Re: [time-nuts] 10MHz Rubidium reference source for frequency counter

2014-11-01 Thread Charles Steinmetz
John wrote: It seems to me that it's just a case of expecting too much from a counter. Possibly, but a well-tuned 5370B can get to the low e-12's at 1-10 seconds. It has better one-shot resolution than the Pendulum, but not by a factor of 10. So, I'd have thought the Pendulum would at

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Rex
Here's another reference on driving 10-ish MHz square wave outputs via digital chips. A few years ago I hacked my HP Z3816 to covert its 4 - 19.6608 MHz square wave outputs to be 4 more 10 MHz outputs. In the process I reverse engineered some of what was there. I found each of these outputs

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Stewart
Hi Bob et al, I don't understand the direction this question about the supercap has taken.  It's connected to pin 1 of the GPS receiver.  It looks to be a UT+, so that's the battery backup power.  According to my UT+ manual the current draw on this pin is between 5uA (at 2.5V) and 100uA (at

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Stewart
Hi Arthur, Now that you mention it, yes, I do remember your post.  Thanks for the reminder! Bob From: Arthur Dent golgarfrinc...@gmail.com To: time-nuts@febo.com Sent: Friday, October 31, 2014 9:20 PM Subject: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Hal Murray
We had something like that in school when I was a kid. (many years ago) I remember occasional click-click-click... as it got reset. mp...@clanbaker.org said: I am wondering what the easiest approach to this might be?I suppose I could take the 1-sec pulses from a GPSDO (Trimble

Re: [time-nuts] 10MHz Rubidium reference source for frequency counter

2014-11-01 Thread Hal Murray
csteinm...@yandex.com said: Yes, using TI mode is essential for getting down to the counter's limits. What's going on there? It's just a divide, right? Is the firmware not smart enough to do get enough precision? Do all counters have that problem? -- These are my opinions. I hate spam.

[time-nuts] HP Z3816A GPS

2014-11-01 Thread Don Murray via time-nuts
Hello All... My HP Z3816A GPS box is in need of some TLC. Is there anyone on the list who works on these units? TIA 73 Don W4WJ ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to

Re: [time-nuts] 10MHz Rubidium reference source for frequency counter

2014-11-01 Thread John Miles
It seems to me that it's just a case of expecting too much from a counter. Possibly, but a well-tuned 5370B can get to the low e-12's at 1-10 seconds. You can get down there with TI averaging, but the data you get is not ideal since the averaging process smooths out the very instabilities

Re: [time-nuts] Setting Clocks in the Mid 1800's

2014-11-01 Thread Sanjeev Gupta
On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 11:23 AM, Larry McDavid lmcda...@lmceng.com wrote: I gave a presentation on the Dent Dipleidoscope at the Harvard conference of the North American Sundial Society in 2013. If anyone is interested, I can provide a pdf of that presentation. The presentation includes

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Poul-Henning Kamp
In message 54544287.3000...@pacific.net, Brooke Clarke writes: Hi Bob: I suspect that inside a screen room like that one, where I'm guessing the walls are iron/steel, there's not much of the Earth's mag field left to null. That would be very counter productive, because you would

[time-nuts] Selling time to the railroad

2014-11-01 Thread Howard Davidson
The physics department at the little Liberal Arts college I went to in Iowa, Grinnell college, used to sell time to the Rock Island Railroad. We had two excellent pendulum clocks that back when this was in action, were synchronized to zenith crossings of particular stars. This was a manual

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Magnus Danielson
Hi Bob, The traditional Hg ion clock with it's 40,5 GHz frequency is doable, but it would be interesting if it could be commercialized at a (time-nuts) friendly price. The modern optical clock got much easier to work with when the frequency comb was invented. The frequency comb and stable

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Mike Seguin
Hi Arthur, Found your original picture/post. TNX! http://s906.photobucket.com/user/rjb1998/media/RFTG-uREF1photo1_zps87c505ca.jpg.html Would you share what you did for a 5 MHz buffer? Mike On 10/31/2014 10:20 PM, Arthur Dent wrote: Bob Stewart bob at evoria.net “…I have both of my units

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi The “easy way” is probably to take a GPS module and get the time out of that. There’s not a big need for a GPSDO in this case. The modules cost $20 and run on very little power. Mate the module up with your processor du-jour and let it figure out when the top of the hour is. There are a

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi On Oct 31, 2014, at 10:20 PM, Arthur Dent golgarfrinc...@gmail.com wrote: Bob Stewart bob at evoria.net “…I have both of my units sitting on the bench. I found that I needed to connect them together to get the REF1 unit to come out of standby….” Bob Camp kb8tq at n1k.org “I suspect

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi Well Q = CV. If delta V = 1 and C = 0.022 then Q = 0.022. That’s 22 ma for 1 second or 22 ua for 1,000 seconds. At 5 ua you would get to about an hour. If the delta V is 2X that, the times would all double. If the current is 10X lower than the spec (it might be …) then you could get out to

