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: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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 -- ---------------- Robert Lutwak, Senior Scientist Symmetricom - Technology Realization Center 34 Tozer Rd. Beverly, MA 01915 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Business) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Personal) (978) 232-1461 (Desk) (339) 927-7896 (Mobile) (978) 927-4099 (FAX) -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Jack Hudler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 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 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list > [email protected] > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list [email protected] https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list [email protected] https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
