[time-nuts] Old Frequency Electronics standard and synthesizer

John Ackermann N8UR jra at febo.com
Tue Sep 13 16:17:50 UTC 2011


Hi Brooke --

Good idea.

I was thinking of another way to get at least a sense of what's going 
on: look at the input current from power-on and see if the current goes 
down in a normal fashion as the ovens warm up.  If the current stays 
high, that would (presumably) mean that the voltage isn't sufficient to 
get the oven up to temperature.

I'm out of town next weekend but will try some experiments along these 
lines, and also take a few pictures of the thing.

John
----

On 9/11/2011 4:38 PM, Brooke Clarke wrote:
> Hi John:
>
> How about just changing the input voltage and comparing to the meter
> reading, i.e. are they 1:1?
> If there's a power supply then watch it's output voltage as the input is
> brought up and at some point the output voltage will stabilize.
> How about some photos?
>
> Have Fun,
>
> Brooke Clarke
> http://www.PRC68.com
> http://www.End2PartyGovernment.com/
>
>
> John Ackermann N8UR wrote:
>> Years ago I found an interesting box at a hamfest. It's from Frequency
>> Electronics and is labeled as a model FE-6018A Precision Frequency
>> Synthesizer.
>>
>> It has an FE-10A 5 MHz frequency standard, and several internal
>> filter/mixer/other stuff modules. In addition to a 5 MHz output, it
>> has the following: 5 kHz square wave, 5 kHz sine wave, 50 MHz, 100 MHz
>> and 100.05 MHz. (Except that the panel is labeled "KC" and "MC"; a
>> date stamp indicates that this unit might have been built in 1969.)
>>
>> At the time I didn't find any documentation for it, and a Google
>> search today didn't turn up much either (even the FE-10A seems
>> undocumented, though I'm sure I've seen others). I wonder if anyone
>> here has heard of this beast or knows what it was used for?
>>
>> Also, its power input is a DC connector that's similar to, but I don't
>> think matches, the DC connector HP uses on the 5061 etc. The unit came
>> with a clearly after-market 18V power supply with the proper
>> connector. I've never been sure, though, whether 18V is the correct
>> operating voltage.
>>
>> The only clue on the exterior of the box is that the label showing
>> proper readings for the meter on the FE-10A module indicates that 17
>> volts is proper -- but I don't know if that's being monitored at the
>> back panel or at some other point. With the 18V supply hooked up, the
>> meter is reading in the lower part of the orange "normal" range.
>>
>> Does 18V seem like a sane supply voltage for a piece of gear like
>> this, or is it more likely to be 24 volts?
>>
>> Thanks for any info; I have the thing warming up now (on its 18V
>> supply) and hope to get some idea of how well it works; I had it
>> running 20 years ago but probably not since then.
>>
>> John
>>
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