[time-nuts] Efratom SLCR-101 rubidium - what have I just bought?

[Philip Pemberton]

On 26/12/13 09:33, Dr. David Kirkby wrote:
> I oringallly thought your offer of $75 was accepted and was going to
> say it was a decent buy at $75 given it needs only a single supply.
> But then I realised it must be a UK seller, and it was £75 GBP ($123),
> which does not seem so attractive given the guys from China were at
> least selling them a lot less with free shipping.

The reputable Chinese sellers seem to have run out of SLCRs and LPROs
and are now selling the DDS-based FEI 5680s. From what I've been told,
the less reputable sellers are selling the 1PPS version of the FEI,
claiming it to be 10MHz. Of course, they'll refund you, but they expect
you to return it to China at which point it becomes cost-prohibitive.

Then there's the customs charge (20% VAT plus a £10 handling fee). So in
most cases, buying from China is a bit of a false economy:

  $75 US at ~$1.5 to £1 = £50
  £50 + 20% VAT = £60
  Plus the £10 handling fee = £70

So not far off the £75 plus postage (£84 total) I just paid.


> But the prices seem
> to have gone up a lot - IU think I paid about $75 for my rubidums, but
> now I see the same thing on eBay for two or three times that.

They've absolutely rocketed. One of two things is happening -- either
the supply is drying up, or the sellers are capitalising on the fact
that a few prominent Youtube video producers have mentioned rubidium
oscillators. It's quite possible that both things are happening at the
same time... though how anyone expects to sell a heavily used rubidium
standard for $555 US is beyond me.

I'd point out how quite a few ebay sellers are trying to peddle junk
like oscilloscope probes with cut leads for premium prices, but I think
everyone's noticed that by now. I don't even bother with "best offer",
the sellers I've had experience with won't take more than $10 off the
price. US/UK sellers (in my experience at least) seem to be more willing
to haggle :)


> I'm not entirely sure why the seller provides a link to a manual which
> he knows is broken
> 
> "(broken link) to PDF format manual for this module:-
> http://www.symmetricom.com/media/pdf/manuals/man-lpro.pdf"
> 
> Perhaps he has a copy and could create you a non-broken link!

The Internet Archive probably has a copy, otherwise there are a ton of
copies of that PDF - I think KO4BB has a copy on his manuals archive.

Thanks.
-- 
Phil.
lists at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/