Datum Starloc II GPSDO

[WPXS472]

I recently bought one of these from the popular auction site which was listed as new, old stock. It did come in a sealed antistatic bag. Takes 24 volts, and has a DC/DC converter on board that puts out 12 and 5 volts. I couldn't find any information about this Martek converter. Once up and running, it didn't seem sensitive to input voltage. I could vary the voltage from about 15 to 30, and the 10 MHz output didn't change in phase compared to a Thunderbolt. The 12 volt output powers the OCXO and nothing else as far as I can tell. The 5 volts powers everything else. It takes about .35 amps at startup and about .22 amps after the OCXO warms up, so almost any 24 volt supply should suffice. But, being a bit obsessive, I was thinking of powering it off a good dual voltage linear supply instead of the DC/DC converter. Is that being a bit too obsessive? Perhaps. I am thinking of making this thing a tinkering unit. I have other GPSDOs to use for the usual things. So, should I scrap the Martek unit and run it off a linear supply?

[MIS42N]

There is no guarantee your linear supply produces more stable voltages than the DC-DC converter. If there's no switching artifacts in the output, maybe a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

[bob91343]

Your best move is to send me the unit, as I can use it.

[w9gb]

IF you purchased the “new in anti-static bag” from an eBay reseller in Canada, these were reviewed in 2016.
The reseller acquired these (unknown if seconds, special order or discards).

Mark Sims, software developer that maintains Lady Heather application, reviewed it at
Time-Nuts. DATUM Starloc II appears to have been company’ attempt (20+ years ago) to respond to Trimble’s original Thunderbolt (Red model).
https://time-nuts.febo.narkive.com/v0pxiqAL/datum-starloc-ii-gpsdo-issues

greg
w9gb