[time-nuts] Question for the cesium nuts.

[Robert Lutwak]

There's no reason that you shouldn't see just as many CsIIIs, Cs4000s, and 
5071s on the used market tomorrow as you see 4040s and 506Xs today, just as 
soon as they trickle down through the same channels as the older units did.

So far, of the modern cesium standards, I've only seen a few 5071s on the 
used market, and they're still priced pretty high, but I'm certain the 
others will trickle down before long.

Eventually, they'll be dirt cheap, because a new CsIII costs half of what a 
4040 did when new.  They'll be more accurate, for reasons that you can read 
about in 15 years of FCS proceedings, and they'll be more reliable because 
of 15 years of electronics evolution and manufacturing improvements.

Oh, and they'll be more fun, because you'll be able to run Monitor3.  :-)

-RL



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jack Hudler" <jack at hudler.org>
To: "'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'" 
<time-nuts at febo.com>
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 2:25 PM
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Question for the cesium nuts.


> Which begs the question of; who's cesium standard will we buy in surplus
> market?
>
> Besides you guys (Symmetricom), who is building Cesium standards that
> haven't yet been absorbed by Symmetricom? (note this is not meant to be
> derogatory).
>
> Certainly most if not all the 5060, 5061, and 5062 are either dead or 
> close
> to it. Excluding those that have had their CBT's replaced or properly 
> stored
> and regularly pumped down, or just lucky.
>
> The 5071's have yet to make an appearance on eBay at levels I would 
> consider
> paying.
>
> From my POV (which could be myopic), a few CBT manufacturers are 
> controlling
> what remains of this market (no I'm not a conspiracy nut, it's just
> business), so it seems to me that the surplus market is going to get very
> thin in the near future.
> Supply and demand dictates that surplus market prices will skyrocket out 
> of
> the vast majority of amateur reaches in the coming years.
>
> So what's the next cesium standard to start showing up on eBay in numbers
> with life left?
>
> Jack
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
> Behalf Of rlutwak at comcast.net
> Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 12:56 PM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Question for the cesium nuts.
>
>> What are we going to do when all the CBTs owned by amateurs start to end
> of
>> life?
> Buy another instrument off of Ebay.  It'll be cheaper, more accurate, and
> last longer than the old one.  Plus, it'll have microprocessor control and
> thus be cooler and more entertaining for the hackers.
>
>> Anyone care to start a discussion on the merits of restoring a CBT to
> life?
> It can't be done.  Trust me, I've done it.
>
> -RL
>

>
> -------------- Original message -------------- 
> From: "Jack Hudler" <jack at hudler.org>
>
>> It seems to me that like all good things they must come to and end.
>>
>> If all CBTs have a life expectancy that varies depending on the
>> manufacturer.
>>
>> What are we going to do when all the CBTs owned by amateurs start to end
> of
>> life?
>>
>> I for one am certainly not going to buy one, not at those prices! (Unless
>> I'm retired then that's another story)
>> You only have calculate the time value of money for that CBT purchase 
>> over
>
>> the remaining time to retirement; If that doesn't stop you dead in your
>> tracks then this group really is aptly named! :)
>>
>> From my perspective, that of wanting to own a Cesium Standard; I don't
>> really want to layout the monies for something that's going to end of 
>> life
>
>> on me shortly (few years) afterwards.
>>
>> I know that handling (Caesium) Cesium-133 is tricky at best. It's a heavy
>> alkali metal and contact with moisture is right out!
>> Other than that it's not terribly difficult to create a safe environment
> to
>> work with it.
>>
>> So there must be something else that's considerably more difficult than
>> opening the tube, recharging the ampoule, resealing it, pulling an ultra
>> high vacuum and baking it out.
>>
>> I've not seen any pictures of a naked CBT, still I'm not too worried 
>> about
>
>> cracking the tube open if its Pyrex, unless resealing it caused the 
>> cesium
>
>> beam collimation to be lost.
>>
>> Are there if any getters to worry about? If so, how would one ablate the
>> contaminates of the surface?
>>
>> Anyone care to start a discussion on the merits of restoring a CBT to
> life?
>>
>> Jack
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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