Have you checked the price of comparable units in eBay. Many of us bought some quite usable Rb oscillators for $40 each but I think the price might be up to $60 by now.
On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 11:27 PM, Edgardo Molina <xe1...@amsat.org> wrote: > Dear Group, > > Good morning. I wish you well. This is my first post to the Time-Nuts > group. Please be gentle with the newbie ;) > > I have been offered an HP 5065a Rubidium Frequency Standard recently in > what I feel, a bad operational condition. I need a reliable rubidium > standard for my time/frequency experiments, still I am in doubt to invest > in buying such and old beast. The general situation of the instrument (for > what I have been able to see from the first inspection) is: > > 100 Khz output: Not working, noise coming out of it. > > 1Mhz output: Working, sine wave clean and not distorted, a couple of > frequency meters showing 1.0000030 Mhz in frequency, the oscilloscope shows > a transient pulse on top of the sine wave signal and affecting the > frequency readout instantly and then returning to the value previously > mentioned. Last digits vary sporadically. > > 5Mhz output: Working. sine wave clean but a little bit distorted when > ramping up. A couple of frequency counters showing 5.0000014 Mhz in > frequency. No transient pulses or other glitches around the output signal. > Last digits vary sporadically. > > No lights coming up when the instrument turned on. No physical damage of > abuse on case or internal components. No options installed . A couple of > electrolytic caps replaced on some boards, no trace of burnt PCB traces or > visible damage to electronic components or physics package. Haven't got the > manual until today and was unable to check on the front panel voltages to > check on general health. As turning the voltage test selector knob, voltage > is shown for most positions, except of course battery and the 100 Khz > oscillator output. Some voltage test positions get the instrument needle to > go full scale and out of range, other appear to be within scale. > > I can perform a second visual and operational inspection today, this time > with a copy of the instrument manual. I will take my own trusted frequency > counter and portable digital storage oscilloscope. Would really appreciate > if I could receive comments from you experts to evaluate if such a unit > could be worth buying. The asking price is $1K USD. Should I consider it an > instrument that can be repaired and serviced to show some decent > performance? Or should I look somewhere else to get a decent rubidium > frequency standard. > > Thank you beforehand for all your kind and expert comments. > > > Respectfully, > > > > Edgardo Molina > Mexico City, Mexico > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/** > mailman/listinfo/time-nuts<https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts> > and follow the instructions there. > -- Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.