[time-nuts] Advice on a freq time standard.
I am looking for a time/frequency standard for use with my ham radio and test equipment. There seem to be several surplus units available at inexpensive prices. I bought a Z3801A/58503A which would have meet my needs but had to return it when I found that the firmware would not control the outer oven. I am seeing Z3816A's and Tbird units that seem to be readily available at reasonable prices and I am wondering if I need to continue to look for a Z3801A with the HP 10811 OCXO or if either the Z3816A or the Tbird unit would be a good replacement to generate a 10 MHz signal with a 10 -12 spec locked to the GPS satellites. If either of these two are acceptable which is the best and are there any gotchas to look out for. Reading this group is being very informative and I would appreciate any suggestion. Thanks, Jerry W5RCQ ___ 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] Advice on a freq time standard.
Hi Jerry, I use a Tbolt for my shack standard. It locks my Kenwood TS-850 and all my counters and signal generators. They are excellent units for this job. I use the TAPR TADD-2 distribution board kits to distribute the signal to each device. http://www.tapr.org/kits_tadd-2.html I also have the Trimble hooked up to an old pc along with the PPS signal to provide a Stratum 1 clock reference for my computers. I also have a rubidium standard locking my Icom IC-910. This is a portable unit that I use in the field. You can read more about it here http://bmarc.org/TechCorner/locking-icom-ic-910-rubidium-standard regards Tim -- VK2XTT :: QF56if :: BMARC :: WIA :: AMSAT-VK :: AMSAT ___ 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] Advice on a freq time standard.
Jerry-- We'll be happy to give you advice, and that advice will be worth every penny you've paid for it! Some of us on the list find a GPSDO (such as a thunderbolt, or Z3801A/58503A) quite adequate for providing time and frequency for racks of test gear. Add a distribution amp (such as the TAPR one) and you can serve 10 MHZ to lots of gear. With something like a tbolt and the Lady Heather program running on a spare PC, you'll have not only disciplined frequency, but a good time standard as well. You didn't say what you wanted to do as far as the ham gear was concerned. If it's providing a frequency standard to gear in the shack, a GPSDO should work well; one caveat being who wins when you transmit on the low bands such as 40 and 20 meters and RF is wandering about the shack. If you're looking for something to stabilize your 10 GHz and higher bricks while on mountain tops, a different answer may be better. I'll call myself a novice-time-nut, and offer my suggestion that a rubidium may be better for that kind of use, as once it warms up it will be on frequency and stay there; that warmup time is on the order of minutes, compared to the half hour or more for a GPSDO to figure things out. You could keep the rubidium trimmed with the shack GPSDO so it's pretty close when you need to haul it. As with ham radio, the price ranges associated with different levels of advice vary substantially. Watching the crazies on eBay can get you a good used rubidium for under $100, and a thunderbolt for about the same, or less if you're lucky. Then again, your own cesium standard might be nice... Don't know how it's going to interact with the Henry 4K in the corner of the room, but that's what makes these hobbies fun, right? 73 bob k6rtm in not yet raining again silicon valley -- Message: 8 Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2010 16:56:33 -0700 From: Jerry jreed...@cox.net Subject: [time-nuts] Advice on a freq time standard. To: time-nuts@febo.com Message-ID: aanlktimqkro7qfo+ef8ibyfdpkg-ht=won8c+nba7...@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I am looking for a time/frequency standard for use with my ham radio and test equipment. There seem to be several surplus units available at inexpensive prices. I bought a Z3801A/58503A which would have meet my needs but had to return it when I found that the firmware would not control the outer oven. I am seeing Z3816A's and Tbird units that seem to be readily available at reasonable prices and I am wondering if I need to continue to look for a Z3801A with the HP 10811 OCXO or if either the Z3816A or the Tbird unit would be a good replacement to generate a 10 MHz signal with a 10 -12 spec locked to the GPS satellites. If either of these two are acceptable which is the best and are there any gotchas to look out for. Reading this group is being very informative and I would appreciate any suggestion. Thanks, Jerry W5RCQ -- ___ 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] Advice on a freq time standard.
On 12/27/2010 01:54 AM, Tim Tuck wrote: Hi Jerry, I use a Tbolt for my shack standard. It locks my Kenwood TS-850 and all my counters and signal generators. They are excellent units for this job. I use the TAPR TADD-2 distribution board kits to distribute the signal to each device. http://www.tapr.org/kits_tadd-2.html Um, the TADD-3 is the distribution amp, the TADD-2 is a PIC-based divider, which I use myself. The Thunderbolt is a nice GPSDO so it should fit your needs. The Z3801A is also not a bad choice if it behaves. Cheers, Magnus ___ 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] Advice on a freq time standard.
On 27/12/2010 12:40, Magnus Danielson wrote: [ snip] Um, the TADD-3 is the distribution amp, the TADD-2 is a PIC-based divider, which I use myself. yup, my bad copied the wrong URL without looking too closely :) should have been this url for 10 mhz dist... http://www.tapr.org/kits_tadd-1.html cheers Tim -- VK2XTT :: QF56if :: BMARC :: WIA :: AMSAT-VK :: AMSAT ___ 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] Advice on a freq time standard.
Jerry, I have both and they work very well. There are programs available to monitor both the TBolt and the Z3816A. The Z3816A has an LED on the front panel to announce when it is 'locked' while the TBolt does not, thus the ability to get some information about the 'quality' of the signal without a computer. There is a small external LED monitor that is available on the Bay (300373959536) to connect to the TBolt to alleviate the need for a computer. No connection to the seller except a satisfied customer. Both communicate via an RS232 serial port. The Z3805A is also on the Bay and also communicates via an RS232 serial port although you will need to build a DB25 to DB9 adapter. You might want to look at http://www.realhamradio.com/ for a comparison of the Z3801A and the Z3816A. The oscillator for the Z3816A and the Z3805A is the same. I have used them as reference standards for my workshop but not for the ham shack. The TBolt requires +12 VDC, -12 VDC, and +5 VDC where the Z3816A requires about +24 VDC. Either way you cut it, to go portable, you will need some extra equipment. I suspect it is easier to build a +12 VDC supply for the TBolt than the Z3816A. As long as the antenna is stationary, the signal should be good once it is 'locked'. In a 'new' location, this can take upwards of an hour. In my shop, it is about 20 minutes. The Z3816A is a bit smaller than the Z3805A but a similar package and relatively easy to rack mount. The TBolt is a 'modular' item and could be incorporated in a box that includes a power supply and the LED monitor. Ideally, it could be a 12 VDC/120 VAC supply with connections to allow an external computer or the internal LED monitor to function. (I wonder if you could have both active at the same time?) This has been a plan of mine for 'a while' but not in action yet. Hope this helps. Joe -Original Message- From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of Jerry Sent: Sunday, December 26, 2010 5:57 PM To: time-nuts@febo.com Subject: [time-nuts] Advice on a freq time standard. I am looking for a time/frequency standard for use with my ham radio and test equipment. There seem to be several surplus units available at inexpensive prices. I bought a Z3801A/58503A which would have meet my needs but had to return it when I found that the firmware would not control the outer oven. I am seeing Z3816A's and Tbird units that seem to be readily available at reasonable prices and I am wondering if I need to continue to look for a Z3801A with the HP 10811 OCXO or if either the Z3816A or the Tbird unit would be a good replacement to generate a 10 MHz signal with a 10 -12 spec locked to the GPS satellites. If either of these two are acceptable which is the best and are there any gotchas to look out for. Reading this group is being very informative and I would appreciate any suggestion. Thanks, Jerry W5RCQ ___ 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. ___ 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.
