bap8guy | Fluke 203A Distribution Amplifier @bap8guy | Uploaded March 2020 | Updated October 2024, 13 hours ago.
Often equipment on the bench relies upon precise timing signals from an internal time base. However, differences in these time bases can make for frustration when the output of the devices differ in frequency & time. The answer to the frustration, if not also the overall accuracy, is to utilize one time base for all of your equipment needing it. That is the job of this distribution amplifier, the Fluke 203A.
The Fluke 203A accepts up to 3 different frequencies (100khz, 1Mhz and 10Mhz) as inputs, amplifies them and presents each of them to a group of 4 amplifiers, the outputs of which can feed up to four pieces of your equipment. The original 203A had 4 - 5Mhz outputs instead of 10Mhz, but when 10 Mhz became more the standard, many of the owners (often Ham operators) modified them to utilize 10Mhz. This is the case with this unit as well. This unit is decades old, but still a performer.
In the video I give a tour of the unit, then I test each of the inputs, outputs and adjustments. The results are viewed on an oscilloscope as well as a frequency meter. It is the same unit that I used in a previous video, involving the Philips PM6612, where I demonstrated how the OCXO in that meter could be used as the OCXO for a bench.
Often equipment on the bench relies upon precise timing signals from an internal time base. However, differences in these time bases can make for frustration when the output of the devices differ in frequency & time. The answer to the frustration, if not also the overall accuracy, is to utilize one time base for all of your equipment needing it. That is the job of this distribution amplifier, the Fluke 203A.
The Fluke 203A accepts up to 3 different frequencies (100khz, 1Mhz and 10Mhz) as inputs, amplifies them and presents each of them to a group of 4 amplifiers, the outputs of which can feed up to four pieces of your equipment. The original 203A had 4 - 5Mhz outputs instead of 10Mhz, but when 10 Mhz became more the standard, many of the owners (often Ham operators) modified them to utilize 10Mhz. This is the case with this unit as well. This unit is decades old, but still a performer.
In the video I give a tour of the unit, then I test each of the inputs, outputs and adjustments. The results are viewed on an oscilloscope as well as a frequency meter. It is the same unit that I used in a previous video, involving the Philips PM6612, where I demonstrated how the OCXO in that meter could be used as the OCXO for a bench.
