I recently got some prices on Russian masers. The passive masers are about $us90K and the active masers are about $US250K. There’s apparently quite a bit of paperwork to do with the export licensing but it just needs a bit of patience :-)
Cheers Michael On Thu, 11 Jul 2019 at 3:01 am, Bob kb8tq <kb...@n1k.org> wrote: > Hi > > One of the gotcha’s if you are in the US is that the most often seen > “alternate > brand” of Maser comes out of Russia. Depending on the phase of the moon and > just what the rule book says this week, you may well not be able to bring > one > into the country. > > Back when things were a bit more cordial and trade was more rational, the > quoted > price was in the $150 $200K range. > > Bob > > > On Jul 10, 2019, at 8:57 AM, Dana Whitlow <k8yumdoo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Perry, > > > > The only H-maser with which I've had direct experience (the MHM-2010) > costs > > around $250,000 new. But there are some other brands, mostly foreign. > > > > The immediate operating cost is that of AC power. IIRC, the '2010 uses > > about > > 100W or maybe 125W, *all the time*. The H-maser is *not* the kind of > thing > > one > > turns on when needed and back off in between uses. > > > > The hydrogen supply is usually large enough to last about 15 years or > more. > > > > A sort of hidden cost is that the unit must be operated in a > > temperature-controllled > > environment for best stability- hence there is also the purchase and > > operating costs > > of a suitable A/C system. > > > > Also note that H-masers *do* drift in frequency over time. The one we > had > > at Arecibo > > typically needed frequency correction of about 3.5E-14 about every 4 > months > > on average, > > to keep the observatory's master clock on time within 25-50 nsec as > needed > > for certain > > types of radio astronomy situations. We used the H-maser because it has > > the best > > stability (over the range of seconds to hours) of anything commercially > > available. > > > > The maser operated without difficulty for about the first 8 years before > it > > lost one of > > its two vacion pumps. We had to pay $12k for an engineer from > Symmetricom > > to > > bring down a pair of new pumps and oversee the installation. He replaced > > the failed > > one on one day while I took notes; then the next day I replaced the 2nd > one > > under > > his close supervision and scrutiny. Because the maser was well designed > > with vacuum > > isolation valves, both pump replacements were accomplished without > shutting > > down > > the maser and with no disturbance to observations. > > > > A few years later the maser's internal log data showed that the hydrogen > > pressure > > was oscillating, along with synchronized fluctuations in drive to the Pd > Pd > > "valve", > > with a period of about 11 days. At this point there was no noticeable > > effect on timing > > accuracy. A series of calls to Symmetricom customer service indicated > that > > they had > > no idea what was going on, and they counseled "watchful waiting". We did > > that for > > several more years up until I retired in Dec 2016, with the only change > > being a very > > gradual drift in oscillation period and amplitude. The in late Dec 2018, > > the maser > > basically died outright, and Symmetricom (then part of Micro-Semi) was > > unable to > > provide a definite diagnosis- just a couple of theories. But they > advised > > against > > trying to fully diagnose and repair the unit, considering its advanced > age > > (approx > > 15 years at the time). > > > > Hope this helps ... > > > > Dana > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Jul 10, 2019 at 7:00 AM Perry Sandeen via time-nuts < > > time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote: > > > >> Yo Bubba Dudes!, > >> OK, I'll finally ask the question that probably a lot of list members > >> wanted to know but were reticent to ask. > >> First, what is the price of one of a new Hydrogen Maser? (This is > >> important if I win the lottery.) > >> Second, what would be prices for used Hydrogen Maser in *reasonable* > >> working condition and what might be the long term costs to keep it > running? > >> Thirdly, what are the chances of finding a used one? > >> Then again, might it be better, money wise just to limp along with used > HP > >> Cs? > >> Regards, > >> Perrier > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > >> To unsubscribe, go to > >> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > >> and follow the instructions there. > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > > To unsubscribe, go to > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > > and follow the instructions there. > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > and follow the instructions there. > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com To unsubscribe, go to http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com and follow the instructions there.