TCXO or oven heated oscillator? Which one and why.

[elebish]

I suspect the use of TCXO for bench and oven for portable when using an instrument out in the cold. Ed.

 

[shrtrnd]

What type of instrument?
Quality gear has integral internal support for itself.
Is this something made for some particular outdoor application?
I'm most familiar with test and measurement instrumentation. If the instrument requires temperature compensation it has it whether used on the bench or in the field.
What's your application?

 

[CCurmudgeon]

Better to use a TCXO for portable and an oven for the bench. TCXO's need little power so battery life is longer. Ovens use a lot more power. Years ago I designed a TCXO that used less than 1mA for a portable two way radio. Over -30c to +60c the stability error was less than 2.5ppm. Not lab accuracy, but good enough for that application. With a smaller temp range, much better stability was possible.

 

[shrtrnd]

Instrument?
Application?
What exactly do you mean by use 'out in the cold'?
Are we talking about something generically, or an application/accuracy issue?

 

[AnalogKid]

I don't think there is any fixed rule of thumb about when to use which. Generally speaking, an oven device has better stability and faster warm-up to specified operation, but is larger, more power hungry, and more expensive. So it is a SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power)-and-money-vs-performance decision.

ak