Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-17 Thread Tom Holmes
...@febo.com] On Behalf Of Magnus Danielson Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 10:57 AM To: time-nuts@febo.com Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? On 05/16/2012 02:21 PM, shali...@gmail.com wrote: It would be very easy to use a constant current to drive the LED and simply short

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny

2012-05-17 Thread Mike Naruta AA8K
On 05/17/2012 05:38 AM, Tom Holmes wrote: The LED current could also be switched with a very long rise/fall time so that there isn't any transient, in the abrupt sense of the word. Who's gonna see the difference? In a group that has GPS synchronized clock hands? HERESY! :) Tom Holmes,

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread MailLists
May 2012 20:44:04 To:time-nuts@febo.com Reply-To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@febo.com Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? On 5/14/2012 8:21 PM, Tom Van Baak wrote: one day during an experiment where I was comparing a large set

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Magnus Danielson
On 05/16/2012 05:25 AM, Hal Murray wrote: rich...@karlquist.com said: FWIW, the E1938A oscillator control board had a happy light LED that flashed 1 time per second, and sure enough this corrupted the power supply and affected some applications. We added a command to turn it off. Why should

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread shalimr9
@febo.com Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? On 05/16/2012 05:25 AM, Hal Murray wrote: rich...@karlquist.com said: FWIW, the E1938A oscillator control board had a happy light LED that flashed 1 time per second, and sure enough this corrupted the power supply and affected some

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Dave Martindale
But if the LED transition was offset any significant amount of time from the PPS, you wouldn't be able to use it to set your watch! Dave :-) On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Magnus Danielson mag...@rubidium.dyndns.org wrote: Then, to reduce the impact on the PPS signals, the LED on/off

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Magnus Danielson
On 05/16/2012 07:42 PM, Dave Martindale wrote: But if the LED transition was offset any significant amount of time from the PPS, you wouldn't be able to use it to set your watch! Dave :-) Well, the offset compensates for the protein computer delay. Cheers, Magnus On Wed, May 16, 2012

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Michael Blazer
I always thought it was nice to have the pretty LEDs showing the power supplies are working, but then you have to find the one that's not lit. I've seen others that have a 'fail' indicator, but if the power supply is dead, what powers the fail LED. The B-1B test stations have an interface

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread shalimr9
Message- From: Mike S mi...@flatsurface.com Sender: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com Date: Mon, 14 May 2012 20:44:04 To: time-nuts@febo.com Reply-To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@febo.com Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? On 5/14/2012 8

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread shalimr9
@febo.com Reply-To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@febo.com Cc: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurementtime-nuts@febo.com Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? These types of pulses should be routed as open-ended source-terminated

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Don Latham
: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurementtime-nuts@febo.com Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? These types of pulses should be routed as open-ended source-terminated reflected wave switched transmission lines. Power will only flow for nanoseconds as the pulse travels

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Azelio Boriani
: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? These types of pulses should be routed as open-ended source-terminated reflected wave switched transmission lines. Power will only flow for nanoseconds as the pulse travels over the line. There won't be a drop of 50% of the voltage at the target

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Mike S
On 5/15/2012 2:45 PM, shali...@gmail.com wrote: The narrow pulses are easily filtered by the power supply because the frequency distribution of the power consumption has a much smaller component at 1Hz. But, since PPS is the leading edge, if the power draw for a longer pulse width causes

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Azelio Boriani
seeing into the future for doing? Equalize the amplitude? Injecting/reducing the current to adjust the dV/dt? Can you explain? On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 9:47 PM, Mike S mi...@flatsurface.com wrote: On 5/15/2012 2:45 PM, shali...@gmail.com wrote: The narrow pulses are easily filtered by the

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread SAIDJACK
Yes, but the point is to not use end-termination for all the reasons mentioned by others in this thread, such as massive spike in power consumption once per second, over-voltage spikes if the termination is faulty or missing, higher ADEV due to power supply modulation, etc etc.. Your test

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Mike S
On 5/15/2012 3:59 PM, Azelio Boriani wrote: seeing into the future for doing? Equalize the amplitude? Injecting/reducing the current to adjust the dV/dt? Can you explain? Once the leading edge has occurred, the only information of significance has been transmitted. What happens after doesn't

