On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:48:39 GMT, "Rick Karlquist N6RK"
wrote:

I was the project manager of the 5334B frequency counter.
It had an option to have a 10811 timebase. The standard
timebase, which I inherited from the 5334A design was
embarassingly bad, barely able to do 10 PPM. Unfortunately,
you cannot retrofit a 10811 to a 5334, because you need an
extra PC board. This board is required to be able to put
the 10811 on its side, because there isn't enough height for
it.

The gray market in used HP/Agilent test equipment is
really hurting Agilent in some products. My old division no
longer exists. I now work at Agilent Labs.

Rick N6RK

project manager for the
"John Walton" wrote in message
...
One of the great things which the telecom bust did was to make the
equipment
you designed at HP available to us experimenters -- I use my HP3586C
Receiver's ovenized oscillator to drive my HP5334 frequency counter


Rick,

The 10811 that I have has a decal on it that reads "upgraded to series
3010". Do you know what that means?

thanks,
Lefty

The various versions of 10811 have part numbers
of the form 10811-6XXXX. There are a few dozen
varieties. I've never heard of "series 3010" in reference
to 10811's.

Rick N6RK

"hamaddict" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:48:39 GMT, "Rick Karlquist N6RK"
wrote:

I was the project manager of the 5334B frequency counter.
It had an option to have a 10811 timebase. The standard
timebase, which I inherited from the 5334A design was
embarassingly bad, barely able to do 10 PPM. Unfortunately,
you cannot retrofit a 10811 to a 5334, because you need an
extra PC board. This board is required to be able to put
the 10811 on its side, because there isn't enough height for
it.

The gray market in used HP/Agilent test equipment is
really hurting Agilent in some products. My old division no
longer exists. I now work at Agilent Labs.

Rick N6RK

project manager for the
"John Walton" wrote in message
...
One of the great things which the telecom bust did was to make the
equipment
you designed at HP available to us experimenters -- I use my HP3586C
Receiver's ovenized oscillator to drive my HP5334 frequency counter


Rick,

The 10811 that I have has a decal on it that reads "upgraded to series
3010". Do you know what that means?

thanks,
Lefty

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 00:37:16 GMT, "Rick Karlquist N6RK"
wrote:

The various versions of 10811 have part numbers
of the form 10811-6XXXX. There are a few dozen
varieties. I've never heard of "series 3010" in reference
to 10811's.

Rick N6RK

"hamaddict" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 19:48:39 GMT, "Rick Karlquist N6RK"
wrote:

I was the project manager of the 5334B frequency counter.
It had an option to have a 10811 timebase. The standard
timebase, which I inherited from the 5334A design was
embarassingly bad, barely able to do 10 PPM. Unfortunately,
you cannot retrofit a 10811 to a 5334, because you need an
extra PC board. This board is required to be able to put
the 10811 on its side, because there isn't enough height for
it.

The gray market in used HP/Agilent test equipment is
really hurting Agilent in some products. My old division no
longer exists. I now work at Agilent Labs.

Rick N6RK

project manager for the
"John Walton" wrote in message
...
One of the great things which the telecom bust did was to make the
equipment
you designed at HP available to us experimenters -- I use my HP3586C
Receiver's ovenized oscillator to drive my HP5334 frequency counter


Rick,

The 10811 that I have has a decal on it that reads "upgraded to series
3010". Do you know what that means?

thanks,
Lefty



It's actually a 10811-60111 with a seperate decal thats says 3010...I
was just curious.

thanks,

lefty

In article ,
says...

It's actually a 10811-60111 with a seperate decal thats says 3010...I

Possibly it refers to a production change that took place in the 10th
week of 1990 (=60 + 30), in HP date code.

-- jm

------------------------------------------------------
http://www.qsl.net/ke5fx
Note: My E-mail address has been altered to avoid spam
------------------------------------------------------

The 10811 that I have has a decal on it that reads "upgraded to series
3010". Do you know what that means?

Lefty-

The 10811-60111 that came in my used HP 5334B counter, had a blown thermal
fuse. Upon considerable investigation, I found that it was a common problem
and had been addressed by HP, using fuse with a higher temperature rating. It
is possible that your 3010 refers to the thermal fuse upgrade.

Incidentally, the going price for a used 10811-60111 was around $100 a couple
of years ago. I trusted a guy and ended up with a second unit that also had a
blown thermal fuse!

73, Fred, K4DII

AFAIK, the 3010 sticker has nothing to do with the thermal
fuse issue. The thermal fuse was a debacle from the get go.
If your fuse fails, just replace it with a piece of wire. Ovens
very rarely run away. It is far more likely the fuse will fail
or its socket will corrode (can't solder it in because the solder
would melt the fuse). If the oven does run away, the heater
transistors will open up and serve as fuses.

