Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread Attila Kinali
On Mon, 16 May 2011 00:01:54 +0200 (CEST) iov...@inwind.it iov...@inwind.it wrote: Heh.. I cheated and used a 3325B to make whatever frequency we wanted. (even better, you can use GPIB to change the frequency vs time to make a clock that displays unusual things like height above horizon or

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread iov...@inwind.it
The background of my request is an OT story. Just to mention briefly, I already have an ordinary (non-radio-controlled) clock machine which turns a miniature torsion balance in a sealed glass vessel. It runs on a single AA battery. No extreme accuracy needed. I wont to modify the rate to

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread Neville Michie
Antonio, it is quite easy to make an external circuit that uses a 32kHz xtal and divides it down to siderial seconds. It is also easy to drive most analog quartz clock movements from an external circuit. Just what signal do you need? What frequency? and what does it drive? (an alternate

Re: [time-nuts] basic question on GPS satellites

2011-05-16 Thread paul swed
ok Indeed now that its morning and different glasses I would have seen that. There you go dangerous at 11pm On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 11:39 PM, WB6BNQ wb6...@cox.net wrote: Paul, If you had read more carefully what I wrote you would see that I said better coax WHEN HE PUTS IT OUTSIDE. thank

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread brent evers
Can't you just use a programmable crystal? Digikey will do this for you prior to ship. Search on crystal, then under the field type, filter by Programmed by Digikey. Four types pop up as in stock. Not sure if they would meet you footprint requirement, but its worth a shot. Brent On Mon, May

Re: [time-nuts] basic question on GPS satellites

2011-05-16 Thread brent evers
Do you have a mask set on the signal level? I have two tbolts running that are completely surrounded by trees, and I was getting satellites popping in and out. I dropped the AMU to 0.0 and it is much more stable as to not dropping birds, although I have absolutley no idea what effect that might

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread Jim Lux
On 5/16/11 6:30 AM, brent evers wrote: Can't you just use a programmable crystal? Digikey will do this for you prior to ship. Search on crystal, then under the field type, filter by Programmed by Digikey. Four types pop up as in stock. Not sure if they would meet you footprint requirement,

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread brent evers
Nope - you're right - most don't go below 1MHz. Got a little loose with my K's and M's I guess. Kinda like - what's 3dB among friends? My apologies for the stray lead. Thanks for catching it Jim. Brent On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 10:21 AM, Jim Lux jim...@earthlink.net wrote: On 5/16/11 6:30 AM,

Re: [time-nuts] basic question on GPS satellites

2011-05-16 Thread Chris Albertson
Another way to go is to move the GPS receiver so that it is close to the antenna, then use a long RS232 serial cable. Or if the distance is more than 100 feet uses a balanced type of serieal. You can use Cat-5 cable for this and there ar enough pairs in cat-5 so that you can send DC power on the

Re: [time-nuts] Results parts selection + commercial assembly poll?

2011-05-16 Thread Bob Camp
Hi The polls ran for less than a day before they drew considerable fire for using too much bandwidth. Since we still had several steps to go (what to design, what to design it with, and who to design what), it was dropped. Doing a group general purpose FPGA based timing board isn't going to

Re: [time-nuts] Results parts selection + commercial assembly poll?

2011-05-16 Thread Bob Bownes
I'll add that for some reason the discussion never morphed over to an alternate list created just to discuss a counter project without taking up bandwidth here. Not sure that there was enough interest. Other Bob On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 11:53 AM, Bob Camp li...@rtty.us wrote: Hi The polls ran

Re: [time-nuts] Results parts selection + commercial assembly poll?

2011-05-16 Thread Bob Camp
Hi The issue that killed it was at least one member objecting quite strenuously to the bandwidth used. The counter project was the initial spark that started it all, but the objective of the polls was more general. You can indeed build a piece of hardware and then tell it what it is after it's

Re: [time-nuts] Results parts selection + commercial assembly poll?

2011-05-16 Thread Bob Bownes
I was more wondering why the discussion never moved, not why the project discussion died here. But this is probably enough bandwidth wasted again. :) On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 12:46 PM, Bob Camp li...@rtty.us wrote: Hi The issue that killed it was at least one member objecting quite

Re: [time-nuts] Results parts selection + commercial assembly poll?

