[time-nuts] Different or defective FE-5680A?

[Joseph Gray]

Months ago, I ordered two FE-5680A units from nichgeek for my personal
use. They work just fine. Recently, I ordered one for work from the
same source.

For the work unit, I ordered a small 15 VDC switcher and a 5 V DC-DC
module from Jameco. Today, I wired it all up, using the same pinout as
the previous units that I bought from nichegeek. Although the unit
gets warm, I get no 10 MHz output at all on pin 7.

I double checked my wiring and it is OK. I even went home and got one
of my units. Plugging my home unit in place of the work unit, mine
puts out a nice 10 MHz in short order.

Looking closer, I see that the two units are labeled differently. Mine
has a large white label that says "P/N 217400-30352-1".  On the
smaller label "FE-5680A  UN 78082" and "S/N 0434-84673". The work unit
is silkscreened with "PN: FE-5680A". The small label says "FE-5680A
UN37915 REVISION: B" and "S/N 0226-53954".

I know that there are several versions of FE-5680A, with different
pinouts. I'm wondering if this latest unit is different than the two I
purchased before.

I've emailed nichegeek and am awaiting a reply.

Joe Gray
W5JG