Rick N6RK

"Fred McKenzie" wrote in message
...
The 10811 that I have has a decal on it that reads "upgraded to series
3010". Do you know what that means?

Lefty-

The 10811-60111 that came in my used HP 5334B counter, had a blown thermal
fuse. Upon considerable investigation, I found that it was a common
problem
and had been addressed by HP, using fuse with a higher temperature rating.
It
is possible that your 3010 refers to the thermal fuse upgrade.

Incidentally, the going price for a used 10811-60111 was around $100 a
couple
of years ago. I trusted a guy and ended up with a second unit that also
had a
blown thermal fuse!

73, Fred, K4DII

In article 0ZxIc.58659$JR4.11986@attbi_s54,
says...
AFAIK, the 3010 sticker has nothing to do with the thermal
fuse issue. The thermal fuse was a debacle from the get go.
If your fuse fails, just replace it with a piece of wire. Ovens
very rarely run away. It is far more likely the fuse will fail
or its socket will corrode (can't solder it in because the solder
would melt the fuse). If the oven does run away, the heater
transistors will open up and serve as fuses.


I'd always assumed it was there to avoid heat-damage to the expensive
part (the crystal). Unfortunately, it was mounted far outside the
thermal enclosure for the crystal and its oven, so it's unlikely to
detect any failure condition short of a house fire.

-- jm

------------------------------------------------------
http://www.qsl.net/ke5fx
Note: My E-mail address has been altered to avoid spam
------------------------------------------------------

The crystal will not be damaged by any temperature the oven
is capable of.

Rick N6RK

"John Miles" wrote in message
...

I'd always assumed it was there to avoid heat-damage to the expensive
part (the crystal). Unfortunately, it was mounted far outside the
thermal enclosure for the crystal and its oven, so it's unlikely to
detect any failure condition short of a house fire.

-- jm

Ovens
very rarely run away. It is far more likely the fuse will fail
or its socket will corrode (can't solder it in because the solder
would melt the fuse). If the oven does run away, the heater
transistors will open up and serve as fuses

Rick-

I've seen photos of these ovens on E-Bay, that had been stained by smoke coming
out of the adjustment hole. I'd rather have some kind of protection.

I believe the oven uses proportional control, so the transistors' maximum
dissipation would occur when the heating element is half on. In a "runaway"
mode, the transistors would be switched on with maximum current but nearly zero
voltage. Also, one transistor failure mode is a short-circuit.

With regard to John Miles' comment about the thermal fuse being to far from the
oven's heating element to be effective, perhaps that is true. However, the
earlier thermal fuse was rated at 108 degrees C, and it occasionally would open
in an oven that was apparently operating correctly in the range of 80 to 84
degrees C. The newer fuse is rated at 115 degrees C. I suspect the problem is
that it is opening due to a combination of time and temperature, not
temperature alone.

I've been running one of the new parts for about two years without a hitch.
The frequency has not been adjusted since about two years ago, and it still
takes 15 or 20 seconds to drift one Hz against a 10 MHz rubidium oscillator.

That HP 5334B is one nice counter!

73, Fred, K4DII

The insulation turns brown with age even in the absence
of smoke.

Rick N6RK

"Fred McKenzie" wrote in message
...
Ovens
very rarely run away. It is far more likely the fuse will fail
or its socket will corrode (can't solder it in because the solder
would melt the fuse). If the oven does run away, the heater
transistors will open up and serve as fuses

Rick-

I've seen photos of these ovens on E-Bay, that had been stained by smoke
coming
out of the adjustment hole. I'd rather have some kind of protection.

I believe the oven uses proportional control, so the transistors' maximum
dissipation would occur when the heating element is half on. In a
"runaway"
mode, the transistors would be switched on with maximum current but nearly
zero
voltage. Also, one transistor failure mode is a short-circuit.

With regard to John Miles' comment about the thermal fuse being to far
from the
oven's heating element to be effective, perhaps that is true. However,
the
earlier thermal fuse was rated at 108 degrees C, and it occasionally would
open
in an oven that was apparently operating correctly in the range of 80 to
84
degrees C. The newer fuse is rated at 115 degrees C. I suspect the
problem is
that it is opening due to a combination of time and temperature, not
temperature alone.

I've been running one of the new parts for about two years without a
hitch.
The frequency has not been adjusted since about two years ago, and it
still
takes 15 or 20 seconds to drift one Hz against a 10 MHz rubidium
oscillator.

That HP 5334B is one nice counter!

73, Fred, K4DII