[time-nuts] Introduction and info about a Lucent RFTG

Denver dencohe at gmail.com
Fri Jul 4 23:34:22 EDT 2014


Thank Rex and Paul for the replies

>From what I understand my RFTG has a GPSDO on oneside that has a crystal
oven inside it, and a rubidium source on the other side. The rubidium
source takes a signal from the GPSDO side and uses that for longer term
stability. But If I am understanding you, Rex, that the rubidium is really
not a gps locked oscillator and just a free running device. I will start
tearing down the unit to figure out if I can make something more usable out
of it. I will make sure to document it and post it somewhere on the web. I
read somewhere on this group that there is a way to bypass the 15MHz
generating circuit and use the existing hardware amplifier and distribution
at 10MHz. I will also be looking into that as well. Rex, you are correct as
there is no power supply inside and I have it hooked up to a open frame
type switching supply externally.

Paul - I will be setting up my GPS antenna shortly and trying to get it to
lock to GPS for a more precise reference.

Thanks all
-Denver


On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 9:38 PM, Rex <rexa at sonic.net> wrote:

> Several years ago there were a number of these showing up pretty cheap on
> eBay, so I bought one. As I recall there were a couple of similar versions
> with some differences so take this recollection with a grain of salt.
>
> I did some tracing of the internals on the one I had and found the
> rubidium unit had no connection on the tuning pin (C-field) to the board
> circuits. So it was free running, only for backup in the system, and not
> GPS lockable. I don't remember there being any useful power supply in the
> box, so my advice would be to remove the LPRO rubidium and use it directly.
> (It does need heat sinking, so maybe some parts of the box mechanicals are
> useful.) In my opinion, working out how to use the supporting circuit board
> is not worth the effort, unless you really have a need for the 15 MHz they
> create.
>
> You should be able to find documentation for the internal module LPRO
> rubidiums on the web. I haven't looked today but KO4BB site probably has it.
>
>
>
> On 7/4/2014 1:47 PM, Denver wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> My name is Denver I am currently a freshman in college and the time bug
>> has
>> struck me. I recently acquired a Lucent RFTG on ebay to have a time
>> standard for my lab(and yes already realize its 15MHz output but may be
>> able to change that and or just use the 10MHz test point from the rubidium
>> source). I made a power connector for it. Now that I have power applied
>> and
>> sort of verified its operation I am looking for more info about the
>> connectors on the front panel. I have the KO4BB user documentation on it
>> but it doesn't mention much about connectors and pinouts. I also have
>> already searched the group for other mentions of the RFTG but all I am
>> able
>> to come up with is some of the newer models the -m and such. Maybe one of
>> you could help point me in the right direction or give me some other ideas
>> on how to get more use out of this unit.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>> -Denver
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