Rubidium source

M0RVB

Finally I have a rubidium 10MHz oscillator to play with. It is a Symmetricom X72 that needs between 10 and 32V input, so the shack supply will be fine. It came built into a case which also has a power and unlock LED on the front plus a fan.

A Symmetricom X72 rubidium oscillator, silver in colour with a white label showing the company logo and another showing patent details.

Why you ask? Well, I do not really know but I wanted one! Once it arrived I checked it over and powered it up. It took aroud 4 minutes for the unlock LED to go out and it has been giving a constant 10MHz sinewave frequency output since then.

The unit has a 1pps input and output plus a serial interface which I have yet to investigate. It is also apparently controllable with the Lady Heather control program, something else I have yet to play with.