[time-nuts] Rubidium standard

[Ed Palmer]

I've been a Time Nut for a couple of years.  During that time I've 
repaired a couple of dead Efratom FRK Rubidium standards.  Both were 20+ 
years old.  One had a dead transistor and the crystal oscillator in the 
other had drifted so far that it couldn't lock.  Both problems were easy 
to fix.  Other than that type of general electronic failures the most 
likely failure seems to be the Rb lamp itself.  It gradually degrades 
and eventually the lock fails.  One of my FRK units is actually below 
spec for the lamp, but it is still locking okay.

Ed

Glenn Little WB4UIV wrote:
> I was told by a Technical Support Engineer from Symmetricom Global 
> Services that
> "The typical life span is ~10 years for these Rubidium Time Bases".
>
> This is in response to my request for information on a Ball/Efratom 
> PTB-100.
>
> Is this a typical life span of a rubidium standard?
>
> Do some standards last longer than others?
>
> What are the symptoms of a failing rubidium bulb?
>
> Thanks
> 73
> Glenn
> WB4UIV
>
>
>
>
>
>
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