I built some prototypes using those OCXOs, a decade ago. The warmup time is extremely fast, because the resonator is in vacuum and IIRC is heated by a resistor printed on the quartz. We needed that fast warmup. Yes, they were expensive.
Cheers! --Stu On Sat, Jan 15, 2022, 02:49 <[email protected]> wrote: > Send time-nuts mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or > body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of time-nuts digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Vectron 380 teardown (Poul-Henning Kamp) > 2. Re: Vectron 380 teardown (Bob kb8tq) > 3. Re: Vectron 380 teardown (Attila Kinali) > 4. Re: Vectron 380 teardown (Attila Kinali) > 5. Re: Vectron 380 teardown (Bob kb8tq) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2022 17:44:22 +0000 > From: Poul-Henning Kamp <[email protected]> > Subject: [time-nuts] Vectron 380 teardown > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > With high praise for aesthetics even: > > https://twitter.com/EvilMnkyzDsignz/status/1482039903995273216 > > -- > Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20 > [email protected] | TCP/IP since RFC 956 > FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe > Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence. > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2022 14:41:50 -0500 > From: Bob kb8tq <[email protected]> > Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Vectron 380 teardown > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement > <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Hi > > Just over 12 years old when he chopped it open. > > Bob > > > On Jan 14, 2022, at 12:44 PM, Poul-Henning Kamp <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > With high praise for aesthetics even: > > > > https://twitter.com/EvilMnkyzDsignz/status/1482039903995273216 > > > > -- > > Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20 > > [email protected] | TCP/IP since RFC 956 > > FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe > > Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by > incompetence. > > _______________________________________________ > > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] -- To unsubscribe > send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe, go to and follow the instructions there. > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2022 21:20:03 +0100 > From: Attila Kinali <[email protected]> > Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Vectron 380 teardown > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement > <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > > On Fri, 14 Jan 2022 17:44:22 +0000 > Poul-Henning Kamp <[email protected]> wrote: > > > https://twitter.com/EvilMnkyzDsignz/status/1482039903995273216 > > Now that's an interesting design. > My first thought was, "hell, using /two/ ceramic carriers > for PCBs and using gold wires to connect them to eachother, > that must have been a hell of an expensive DIL-14 oscillator". > > Then I looked at the Datasheet [1] (ok appnote) and guess what, > that's no mere oscillator. That's a bona-fide OCXO. Vacuum packaged, > nonetheless! Sure, it doesn't have the best stability compared to > other OCXO, but compared to other DIL-14 sized OCXO, it's actually > quite good. And it's only the size of a regular XO too! > And this also explains the need for ceramic: an FR4 PCB would$ > have too much outgasing that would then lead to drift. > > Lovely device! > > (Still think it's probably quite expensive) > > Attila Kinali > > [1] https://www.vectron.com/products/ocxo/EMXO-380-385.pdf > -- > The driving force behind research is the question: "Why?" > There are things we don't understand and things we always > wonder about. And that's why we do research. > -- Kobayashi Makoto > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2022 21:34:44 +0100 > From: Attila Kinali <[email protected]> > Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Vectron 380 teardown > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement > <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > > On Fri, 14 Jan 2022 21:20:03 +0100 > Attila Kinali <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Then I looked at the Datasheet [1] (ok appnote) and guess what, > > that's no mere oscillator. That's a bona-fide OCXO. Vacuum packaged, > > nonetheless! Sure, it doesn't have the best stability compared to > > other OCXO, but compared to other DIL-14 sized OCXO, it's actually > > quite good. And it's only the size of a regular XO too! > > And this also explains the need for ceramic: an FR4 PCB would$ > > have too much outgasing that would then lead to drift. > > Some additional info can be found in > https://patents.google.com/patent/US5917272 > and > https://patents.google.com/patent/US6731180 > > It looks like the device follows more closely the latter > patent than the former. > > Attila Kinali > > -- > The driving force behind research is the question: "Why?" > There are things we don't understand and things we always > wonder about. And that's why we do research. > -- Kobayashi Makoto > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2022 18:40:35 -0500 > From: Bob kb8tq <[email protected]> > Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Vectron 380 teardown > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement > <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > Hi > > The design traces back to the Efratom “EMXO” from the 1980’s. > Vectron bought the rights to that design and produced examples > of it for about a decade or so. > > Bob > > > On Jan 14, 2022, at 3:20 PM, Attila Kinali <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Fri, 14 Jan 2022 17:44:22 +0000 > > Poul-Henning Kamp <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> https://twitter.com/EvilMnkyzDsignz/status/1482039903995273216 > > > > Now that's an interesting design. > > My first thought was, "hell, using /two/ ceramic carriers > > for PCBs and using gold wires to connect them to eachother, > > that must have been a hell of an expensive DIL-14 oscillator". > > > > Then I looked at the Datasheet [1] (ok appnote) and guess what, > > that's no mere oscillator. That's a bona-fide OCXO. Vacuum packaged, > > nonetheless! Sure, it doesn't have the best stability compared to > > other OCXO, but compared to other DIL-14 sized OCXO, it's actually > > quite good. And it's only the size of a regular XO too! > > And this also explains the need for ceramic: an FR4 PCB would$ > > have too much outgasing that would then lead to drift. > > > > Lovely device! > > > > (Still think it's probably quite expensive) > > > > Attila Kinali > > > > [1] https://www.vectron.com/products/ocxo/EMXO-380-385.pdf > > -- > > The driving force behind research is the question: "Why?" > > There are things we don't understand and things we always > > wonder about. And that's why we do research. > > -- Kobayashi Makoto > > _______________________________________________ > > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] -- To unsubscribe > send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe, go to and follow the instructions there. > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s > > ------------------------------ > > End of time-nuts Digest, Vol 213, Issue 14 > ****************************************** > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] -- To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to and follow the instructions there.
