[time-nuts] HP-5065a advise and purchase decision

Chris Albertson albertson.chris at gmail.com
Sat Jun 30 07:58:50 UTC 2012


Have you checked the price of comparable units in eBay.  Many of us bought
some quite usable Rb oscillators for $40 each but I think the price might
be up to $60 by now.

On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 11:27 PM, Edgardo Molina <xe1xus at amsat.org> wrote:

> Dear Group,
>
> Good morning. I wish you well. This is my first post to the Time-Nuts
> group. Please be gentle with the newbie ;)
>
> I have been offered an HP 5065a Rubidium Frequency Standard recently in
> what I feel, a bad operational condition. I need a reliable rubidium
> standard for my time/frequency experiments, still I am in doubt to invest
> in buying such and old beast. The general situation of the instrument (for
> what I have been able to see from the first inspection) is:
>
> 100 Khz output: Not working, noise coming out of it.
>
> 1Mhz output: Working, sine wave clean and not distorted, a couple of
> frequency meters showing 1.0000030 Mhz in frequency, the oscilloscope shows
> a transient pulse on top of the sine wave signal and affecting the
> frequency readout instantly and then returning to the value previously
> mentioned. Last digits vary sporadically.
>
> 5Mhz output: Working. sine wave clean but a little bit distorted when
> ramping up. A couple of frequency counters showing 5.0000014 Mhz in
> frequency. No transient pulses or other glitches around the output signal.
> Last digits vary sporadically.
>
> No lights coming up when the instrument turned on. No physical damage of
> abuse on case or internal components. No options installed . A couple of
> electrolytic caps replaced on some boards, no trace of burnt PCB traces or
> visible damage to electronic components or physics package. Haven't got the
> manual until today and was unable to check on the front panel voltages to
> check on general health. As turning the voltage test selector knob, voltage
> is shown for most positions, except of course battery and the 100 Khz
> oscillator output. Some voltage test positions get the instrument needle to
> go full scale and out of range, other appear to be within scale.
>
> I can perform a second visual and operational inspection today, this time
> with a copy of the instrument manual. I will take my own trusted frequency
> counter and portable digital storage oscilloscope. Would really appreciate
> if I could receive comments from you experts to evaluate if such a unit
> could be worth buying. The asking price is $1K USD. Should I consider it an
> instrument that can be repaired and serviced to show some decent
> performance? Or should I look somewhere else to get a decent rubidium
> frequency standard.
>
> Thank you beforehand for all your kind and expert comments.
>
>
> Respectfully,
>
>
>
> Edgardo Molina
> Mexico City, Mexico
>
>
>
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-- 

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California


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