[time-nuts] EFOS2 MASER turns 34!

[paul swed]

Corby
Congratulations on keeping the Maser going. Pretty amazing.
You should check it against wwvb to make sure its accurate. Chuckle.
Regards
Paul
WB8TSL

On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 2:42 PM, Tim Shoppa <tshoppa at gmail.com> wrote:

> Very nice report, Corby!
>
> When I was in grad school back in the 90's, doing vacuum pump work was a
> very menial task usually assigned to grad students, so naturally I became
> quite familiar with it :-). Especially cleaning up messes with decrepit old
> experimental systems!
>
> I think back to those days and maintaining an already-functioning H-Maser
> actually seems perfectly feasible in the long term.
>
> The tight geometry of the copper package of a H-Maser sure seems a lot more
> feasible than the other atomic clocks which are way more hi-tech stuff.
> That said, machining the copper would be way beyond my ability!
>
> I also did get to work some plasma physics experiments where we used
> kettles - literally large industrial cooking kettles, with some hacked-in
> brazed-shut machining for the various probes and plumbing. Maybe if there
> was some way to homebrew a primitive H-Maser with that low level of
> construction competence I could give it a try!
>
> Please share more tales/pics of your H-Maser experience!
>
> Tim N3QE
>
> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 1:18 PM, <cdelect at juno.com> wrote:
>
> > Happy Birthday EFOS2 Maser!
> >
> > The EFOS2 active hydrogen Maser at my place just turned 34 years old!
> > Pretty impressive reliability.
> > It is an Oscilloquartz Maser, they are now called T4 Science.
> > I know a guy in Norway that bought the refurbished EFOS3 Maser last
> > year directly from T4 Science! It is 32 Years old!
> > I have had the EFOS2 running here pretty much continuously since
> > Sept 2007.
> > I've had to refill the Hydrogen bottle 3 times.
> > replaced ion pumps 4 times (requires a CLEAN vacuum pumping system)
> > Had to repair one of the ion pump supplies (bad capacitor)
> > Also removed original 1 transistor power oscillator that was used to
> > drive the discharge providing the atomic Hydrogen.
> > I replaced it with a custom class A oscillator amplifier.
> > It uses an Oscilloquartz B5400 Quartz oscillator that has aged very
> > little since 2007!
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Corby Dawson
> >
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