[time-nuts] HP 5370B vs SR620

Chuck Harris cfharris at erols.com
Tue May 19 20:52:00 UTC 2009


According to the 1986 catalog, the 5370B is capable of 6000 readings per sec
in the fast binary mode.

According to the 1983 catalog, the 5370A is capable of 6000 readings per sec
in the fast binary mode.

In 1992, they upped the spec to say: "up to 8000 readings per second" in the
fast binary mode.

I find it interesting that for the 5370A, they say 6000 readings per second, and
the 5370B they say "up to 8000 readings per second".

As to the socket issue, my 5370A has been dead reliable.  No problems at
anytime.

I think your socket issue is unique to your unit, or perhaps the series your
unit came from.

-Chuck Harris

Didier Juges wrote:
> The HP catalog lists the 5370A as capable of 6000 readings/sec in binary
> mode, the 5370B is listed as capable of 8000/sec, probably as a result of a
> slightly faster processor. Not a significant difference, but there may be
> other subtle improvements between the two. The catalog pages are laid out
> quite differently for the two instruments, making a comparison difficult.
> 
> I have two 5370A but no 5370B, so I cannot comment on practical differences,
> beyond the catalog specs.
> 
> I am not sure if the 5370B suffers from the "bad socket syndrome" like the
> two 5370A I have. I had to replace all the sockets with machined pin sockets
> because the instruments would regularly turn on stupid (display frozen)
> after a few days of inactivity. I am not sure if it was a tin-whisker
> problem or bad contacts, but by judging how hard it was to extract the chips
> from the sockets, it was not due to insufficient contact pressure...
> 
> This job was made very easy because I have access to excellent PWB rework
> tools. The cost of the sockets was nominal, I got them from Mouser I think.
> 
> Since the sockets I got are gold plated and I did not pre-tin them to remove
> the gold from the solder joint, I expect the instrument to develop problems
> due to lead-gold corrosion in some years. Hopefully, I will not care by
> then...
> 
> Didier KO4BB




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