[time-nuts] 5061A questions

[Morris Odell]

Hi all,

I recently picked up another 5061A (my second now, I'm becoming a real
Time-Nut :-). The tube seems to be OK, it started up nicely and has been
working well for nearly a week. The Patek Phillipe clock ticks beautifully
in sync with the first one which has a good tube too but runs most of the
time from a Shera GPS controller built into the empty battery compartment.
The time difference between the two has settled down to only a few nS up &
down over the day. Unfortunately the counter I'm using, a 5345A, lacks the
GPIB option so I can't record it.

This one has two mods I'm not familiar with - No 03 and No H92. There's a
red LED labelled "System Alarm" on the front panel between the "Continuous
operation" lamp and the 5 MHz output jack. There's also a DB25 female
connector on the back marked "J30 Alarm". It lacks the little door on the
top cover to allow adjustment of the clock and time offset - very
frustrating.

There was a battery in it, disconnected and well past it's use-by date. The
20 NiCad cells have gone to the recycler.

My questions are:

What are those options?
Can the battery charger be used with cells other than Nicads? 

Nicad cells are getting hard to find but there are plenty of NiMh cells
around and also lead acid batteries. Is it worth setting up a battery? I
have taken out the charger card temporarily. My first 5061A came without the
card so I have no experience of this.

Cheers to all,

Morris