[time-nuts] Rubidium Oscillators

Brian Kirby kirbybq at bellsouth.net
Tue Mar 11 03:12:46 UTC 2008


For maximum stability, the rubidium should be run continuous.

I lost a lamp in a FRK-L last summer.  The unit had been running for 9 
years continuous - and I was the second owner.  It was used at a LORAN 
site previous, I am sure they probably ran it continuous, for the same 
reasons.

The failure mode is the lamp glass (inside) gets covered  with  burnt  
substance,  and  loses transparency.  Since the unit is looking for less 
than a one percent drop in light, for resonance, it does not take much, 
to lose lock.

If you do not need high stability, you can run the unit intermittently 
as required.  After power up / lock most rubidiums are in parts 1x10-9, 
and usually in parts 1x10-10 in thirty minutes.  If you run 
continuously, you should see parts in Xx10-11 to Xx10-12.

Brian KD4FM



Roy Phillips wrote:
> good members
>
> What are your opinions on the usage of Rubidium Frequency Standards - in the sense -  should they be used for short periods of time (until they reach a stable state) as a check only,or is it permissible to run them continuously?
>
> In other words, is the lamp (which is the expensive replacement item), deteriorating on a linear scale, and how fast ? I trust that this isn't a stupid question, as it was put to me recently and I was unsure of the answer.
>
> I currently feed my Racal 9480 T&F Mainframe continuously with the 10 MHz signal from a  Ball Efratom Rubidium Standard, assuming that its superior to the OCXO built into the 9480. Or would it be more sensible cost wise, to adjust the OCXO against it on a regular basis?
>  
> Like many other such matters, probably the answer is obvious - but what do you say ?
>
> regards
>
> Roy
> _______________________________________________
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
> and follow the instructions there.
>
>   




More information about the Time-nuts_lists.febo.com mailing list