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi Quick question - What about the other pins? Do they hook up in the same manner? If so, what happens to the odd pin? Bob On Oct 31, 2014, at 10:41 PM, Tom Miller tmiller11...@verizon.net wrote: Task 1 complete. Pin-1 - Pin-15 Pin-2 - Pin- 14 Pin-3 - Pin- 13 ... ... Pin-14 -

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Self-setting / self-winding clock

2014-11-01 Thread Mike Baker
Time-Nutters-- This particular 1903 Railroad self-setting/winding pendulum regulated clock needed only an hourly signal from a Western Union telegraph line to provide momentary closure of a relay contact. This supplied +3 VDC to rewind the spring and also reset the sweep seconds hand on the

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock (Bob Camp)

2014-11-01 Thread Mitchell Janoff
I have Arduino and Parallax BS2 programs that check the time from a Motorola GPS card (UT) and then send out a pulse on an electronic relay once an hour. The pulse starts at 59:57 past the hour and ends at 59:59. The solenoid releases on each clock pretty close to the hour, and the clocks

Re: [time-nuts] Setting Clocks in the Mid 1800's

2014-11-01 Thread paul swed
I would be quite interested in reading your presentation also. Thank you Paul WB8TSL On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 3:14 AM, Sanjeev Gupta gha...@gmail.com wrote: On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 11:23 AM, Larry McDavid lmcda...@lmceng.com wrote: I gave a presentation on the Dent Dipleidoscope at the Harvard

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Bill Riches
I have the wall mounted version. I believe that the hour adjust solenoid took 100 volts or so. I will check my manual on the clock. At a minute before the top of the hour until a minute after the hour all traffic would stop on the WU lines and at the top of the hour a 100 v dc pulse came over

[time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Anthony Roby
I've been reading a lot about ADEV and following the threads on the list, particularly Karen's in-flight thread. What I haven't come across is a simple explanation of the basic setup required to go about collecting the data. John Miles referenced this page http://www.ke5fx.com/tpll.htm, and

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Anthony Roby
For those who missed it, Arthur's post is at https://www.febo.com/pipermail/time-nuts/2010-June/047825.html and the photo is at http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac262/rjb1998/RFTG-uREF1photo1_zps87c505ca.jpg Anthony -Original Message- From: time-nuts

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread paul swed
It certainly depends on your comfort with any particular technology. Be it discrete ICs or microprocessors what you ask for is indeed trivial to do. The hardest part may be building the pulse driver and thats not really hard. The telegraphs should have been a higher voltage to drive a 10-20 ma

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Self-setting / self-winding clock

2014-11-01 Thread paul swed
Mike I can't speak to the pendulum swing. I had seen clocks that did indeed have some form of mechanical lockout like you mention. So yes you are on target. Now we get to a bit of nitty gritty. When does the pulse arrive I suspect at 59:59. The goal is that the clock rolls up to 0 and is released

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread paul swed
Bill I responded to Mike there seems to be a number of threads running on this. So in fact you do have the telegraph coil in the clock. Makes sense to me. Thats why the 100 V they needed to drive 10-20 ma through the coil over distance and had to account for line loss. The boook you mention.

Re: [time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Azelio Boriani
Usually phase detectors (we prefer to call them Time Interval Analysers) have data interfaces (RS232, GPIB, LAN). If you build your own then the interface is up to you: usually an RS232 is the best choice. The software to use: take a look at the Miles' TimeLab www.ke5fx.com/timelab/readme.htm or

Re: [time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Anders Wallin
what you want to measure is a time-series of either frequency data or phase data. the simplest possible case for a beginner would be to have two clocks with 1-PPS (one pulse per second) outputs, and connect one clock to the start-input and the other to the stop-input of a time-interval counter. If

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread paul swed
Magnus, But for a time-nut how can price even enter into the conversation? Plus it only draws 10s of watts. A green super duper clock. Other comment I read is that there is no part that will wear out. Granted I suspect over many years something happens, but its not the typical CS depletion. I

[time-nuts] BBC TV program Click has material about GPS jamming and e Loran

2014-11-01 Thread Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd)
Click is a short TV program produced by the BBC about tech related things. Anyway, the issue I see today (1/11/2014) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04p21jv had a bit about GPS failure, GPS jamming, and use of eLORAN as a backup. *Hopefully* you can see it on the BBC iPlayer if interested,

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Magnus Danielson
Paul, You mean, as all time-nuts already have redundant sites with at least 4 5071As with high-performance tubes, redundant cesium and rubidium fointains, set of active hydrogen masers, with everything in tight temperature, humidity and pressure control, UPS and diesel-engines,

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Don Latham
Absolutely! but it's not just the price of the hardware. The clock has mercury in it. Horrors! So the paperwork involved with the EPA, OSHA, and who knows what other agency will cost more than the hardware. Best stick with a hydrogen clock, just stick an icepick in it when you want to get rid of

