  The magnetron H- ion sources developed in the 1970s currently in operation at
Fermilab provide beam to the rest of the accelerator complex. A series of
modifications to these sources have been tested in a dedicated offline test
stand with the aim of improving different operational issues. The solenoid type
gas valve was tested as an alternative to the piezoelectric gas valve in order
to avoid its temperature dependence. A new cesium oven was designed and tested
in order to avoid glass pieces that were present with the previous oven,
improve thermal insulation and fine tune its temperature. A current-regulated
arc modulator was developed to run the ion source at a constant arc current,
providing very stable beam outputs during operations. In order to reduce beam
noise, the addition of small amounts of N2 gas was explored, as well as testing
different cathode shapes with increasing plasma volume. This paper summarizes
the studies and modifications done in the source over the last three years with
the aim of improving its stability, reliability and overall performance.
