[time-nuts] Question about FTS 1050A

[Robert Darby]

I purchased an FTS 1050 recently and after a cursory inspection of the 
interior powered it up to see if it's functional.

This particular unit is a bit odd; it has the optional battery back-up, 
no PPS, and instead of the usual 1Mhz, 5Mhz, 10Mhz it has four 10Mhz 
outputs with tnc female connectors.

The tnc connectors are a bit of a bother but I found that the scope 
probe sleeve that fits a bnc also fits into a tnc so I'm able to view 
the outputs.  They are not pretty, lots of hash, particularly at the 
zero crossings and only about 15 to 20mV rms.  That's the case for all four.

The oscillator is an FTS 1000B-503 which is supposed to have four 
buffered outputs at 5MHz; two at 1.0 V rms and two at 0.5 V rms. Two 
outputs each drive a pair of frequency doublers that thus provide the 
four 10Mhz outputs.  I got a connector on one of the spare outputs to 
see if the problem might lie in the oscillator. What I see there is a 
very stable clean sine wave at 5MHz at about 660mV rms so I'm assuming 
the 1000B is not my problem.

The doublers are housed in a tidy box adjacent to the oscillator with 
22V and ground, two 5MHz inputs and four 10MHz outputs all in the top 
cover.  There is a stone cold 7818 in a TO-3 metal can mounted on one 
side of the box but no external connections other than those previously 
noted.  It seems to me my problem must lie in this area and, since all 
four circuits are similarly affected, is probably related to the power 
supply housed therein.

This is probably obvious to all of you but I'm a toolmaker by trade so 
this is all new to me and second opinions will not hurt my feelings.  
Also does anyone have any experience inside of the doubler box or a 
schematic of the standard (or any other version) doubler/divider for 
these things?

Thanks for any insight anyone can offer.

Bob Darby