2011-05-16 Thread Bill Hawkins
As I recall, the thread looked like marketing research for a profitable product, not design research for the benefit of list members. Part of the problem is that this list discourages off-list discussion by not providing the individual's email address. If the original poll request gave the

Re: [time-nuts] Results parts selection + commercial assembly poll?

2011-05-16 Thread Scott Newell
At 01:38 PM 5/16/2011, Bill Hawkins wrote: Part of the problem is that this list discourages off-list discussion by not providing the individual's email address. What? I'm looking at the from: header and see Bill Hawkins b...@iaxs.net. -- newell N5TNL

Re: [time-nuts] Results parts selection + commercial assembly poll?

2011-05-16 Thread Bob Camp
Hi I think the reference is to whole take it off line part of the discussion. The reasons for not doing so were explained at the time, so really don't require repeating again. Bob -Original Message- From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of Scott

Re: [time-nuts] Results parts selection + commercial assembly poll?

2011-05-16 Thread Tijd Dingen
Since the last few post on that alternate list were by me, and were never answered, my working assumption was much the same thing. Apparently not enough interest. Oh well, slowly plow forward on my own then. Which is a bit of a pity, since I am sure that with a few people (3 or so) this whole

Re: [time-nuts] basic question on GPS satellites

2011-05-16 Thread paul swed
Lots of good answers I do not select a mask Most of my rcvrs will guess are 10 degrees mask. But that just happens to be were they come in at. My antenna is at 45 foot on a 95 foot tower on the south side. There are 70 foot trees around me. I use 1/2 catv hard line very low loss and free. Hit a 4

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread iov...@inwind.it
Neville, at present I have not enough skill with micros to solve the problem. I think I will try modifying a crystal. This would not be that difficult using a lapping sheet or the like. And opening the can would be quite easy using hot air. This is the fastest way for me, and the device will

[time-nuts] Bob Camp - bounced email

2011-05-16 Thread Tijd Dingen
Apologies to the rest of the list ... @Bob Camp, Thank you for your e-mail! I tried to send you a reply twice, but both attempts bounced on what looks like spamcop handling mail for your domain. First attempt was a direct reply-to with a legit reply header. The second attempt was a new

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread Jim Lux
On 5/16/11 2:58 PM, iov...@inwind.it wrote: Neville, at present I have not enough skill with micros to solve the problem. I think I will try modifying a crystal. This would not be that difficult using a lapping sheet or the like. And opening the can would be quite easy using hot air. or a fine

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread Bruce Griffiths
Jim Lux wrote: On 5/16/11 2:58 PM, iov...@inwind.it wrote: Neville, at present I have not enough skill with micros to solve the problem. I think I will try modifying a crystal. This would not be that difficult using a lapping sheet or the like. And opening the can would be quite easy using

[time-nuts] DATUM 9390 Question...

2011-05-16 Thread Burt I. Weiner
Eugene, I have two of the DATUM 9390-5054 instruments with the original antennas and 100 foot feedline that I have above tree line and well in the clear. I have worked with many of this model receiver and my experience is that it is not uncommon for them to begin to gather satellites,

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread Neville Michie
Hi Antonio, the 32kHz Xtals are 2mm long tuning forks (that is what I believe although I have not opened one). You would have very little chance of modifying it and still have enough Q left for it to oscillate. As an alternative you could build an external circuit (a few uA at 3V supply)

Re: [time-nuts] Sidereal timekeeping

2011-05-16 Thread Hal Murray
As an alternative you could build an external circuit (a few uA at 3V supply) and generate a signal to inject into the existing Xtal osc with the Xtal removed. In a typical battery operated clock, what fraction of the power goes to the oscillator and counter and how much goes to the motor?

[time-nuts] Tek 2252 scope as an TI counter (pt 2)

2011-05-16 Thread Mark Spencer
A few months ago I mentioned that I was able to use my Tek 2252 scope as a Time interval counter.     Yesterday I wrote an EZ GPIB script (thanks to the author of this useful software !) to collect data via the GPIB port and after three runs alternately feeding 5 and 10 Mhz signals in to the