[time-nuts] Antique Rb Standard - Thanks, Pictures, Parts Request, Question

[Ed Palmer]

First, I'd like to thank Magnus, Joe, Paul, and Ed for taking the time 
to provide answers, ideas, and challenges to my assumptions.  It has all 
been very helpful.  I'm still working on it so I don't have a resolution 
yet.

Second, pictures.  If anyone is interested, check out 
http://s701.photobucket.com/albums/ww18/edpalmer42/Tracor%20304-B/ .

Third, I'd like to build an extender board, but I can't find the 
connectors.  The contacts are called Varicon and are used both on 
circuit boards and in connectors.  The connector version is available, 
but I can't find the board version.  The last picture in the above 
gallery shows a close-up of the connectors.  They were available in 
regular and mini versions.  I need the regular ones that stand about 4.3 
mm high.  The minis are about 3.5 mm high and won't mate with the 
regular ones.  New ones could be loose or spaced out on a plastic strip 
to make installation easier.

Fourth, I'm currently working on the cavity tuning.  Does anyone know of 
a document or research paper that discusses cavity sizes for Rb 
standards - preferably with equations?  I found this document:

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol25-1946/articles/bstj25-3-408.pdf

that talks about cavities in general, but the calculations don't work.  
I'm guessing that the Rb cell is changing the resonant frequency of the 
cavity.

Thanks,
Ed