[time-nuts] 5071A question

Richard (Rick) Karlquist richard at karlquist.com
Wed Feb 24 15:52:39 UTC 2010


When the 5071A product line was sold to Symmetricom ~4 years ago,
the production manager and his team of 15 moved with the product.
The manager left Symmetricom a few years ago, and recently most
of the rest of the team left Symmetricom.  The 5071A will now
be made on the east coast at the facility that made Symmetricom's
other cesium products.  A few ex-HP'ers may assist in some capacity.
These guys are top notch and there is at least some hope that
they won't lose the recipe.  Everyone is watching to see what
happens.  (Note:  I am not involved with Symmetricom).

Beyond any problems having to do with Symmetricom, the design is
getting very long in the tooth in terms of components.  The boards
I designed have, for example, 1206 passives and discrete transistors.
They were, at least, surface mount, which was still a novelty in
1990.  Eventually, something will have to be done along the
lines of redesign.  I hate to think what would happen in that case.

Rick Karlquist N6RK


Christopher Hoover wrote:
> We time nuts, and time labs worldwide too, recognize the 5071A as an 
> amazingly accurate and precise instrument as well as an extraordinary 
> industrial product with these same qualities repeated many times over 
> and over.
> 
> Most of us know the product was transferred from HP/Agilent to Symnetricom.
> 
> My question is as follows.  Is the 5071A (or at least its tube?) still 
> in production at Symnetricom to HP/Agilent specifications and quality?
> 
> If not, we've really lost something.
> 
> -ch
> 
> 
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