[time-nuts] Reverse Engineering FTS/Datum/Symmetricom 1050A or 1150A

[Tom Knox]

Hi Jim;
This may be best to go back to Time-Nuts for this.
A properly working 1050A is still one of the best Quartz Standards/Clean-Up Oscillators ever made and most likely will be for the foreseeable future making it well worth the effort of building extensive documentation - I for one would really enjoy contributing to that effort. Actually I think this logic could apply to a number of products.
Now may be a good time if other Time-Nuts are interest in the same thing. A group of Time-Nuts could create a schematic of the basic design and the various revisions/options. Add photos, voltages, and signals at various test points, and how problems were resolved. I have found that most instruments have "The Usual Suspects" a few areas where in the unlikely event they have an issue it will often be the same part.
  On the short term problem you are seeing I would test the 1000B out of circuit first and follow the signal path from there. Which options and what are the approximate build dates of yours.
My main point is years ago there were third party companies like Sam Photo Fax offering tech and repair data on a wide range of electronics, and in this era where more and more companies are unwilling to share schematics and repair info we are seeing communities like the Time-Nuts, Volt-Nuts, and XDevs doing just that. Perhaps it is time to bring a more systemic and structured approach to that end. I would really enjoy being a part of such an effort.
Cheers;

Tom Knox

SR Test and Measurement Engineer

Ascent Concepts and Technology

4475 Whitney Place

Boulder Colorado 80305

303-554-0307

actast at hotmail.com

"Peace is not the absence of violence, but the presence of Justice" Both MLK and Albert Einstein

________________________________
From: AC0XU (Jim) <James.Schatzman at ac0xu.com>
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2019 4:26 PM
To: Tom Knox <actast at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Service manuial for FTS 1050A or 1150A

Tom-

Thanks for that. There is normal power in to the controller board and no power out. Shouldn't be too hard to track down, but the power board suprises me in its complexity. Was hoping to find a schematic...

BTW, I also have a few of these units. One works really well. Another has very poor short time stability.  I am guessing that there is something wrong with it, but do you have any ideas what could cause the behavior?

Jim


At 01:22 PM 11/25/2019, you wrote:
Hi Jim;
Let me know if you have any luck on the 1050A manual and I will do the same, I think the 1050A and 5071A are the holy Grail of service manuals. I have a couple 1050A's with issues. These are great cleanup oscillators, they often far exceed PN specs, I one better then 128dB @ 1Hz which puts them up there with BVA's. The power board should not be to much trouble, If you need me to measure any voltages on a working 1050A let me know.
Cheers;

Tom Knox

SR Test and Measurement Engineer

NIST/Ascent Concepts and Technology

4475 Whitney Place

Boulder Colorado 80305

303-554-0307

actast at hotmail.com
"Peace is not the absence of violence, but the presence of Justice" Both MLK and Albert Einstein

________________________________
From: time-nuts <time-nuts-bounces at lists.febo.com> on behalf of AC0XU (Jim) <James.Schatzman at ac0xu.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 9:55 AM
To: time-nuts at lists.febo.com <time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
Subject: [time-nuts] Service manuial for FTS 1050A or 1150A

Does anyone have a service manual for either FTS 1050A or 1150A (they are almost identical)? I have an 1150A with a bad power board....

Thanks!

Jim


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