"At least the crystal manufacturers have come a long way from grinding their own crystals on a piece of emery cloth for their 40M rigs."
And, if you're really picky, "fine tune" them with Ajax on the sink counter. Then pick them up a little carelessly and break them in half! Oh yes, the good old days! Tom DGN --- In [email protected], "Scott Zimmerman" <n3...@...> wrote: > > I agree. Here at Repeater-Builder. We use Bomar unless otherwise instructed > for all our crystals. I *HAVE* opened the cases of some ICOMs / Elements I > have sent for temp. comp. and *YES* they do have capacitors changed. Don't > get me wrong I HAVE had some temp. comp. elements from Bomar that would not > net after a few years. I attribute this to crystal aging and Bomar has > ALWAYS took them back and fixed them at NO CHARGE no matter how old they > were. > > I think all crystal mfg's have had troubles with quality at some time or > another. I remember about 5 years or so a few people complaining about ICM's > crystals. As with any custom product, things can and will happen with > production from time to time. This is especially true with crystals due to > their organic nature. From my understanding, just because you grind a piece > of quartz to a specific shape, doesn't mean it STAYS that way. Quartz > lattices 'age' and change with time. Could you imagine trying to guess how > much, and in what direction, a plant would grow in one year; then be able to > prune it so it would be the exact shape and size you needed it to be one > year from now? > > Quote from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_oscillator > "Due to aging and environmental factors such as temperature and vibration, > it is hard to keep even the best quartz oscillators within one part in 10?10 > of their nominal frequency without constant adjustment." > > In my opinion, the occasional failure of an organic substance that require a > 'best educated guess' to 'try and get right the first time' are inevitable. > At least the crystal manufacturers have come a long way from grinding their > own crystals on a piece of emery cloth for their 40M rigs. (You old timers > KNOW what I'm talking about!!) > > Scott > > Scott Zimmerman > Amateur Radio Call N3XCC > 474 Barnett Rd > Boswell, PA 15531 > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <n...@...> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 11:20 AM > Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Anyone have this happen? > > > > At 3/11/2009 05:33, you wrote: > >>Unfortunately my last couple purchases with Bomar are likely to be my > >>last, > >>so, yes, I've had trouble with them. The one crystal was simply cut to the > >>wrong frequency and the other was unstable. I also questioned the temp > >>comp > >>as no caps were changed out. Back to ICM. So much for trying to save a > >>buck. > > > > I ordered 5 crystals from Bomar a few months ago. All 5 were perfect. > > > > Bob NO6B > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > >
