Crystal oven? What have I got?

[Spook556]

Military style packaging; old school, looks like waxed paper.

ARTICLE: Crystal Oven
QUANTITY: 1
TYPE: CFT-40148-A
CONTRACT NO. NOBsr-42053
CONTRACTOR: Federal Tel. &
Radio Corp.
METHOD 1A EXPORT PACK
DO NOT OPEN UNTIL READY FOR USE

So... What is it? Any clue? How old is it likely to be?

Thanks!


Spook

 

[fuzzytoaster]

 

[DUG]

Plug it in and toss in a pizza. Did you get a blood cooler for the beer?

 

[Towerguy1]

Usually used in test gear and some high end radios. Used to stableize the crystal (likely installed) for more accurate time base or precise frequency. replaced nowadays by a master clock or GPS time base.

 

[snock]

Without a picture I'm not sure what it is that you have but generally speaking an "oven" in relation to crystals (OCXO or oven controlled crystal oscillator) is just a temperature controlled quartz crystal based oscillator. The crystal is heated to a constant known temperature that way it remains stable over a wide external temperature range.