Whatever you do, don't apply power to the pins indicated as "VCXO Supply." I'm pretty sure that is the internal regulated supply that's accessible only to connect a pot so that you can remotely trim the frequency - if it has the feature, including a varicap diode in the oscillator. One end of the pot goes there, the other end to "Return," and the wiper to "VCXO Input." So, the first thing to do is to see with an ohmmeter whether that "VCXO Supply" pin shows any resistance to the case or ground/return, indicating that it's hooked up internally. If you then bring up the + main power connections slowly, you should see that pin voltage rise and stop at some point like 6.2 V. You could also apply a test voltage through a resistor and see what it does.

The reason I know this is that I had several Vectron 10 MHz ovenized oscillators, but one didn't work right, so I took it apart to see what I could do. I deciphered part of the circuit and found that the oscillator supply was supposed to be +6.2V, set by a shunt regulator temperature compensated zener like a 1N823.

But, the zener had a small choke in series with it - I don't mean as a noise filter, I mean actually in series with it, so it affected the supply voltage. I could only surmise that they used the small copper winding resistance of the choke as a strongly-positive tempco (~3000 ppm) resistor to provide another degree of compensation.

The problem with this unit was that the tiny choke was burnt open, and the body was blackened, so I could not read the color codes, but could tell that it was similar to other chokes in the circuit - the small axial epoxy molded types. So, the shunt zener did not regulate the supply - it ran instead at about 9V, and way off in frequency. I tacked in a similar small choke, and the voltage then was about 6.2V.

So, it appears that somehow before, power was applied to that pin at over 6.2V, and forced enough current to burn the choke open. I don't know if other damage was done, but the circuit appeared to work after patching. I assume that the value of that copper resistance was important, and possibly unique to each zener or oscillator, so unless I get the same amount, it won't quite be up to snuff. Since the original choke was destroyed, I don't know exactly what it should be, and I didn't want to take apart any other oscillators to find out.

Ed



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