyone know of others??

Rob K  

-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
Behalf Of Jack Hudler
Sent: 16 March 2007 18:26
To: 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Question for the cesium nuts.

Which begs the question of; who's cesium standard will we buy in surplus
market?

Besides you guys (Symmetricom), who is building Cesium standards that
haven't yet been absorbed by Symmetricom? (note this is not meant to be
derogatory).

Certainly most if not all the 5060, 5061, and 5062 are either dead or close
to it. Excluding those that have had their CBT's replaced or properly stored
and regularly pumped down, or just lucky.

The 5071's have yet to make an appearance on eBay at levels I would consider
paying.

>From my POV (which could be myopic), a few CBT manufacturers are controlling
what remains of this market (no I'm not a conspiracy nut, it's just
business), so it seems to me that the surplus market is going to get very
thin in the near future. 
Supply and demand dictates that surplus market prices will skyrocket out of
the vast majority of amateur reaches in the coming years.

So what's the next cesium standard to start showing up on eBay in numbers
with life left?

Jack

-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
Behalf Of rlutwak at comcast.net
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 12:56 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Question for the cesium nuts.

> What are we going to do when all the CBTs owned by amateurs start to 
> end
of 
> life? 
Buy another instrument off of Ebay.  It'll be cheaper, more accurate, and
last longer than the old one.  Plus, it'll have microprocessor control and
thus be cooler and more entertaining for the hackers.

> Anyone care to start a discussion on the merits of restoring a CBT to
life? 
It can't be done.  Trust me, I've done it.

-RL

--
----------------
Robert Lutwak, Senior Scientist
Symmetricom - Technology Realization Center
34 Tozer Rd. 
Beverly, MA 01915 

RLutwak at Symmetricom.com (Business)
Lutwak at Alum.MIT.edu (Personal) 

(978) 232-1461 (Desk)
(339) 927-7896 (Mobile)
(978) 927-4099 (FAX)

-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Jack Hudler" <jack at hudler.org> 

> It seems to me that like all good things they must come to and end. 
> 
> If all CBTs have a life expectancy that varies depending on the 
> manufacturer.
> 
> What are we going to do when all the CBTs owned by amateurs start to 
> end
of 
> life? 
> 
> I for one am certainly not going to buy one, not at those prices! 
> (Unless I'm retired then that's another story) You only have calculate 
> the time value of money for that CBT purchase over

> the remaining time to retirement; If that doesn't stop you dead in 
> your tracks then this group really is aptly named! :)
> 
> From my perspective, that of wanting to own a Cesium Standard; I don't 
> really want to layout the monies for something that's going to end of 
> life

> on me shortly (few years) afterwards. 
> 
> I know that handling (Caesium) Cesium-133 is tricky at best. It's a 
> heavy alkali metal and contact with moisture is right out!
> Other than that it's not terribly difficult to create a safe 
> environment
to 
> work with it. 
> 
> So there must be something else that's considerably more difficult 
> than opening the tube, recharging the ampoule, resealing it, pulling 
> an ultra high vacuum and baking it out.
> 
> I've not seen any pictures of a naked CBT, still I'm not too worried 
> about

> cracking the tube open if its Pyrex, unless resealing it caused the 
> cesium

> beam collimation to be lost. 
> 
> Are there if any getters to worry about? If so, how would one ablate 
> the contaminates of the surface?
> 
> Anyone care to start a discussion on the merits of restoring a CBT to
life? 
> 
> Jack
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> time-nuts mailing list
> time-nuts at febo.com
> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
_______________________________________________
time-nuts mailing list
time-nuts at febo.com
https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts


_______________________________________________
time-nuts mailing list
time-nuts at febo.com
https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts