CuriousMarc - 2024-11-11
We repair our HP 106B Quartz oscillator, the most stable quartz oscillator in the HP lineup of 1965, and still one of the best today. It has an adjustment knob graduated in parts in 10^11 (10 parts per trillion), which is unusually small. And ours has some really dubious modifications hidden inside! HP 115BR Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-_93BVApb5-_7sWRxQ0on8vNy7_H-zxS Stuff that supports the channel: - Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/curiousmarc - Amazon links for the tools I use in the lab: https://www.curiousmarc.com/amazon-links - Channel merch on Fourthwall: https://curiousmarc-shop.fourthwall.com - Legacy channel merch on Teespring (I don't have everything transferred to Fourthwall yet): https://teespring.com/stores/curiousmarcs-store "Elevator Music" Credit: Crinoline Dreams by Kevin MacLeod Our lovely sponsors - PCBWay: fast turn PCBs, https://www.pcbway.com - Electro-Rent: https://www.electrorent.com - Keysight: test instruments: https://www.keysight.com - Samtec: connectors: https://www.samtec.com - R&D Microwaves: https://rdmicrowaves.com Get more technical info on the companion site: https://www.curiousmarc.com Contact info: https://www.youtube.com/curiousmarc/about 00:00 The next best thing after the atomic clock 02:53 Grand opening and tour 06:02 It's missing components! 07:19 HP 106B Schematics Explanation 13:32 More dubious hacks on the bottom side 16:47 First power up attempt 19:17 Repairing the supply, more surprises await 24:10 Repairing the LVN indicator 26:22 It works! 28:31 Calibration vs. Cesium atomic clock 31:45 Reuniting the 106B with the HP 115BR Clock 32:19 Modifying for a LiFePO4 battery 37:55 Battery backup demo with clock
This channel has come far indeed. 14 years ago, Marc was building an R2-D2 replica, now this labs sports a full set of NASA Apollo HF equipment, a full set of vintage HP lab equipment and, apparently, some of the finest and most precise clocks 1960's money can buy.
Hey, don't poopoo my R2-D2. He is a precision space instrument too.
@@CuriousMarc Never said it wasn't. But learning about the dark arts of pre-IC HF magic is just so much more interesting 🙂
"So how many HP instruments do you need for happiness?"
"Yes."
n+1
"Just one more, your Honor."
HP was an amazing company. We have countless conveniences available today that were developed using their amazing equipment. I really appreciate your teaching and troubleshooting style as I learn so much about electronics. During my career (aviation) we used countless HP and Techtronix equipment for testing and development.
Loving this series so far! High-precision clocks are addictive.
This oscillator is so precise, it hertz!
i like how you tick
This schematic is a masterclass in analog circuit design.
Your jaunty intro music is always the harbinger of a good time. Pun fully intended.
Double ovenised, for extra crispy square waves! 🤤
I think it's sine wave output but that's just nitpicking 😊
Amazing how this logic was implemented with discrete components. Just pure joy to see how all the backups and switching are made with transistors and Zieners. It takes a lot of experience and knowledge to come up with such elegant solutions. You ain't gonna get such education nowadays as it would (and is) implemented in software instead. But the skill to implement it in hardware also would be valuable to have.
I understand maybe 5 percent of this but it's great. I slowly learn new things every time you post. Thank you
VERY satisfying - especially the restoration of the oven battery functionality. Great!
Thank you for recording the cleaning.
I am just binge watching the last couple of videos because I couldn't keep up. Must watch all of them!
I love these solo Marc episodes the most for some reason. Just a guy and his machines.
Excellent repair, as always Marc!
I have an old CDMA 3G cell phone tower rubidium module and one of those dutchtronix oscilloscope clock kits from several years ago.
But I have always dreamed of having a cecium clock like yours! Awesome content sir!
there are some fantastically tiny atomic clock modules now, like smaller than a deck of cards. They are almost what some might call affordable too.
You are always the most interesting fellow doing the most interesting things on the internet. And that is really saying something :)!
This week keeps getting better and better. 🙌
Love your work!
The HP 105x had very-low phase noise. Lower even than Cesium or Rubidium clocks that came into labs. Back in the days of WWV and stick-in-sunlight clocks, the local HP 105 or 106 was the Standard for check-adjust of freq-time counters that had pretty nice selected quartz in oven internal oscillators (mostly HP). Cross fingers for passing cal, because adjustment takes days as you make them unstable by adjusting and have to wait. Good thing we were paid by the month.
I can’t help but grin when his theme starts 😊
Wonderful! I was just going to sleep and here is such a wonderful video.
Thanks, Marc always learn something new from your videos, your explanations are priceless. .. Please keep making interesting videos.
Magnificent work! Truly entertaining too. Well done.
Lead-calcium telco cells can last for a few decades of standby use. The only problem is that they won't fit inside the enclosure.
I didn't know they made "low-voltage neon" indicators. Tec-Lite did make LED versions under the same product series.
Cool.
I want that as a bedside clock!
I have the proper Raychem infrared tool (IR-550) for those solder-shrink connectors. I bought it when you could get them for a song as surplus. The last time I saw a new one for sale from TE it was over US$10,000! And they charge $400 for a lamp which costs less than $20!
Oh, that's how you are supposed to do it? I just use my hot gun and watch carefully...
@@CuriousMarc I've seen many sold with an attachment for the hot air gun that lets you heat the back side at the same time. I think for when space is limited mostly so you don't blast what's behind it and you don't cook one side while the back side is still cool when you can't move around the wire.
@@zyeborm Kool. Now I want Douro’s $10k tool though ;-)
Very good video, thank you.
This is increadably relaxing! Also, thank you for bringing my love for electronics back!
Thank you Marc - what a pleasure to see this
No puny PPM or PPB, it's parts in 10^11!
Marco Reps @reps wants a slice of that I guess 😀
That would be 10 ppt... That's just insane accuracy! I'd love to see jitter of those things.
Gorgeous video content, thank you curiousmarc and the team
Another banger of an episode 🔥 all Marc lately I can’t complain
Anyone else enjoy his adorable pronunciation of “Oven”⁉️
Well, it is spelt 'oven', not 'uh-ven', so it's understandable.
Great video !!
Simply amazing
I’m 16 and I religiously watch this kinda of content, I have back pain that requires my to use a Cain, and I’m a ham radio operator. Where’s my pension?
LiFePo4 for the win! Excellent upgraydd.
Now that thing has proper battery backup, maybe Marc could do a co-op with Scott Manley and take the clock for a ride on his (small) plane. You know, to properly re-create those 1960's clock syncing experiments. I was thinking of maybe flying it to Houston and sync with the official NASA (or Space Force) clock. That way, Marcs Apollo exhibit could run perfectly in sync with the rest of NASA.
@@ReneSchickbauerI doubt the plane will carry the weight of this 60's stuff... 😂
@@feicodeboer I think the full rack weighs less than a person.
I'm here for the aesthetic of the TEC catalog lol. Great video as always, thank you Marc.
Now that is an oscillator, I have a HP105B, but only a Trimble GPSDO as a reference, unfortunately not stable enough, as I can easily see the GPS bobbling about, nothing like your Caesium reference.
The best solution I've dreamt up is to make a box that monitors the drift over a long term and use that to set the 105. That concept is still in the thought process, but the design is starting to form in my head.
Hi Marc, be carful with the battery, it could overheat as the packing is a good heat insulator.
Yes, that's to keep it warm and cozy! But at 1/10C discharge and very low internal resistance, heat is not a concern.
Maybe you should invest in a gantry crane across the ceiling to help lift these old boat anchors.
I would love to have that oscillator and clock. So cool.
+1 for the CDC 3600 cameo. We had one of those (and a 3800) at UMass/Amherst while I was there. Replaced by a CYBER 74 one summer. On which I took my assembly language programming course. Unsurprisingly, I never again used the COMPASS assembler. REAL computers have switches and lights, and the 3600/3800 had oodles of both.
Awesome !!
An interesting comparison can be made with a centre zero moving coil meter. You put your two frequencies to compare on each side of the coil and common the grounds. You can see slow phase drifts really nicely. I've done that to compare the short term instabilities of a GPS source and a OCXO.
The bigger the meter movement, the better.
Very cool as usual. One comment tho: I would ALWAYS fuse a LiFePo4 battery.
I initially read the title as "Double Oversized Quartz Oscillator", which, given the enormous can inside, kind of works too. :-)
Wow, 7 transistors to not overdrive the circuit. That's some serious investment for the 1960's!
Shows you just how important it is for stability to drive the crystal at low power.
Fantastic series. I was able to follow along super duper bien. Amazing what analog circuitry is capable of, coupled with the repairs using the scope, meters and simple tools.
This is what I needed following an intense week of election coverage. Thank you so much. 😎What is the current draw for the stack?
Current draw is 500 mA for the HP 106B (these darn ovens!), and 170 mA for the clock, so about 670 mA. Probably lasts 5 hours on the battery. The internal battery was just for intermittent power faults. For longer term battery backup you needed to add the larger external battery supply. That's the box you can see at the bottom of the flying clock rack.
@@CuriousMarc ...correction: oeven😃
Oui
I bet you could cut that LVN open on the lathe, replace the neon bulb, and then use some shrink tubing to put it back together. Or at least you could test the neon by itself, to see if the neon is bad or if it's one of the other components in the LVN.
I'm pretty sure it’s the neon. I was thinking the same, open it cleanly on the lathe.
@jlwilliams - 2024-11-11
I've had a tough week for a variety of reasons, and I really need to keep my mind focused on pleasant, soothing things. So it's been fabulous to have THREE new CuriousMarc episodes within the past five days! THANK YOU!
@KaldekBoch - 2024-11-11
I feel this.
@magickmarck - 2024-11-11
Hang in there friend
@frostrap - 2024-11-11
Right there with you.
@EinChris75 - 2024-11-11
Same. It's like cleaning some old oil painting, but much more interesting.
@Toby_Q - 2024-11-11
I hear ya buddy. This music and Marc's voice just works to mellow out the week and help me relax.