Hi Breck –

Does your Rubidium have a lock indication or a way to test lamp voltage? That looks like a fairly old unit and they do age. The Rubidium cell does darken over age not allowing it to lock the reference in the physics package. As Ray pointed out, a good crystal oscillator by itself is adequate. So, unless you know for sure that it is locked, you may just be using the internal crystal oscillator. 73 – Mike

Mike B. Feher, N4FS

89 Arnold Blvd.

Howell NJ 07731

848-245-9115

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of B. Smith
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2022 8:33 PM
To: Military Radio Collectors Association <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [MRCA] GPS disciplined oscillators

My Rubidium freq standard has been a real work horse and has numerous outputs including 1, 5, and 10Mcs. I've checked it against WWV and it is right on, watched it for several minutes and not a  warble -  have no way of checking vs time but it is a solid std here  in the shop. It also has IRIG outputs but I have no software nor the knowledge to check those. Like Nick says so many projects. And chart recorders are scary. But it will work by its self without external inputs.  The rack mounted Standard was acquired from the local military facility during a DMRO sale, your tax dollars at work for 20 bucks.
Z