[time-nuts] Anyone heard of a Rubidium Standard called a Varian X-4700A?

cdelect at juno.com cdelect at juno.com
Tue Aug 13 11:58:35 EDT 2013


Jerry,

The 4700A was one of the very first Rubidium standards made.

The V-4700A came first and had the distinction of having a lamp discharge
oscillator that used two submini vacuum tubes in a flip plop
configuration! It was rated at 10,000 hours.

The X-4700A had the more familiar transistor discharge oscillator.

The 3 V-4700 I have seen had been retrofitted with the transistor
version.

The first thing that comes to mind when you try to move one is "boat
anchor" (maybe one for an aircraft carrier!) (weighs 95 pounds)

I have a brochure that lists the price @ $15,900, the short term
stability at 1 sec of 1X10-11th and the long term stability of
5X10-11th/year.

They are "fixed" frequency units with the unit returned to the factory
for a new cell if the time scale changed.

I also have a copy of the manual I can reproduce at cost if you need it.

Corby Dawson



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