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Attila Kinali
On Tue, 15 May 2012 15:47:46 -0400 Mike S mi...@flatsurface.com wrote: On 5/15/2012 2:45 PM, shali...@gmail.com wrote: The narrow pulses are easily filtered by the power supply because the frequency distribution of the power consumption has a much smaller component at 1Hz. But, since

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Dave Martindale
It is worth noting that skipping the end termination is probably a bad idea when daisy-chaining a signal from one output to more than one device input. The input at the end of the cable will see a clean rise from zero to 5 V (or whatever the driver's open-circuit voltage is), but the other inputs

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Mike S
On 5/15/2012 4:19 PM, Attila Kinali wrote: If the PPS pulse is short, it contains very little energy, which means the energy can be supplied by the small capacitors at the output driver. The longer the pulse gets, the more energy it needs. The pulse is meaningless. It's only the leading edge

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread SAIDJACK
Not really, your setup requires all inputs except the very last one to be high-impedance to work, and to have a trigger point of 1.25V as well to work properly (when used with a proper 50 Ohms source). So no difference there. So it doesn't make any difference, since the same exact inputs

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread SAIDJACK
Mike, Attila is trying to explain that the leading edge is not what we are concerned about in this thread (its subject to discussion in other email threads), it is the effect of what follows after that leading edge, and propagates down the power supplies to cause side effects that is

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Mike S
On 5/15/2012 5:14 PM, saidj...@aol.com wrote: it is the effect of what follows after that leading edge, and propagates down the power supplies to cause side effects that is being discussed here. I'm asking What side effects? I haven't seen any mentioned. And really, if an increase in power

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread SAIDJACK
QED: here is a phase noise plot of a 200ms 1PPS pulse showing up in the phase noise spectrum of a 10MHz source (at 1Hz to 10Hz offsets) because the unit was providing a 100mA current pulses into the cable, and power supply modulation of the 10MHz output happened inside the unit. The pulses

[time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Mark Sims
Easy, in a precision lab you NEVER turn off the lights. That causes too big a temperature shift. In fact, a warm body is a 100 watt heat source. That extra heat load can easily affect precision equipment. And that's why zombie technicians are in such high demand... the undead are always

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread SAIDJACK
Forgot to mention, on this list we are often concerned with noise floors of -170dBc or lower, and stabilities of 1E-013 or lower. At that level, your scenario of stepping into the room and turning on the light will likely cause a measurable effect just because of the mechanical vibration

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Hal Murray
saidj...@aol.com said: Also, the Thunderbolt has less than 5 Ohms output impedance, so you get a reflection going back from the 50 Ohms end-termination anyway because the impedance is mismatched! I think that's a different problem. If the far end termination matches the cable there won't

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread SAIDJACK
Yes, you are right of course. My bad. This should have been written as: The Thunderbolt has less than 5 Ohms output impedance, so if you get a reflection coming from the cable stubs or non-end-terminated cable back into the Thunderbolt, then you get ringing on the cable because the

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Attila Kinali
On Tue, 15 May 2012 16:51:13 -0400 Mike S mi...@flatsurface.com wrote: On 5/15/2012 4:19 PM, Attila Kinali wrote: If the PPS pulse is short, it contains very little energy, which means the energy can be supplied by the small capacitors at the output driver. The longer the pulse gets, the

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Attila Kinali
On Wed, 16 May 2012 00:40:07 +0200 Attila Kinali att...@kinali.ch wrote: Just have a look at [3]. The spurs you see there are most likely * 60Hz mains * 120Hz mains (first harmonic) * a nearby radio station (according to TVB) Err.. sorry, this should read John Ackermann, not TVB.

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Mark J. Blair
On May 14, 2012, at 09:33 , b...@lysator.liu.se wrote: More modern 3-5.5V into 50ohm, 20us. http://contracting.tacom.army.mil/majorsys/jab/DAGR%20Interface%20Specification.pdf Is a similar standard available for the older PLGR devices? -- Mark J. Blair, NF6X n...@nf6x.net

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Bill Hawkins
Jenny Craig? ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Rick Karlquist
saidj...@aol.com wrote: Yes, but the point is to not use end-termination for all the reasons mentioned by others in this thread, such as massive spike in power consumption once per second, over-voltage spikes if the termination is faulty or FWIW, the E1938A oscillator control board had a

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread David
On Tue, 15 May 2012 16:43:50 -0700, Rick Karlquist rich...@karlquist.com wrote: saidj...@aol.com wrote: Yes, but the point is to not use end-termination for all the reasons mentioned by others in this thread, such as massive spike in power consumption once per second, over-voltage spikes if

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Magnus Danielson
On 05/16/2012 01:43 AM, Rick Karlquist wrote: saidj...@aol.com wrote: Yes, but the point is to not use end-termination for all the reasons mentioned by others in this thread, such as massive spike in power consumption once per second, over-voltage spikes if the termination is faulty or FWIW,

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread shalimr9
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 15:47:46 To: time-nuts@febo.com Reply-To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@febo.com Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? On 5/15/2012 2:45 PM, shali...@gmail.com wrote: The narrow pulses are easily filtered

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread shalimr9
do other things... -Original Message- From: Mike S mi...@flatsurface.com Sender: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 17:23:41 To: time-nuts@febo.com Reply-To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@febo.com Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread SAIDJACK
Hi Rick, one reason why we happy blink at 1/2Hz :) There are other offendors as well, such as the processor and GPS going through the hoops once per second, but the 100mA surge from the 1PPS output driver trumps all else. bye, Said In a message dated 5/15/2012 16:44:08 Pacific

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread SAIDJACK
I met Jenny in 1987 - not that skinny at the time :) That was after she sold the company already. In a message dated 5/15/2012 16:41:34 Pacific Daylight Time, b...@iaxs.net writes: Jenny Craig? ___ time-nuts mailing list --

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread shalimr9
-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny? saidj...@aol.com said: Also, the Thunderbolt has less than 5 Ohms output impedance, so you get a reflection going back from the 50 Ohms end-termination anyway because the impedance is mismatched! I think that's a different problem. If the far end

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Mike S
On 5/15/2012 8:58 PM, shali...@gmail.com wrote: Mike, here is the effect of the A/C cycling on and off during a warm spring day on the delay through a piece of RG-8 cable maybe 3 feet long: You're comparing the effect of voltage droop due to a 10W load on a 120V (or 240V, for Euros) AC feed

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Dave Martindale
For what it's worth, that seems to be the standard way to distribute analog video (composite or component). A low-impedance voltage source with a gain of 2 drives a bunch of outputs with an individual 75 ohm series resistor for each output. Each cable that is connected to an output has a

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-15 Thread Hal Murray
rich...@karlquist.com said: FWIW, the E1938A oscillator control board had a happy light LED that flashed 1 time per second, and sure enough this corrupted the power supply and affected some applications. We added a command to turn it off. Why should lights blink when they are happy? Your

[time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Mark Sims
My first inclination, if I were building a timing receiver, would be to make the PPS output a nice, symmetrical square wave. But pretty much all GPS timing receivers output an anorexic, dinky little heroin addicted supermodel sized pulse (from 1 to 150uS wide is typical).

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Azelio Boriani
Feed a 5V 1Hz square wave into a 50OHM load and look at the power drain. Do the same with a 100uS pulse and smile at the difference. On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 5:23 PM, Mark Sims hol...@hotmail.com wrote: My first inclination, if I were building a timing receiver, would be to make the PPS

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread mike cook
Le 14/05/2012 17:23, Mark Sims a écrit : My first inclination, if I were building a timing receiver, would be to make the PPS output a nice, symmetrical square wave. But pretty much all GPS timing receivers output an anorexic, dinky little heroin addicted supermodel sized pulse (from 1

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread bg
Mark Azelio, Or even 10V into 50ohm, 20us... See figure 3-4 in ICD-GPS-060. http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/gps/ICD-GPS-060B.pdf More modern 3-5.5V into 50ohm, 20us. http://contracting.tacom.army.mil/majorsys/jab/DAGR%20Interface%20Specification.pdf Above are two standards

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Azelio Boriani
I thought it was only standard practice, now I see that there are standards and requirements too. On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 6:33 PM, b...@lysator.liu.se wrote: Mark Azelio, Or even 10V into 50ohm, 20us... See figure 3-4 in ICD-GPS-060. http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/gps/ICD-GPS-060B.pdf

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Chris Albertson
You don't want it symmetric. If it were then you'd not be able to notice if it was inverted. You need the asymmetry but the next question is how asymmetric? In theory all the information is on the raising edge of the pulse so you cam make it as short as you like and not loose any information.

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Rick Karlquist
Mark Sims wrote: My first inclination, if I were building a timing receiver, would be to make the PPS output a nice, symmetrical square wave. But pretty much all GPS timing receivers output an anorexic, dinky little heroin addicted supermodel sized pulse (from 1 to 150uS wide is

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Magnus Danielson
Mark, Azelio and Björn, On 05/14/2012 06:33 PM, b...@lysator.liu.se wrote: Mark Azelio, Or even 10V into 50ohm, 20us... See figure 3-4 in ICD-GPS-060. http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/gps/ICD-GPS-060B.pdf More modern 3-5.5V into 50ohm, 20us.

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Azelio Boriani
OK, thank you for the references. On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 9:20 PM, Magnus Danielson mag...@rubidium.dyndns.org wrote: Mark, Azelio and Björn, On 05/14/2012 06:33 PM, b...@lysator.liu.se wrote: Mark Azelio, Or even 10V into 50ohm, 20us... See figure 3-4 in ICD-GPS-060.

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Michael Blazer
Magnus, https://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/ is the search site for military standards. MIL-188-155 is not found. Could it be another dash number? Mike On 5/14/2012 2:20 PM, Magnus Danielson wrote: Mark, Azelio and Björn, On 05/14/2012 06:33 PM, b...@lysator.liu.se wrote: Mark

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Jim Hickstein
On 2012/05/14 18:02, time-nuts-requ...@febo.com wrote: https://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/ is the search site for military standards. Hmm. Doesn't find MIL-TGDBP-41. I got this from my (now late) great uncle, Bob Sedgwick -- who was to hydraulics what I am to computers, only he has a

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Azelio Boriani
Maybe the correct number is MIL-STD-188-115? On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 1:18 AM, Jim Hickstein j...@jxh.com wrote: On 2012/05/14 18:02, time-nuts-requ...@febo.com wrote: https://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/ is the search site for military standards. Hmm. Doesn't find MIL-TGDBP-41. I

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Michael Blazer
I haven't heard that one before. I try to slip in the TLAR check in all the test procedures I write. When 'they' ask, I look at it and say: That Looks About Right. Mike On 5/14/2012 6:18 PM, Jim Hickstein wrote: On 2012/05/14 18:02, time-nuts-requ...@febo.com wrote:

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Bob Camp
Hi I would bet that the basic electrical definition of the skinny PPS dates at least to the mid 50's if not earlier. Bob On May 14, 2012, at 3:20 PM, Magnus Danielson wrote: Mark, Azelio and Björn, On 05/14/2012 06:33 PM, b...@lysator.liu.se wrote: Mark Azelio, Or even 10V into

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Tom Van Baak
Mark, I too once preferred 50% duty cycle 1 Hz signals because they seemed more natural. But one day during an experiment where I was comparing a large set of clocks I noticed my lab's digital AC power meter was jumping by tens of watts every second. When a dozen DUT generate 1PPS along with

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Mike S
On 5/14/2012 8:21 PM, Tom Van Baak wrote: one day during an experiment where I was comparing a large set of clocks I noticed my lab's digital AC power meter was jumping by tens of watts every second. The last thing you want in a precision timing lab is to load your AC line down exactly once a

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Bob Camp
Hi If you want to avoid a crazy power supply, you decouple the power to the output amplifier on the PPS driver. Nice big caps, droop a little during the pulse. Charge up while there's no pulse. Bob On May 14, 2012, at 8:44 PM, Mike S wrote: On 5/14/2012 8:21 PM, Tom Van Baak wrote: one day

[time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Mark Sims
Tom, Send me your masers/cesiums and it'll save you the horrendous grief that those pesky pulsey signals are causing you... I still like 50:50 duty cycles. It makes das blinkenlights so much easier to see.

Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-14 Thread Said Jackson
These types of pulses should be routed as open-ended source-terminated reflected wave switched transmission lines. Power will only flow for nanoseconds as the pulse travels over the line. There won't be a drop of 50% of the voltage at the target and no large power spikes in the unit or