A spectroscopic analysis of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) J160043.6+074802.9, a binary system containing a pulsating subdwarf-O (sdO) star with a late-type companion, yields Teff = 70 000 ± 5000 K and log g = 5.25 ± 0.30, together with a most likely type of K3 V for the secondary star. We compare our results with atmospheric parameters derived by Fontaine et al. and in the context of existing evolution models for sdO stars. New and more extensive photometry is also presented which recovers most, but not all, frequencies found in an earlier paper. Therefore, it seems probable that some pulsation modes have variable amplitudes. A non-adiabatic pulsation analysis of uniform metallicity sdO models show those having log g > 5.3 to be more likely to be unstable and capable of driving pulsation in the observed frequency range. © 2009 RAS.