[time-nuts] Oscillator comparison

[Mark Sims]

>From my experience with HP 5370 counters that have either the 10544 or 10811 oscillators,  the 10544's seem to have quite a bit LESS long term drift than the 10811's.   This is comparing units that have been stabilized for at least a couple of months of continuous operation.

One disadvantage of the 10544's is that you need an insulated diddle stick to tweak them.  

A big disadvantage of both units is their mechanical adjustment is rather crude.  Tweaking them in to the last few counts is essentially a random operation.  You make the minimum tweak possible,  check the results,  repeat until one just happens to be close enough.  There is no way to intentionally adjust them to the resolution that the instruments are capable of.

Like many old pots/caps,  the sweet spot of where you want the adjustment to be, is often unobtainable because the device has been sitting on that place for ages and has deformed that spot such that you can no longer adjust it to that exact value. 		 	   		  
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