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Jim Lux
On 11/1/14, 9:08 AM, Magnus Danielson wrote: Paul, You mean, as all time-nuts already have redundant sites with at least 4 5071As with high-performance tubes, redundant cesium and rubidium fointains, set of active hydrogen masers, with everything in tight temperature, humidity and pressure

[time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Bruce Hunter via time-nuts
The Western Union clocks used in broadcasting up through the middle 70's were designed to be corrected through one-second current pulses over a standard 60 mA teletype loop. The clocks were wired in series like the old series Christmas-tree bulbs. Internally, the clocks employed two 1-1/2 V

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread GandalfG8--- via time-nuts
I've confirmed from the model number that the GPS module on these is indeed an Oncore UT+. There's a Synergy engineering note available regarding Oncore battery backup, and one place a copy can be found is here... http://f6fgz.free.fr/Fichiers/GPS/Backup_Battery_Considerations.pdf If so

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread paul swed
Magnus I would say that yes I do have various backups and none as good as any of this discussion. Agreeing with Jim much of this appears to me to be semi-reasonable and in particular in a amateur lab environment. But I am afraid thats just about how far I am going to get on the project. Its right

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Magnus Danielson
Jim, On 11/01/2014 05:49 PM, Jim Lux wrote: Having been to a few of the design reviews and such for the DSAC, and before, when it was called the 1 liter atomic clock, etc. I think one could build one *if* you have a fairly wide collection of skills, and you weren't hung up on it being tiny and

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Magnus Danielson
Paul, The lack of hydrogen masers here is disturbing. So is better cesiums tanked up and fresh. Will see what I can do with what I got. Fixing up rubidiums and cesiums is currently how far this lab goes. Cheers, Magnus On 11/01/2014 06:23 PM, paul swed wrote: Magnus I would say that yes

Re: [time-nuts] BBC TV program Click has material about GPS jammingand e Loran

2014-11-01 Thread Alan Melia
The politics of this system are a bit dubious as are the claims on accuracy and freedon from jamming. But it does give us another off-air frequency standard. Alan G3NYK - Original Message - From: Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd) drkir...@kirkbymicrowave.co.uk To: Discussion

Re: [time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Magnus Danielson
Anthony, On 11/01/2014 02:29 PM, Anthony Roby wrote: I've been reading a lot about ADEV and following the threads on the list, particularly Karen's in-flight thread. What I haven't come across is a simple explanation of the basic setup required to go about collecting the data. John Miles

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Jim Lux
On 11/1/14, 11:05 AM, Magnus Danielson wrote: Jim, However, if you were happy with lab grade construction, and you have the Kurt Lesker and Duniway catalogs as bedside reading, I think you'd have a chance. Yes. I guess a bit of baking out the build is also to be recommended. I guess most of

[time-nuts] HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base Question...

2014-11-01 Thread Burt I. Weiner
I was recently given a HP-5300B / 5308A counter. I thought it might be handy when I'm at an AM broadcast transmitter and needed to make rough frequency measurements. It turns out that at 1000 kHz it reads about 4.5 Hz high. Looking inside I'm not sure if there's a time base adjustment. I

Re: [time-nuts] HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base Question...

2014-11-01 Thread Tom Miller
Hi Bert, The service manual for the 5300B is on the keysight.com site under manuals. http://www.keysight.com/main/techSupport.jspx?searchT=5300Bid=5300B:epsg:propageMode=OVpid=5300B:epsg:procc=USlc=eng Do you have a frequency reference (house standard) that you can use to adjust the reference

Re: [time-nuts] HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base Question...

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi 4.5 Hz at 1 MHz is 4.5 ppm. That’s not out of the likely adjustment range on the basic crystal reference on a 5308. It’s probably a simple tweak to get it back into calibration. Bob On Nov 1, 2014, at 3:19 PM, Burt I. Weiner b...@att.net wrote: I was recently given a HP-5300B / 5308A

Re: [time-nuts] HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base Question...

2014-11-01 Thread Dave M
The time basse oscillator is only a crystal around a logic gate; not exciting at all. The adjustment is on the 5300A unit. There is a hole in the rear panel of the case that allows adjustment. You are going to need a calibrated standard of some kind to calibrate it against. The manuals

Re: [time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi The problem with setting up to measure any of this stuff is that it’s *very* dependent on the gear you have. There’s no big surprises below. It’s all “spend more money and have fewer things to figure out”. First you need a way to measure frequency out of your mixer (there are LOTS of ways

[time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Dan Drown
I'm experimenting with using a temperature sensor to estimate local oscillator frequency changes. My goal is to have a decent holdover clock for a NTP server with not so great GPS antenna placement. I've been sampling temperature every minute, measured by a DS18B20. I've been measuring

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Bill Riches
Book info amazon http://www.amazon.com/American-Clocks-Volume-Special-Self-Winding/dp/0930163 443/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8qid=1414869823sr=8-3-spellkeywords=american+cloc ks+tran+duyly 73, Bill, WA2DVU Bill I responded to Mike there seems to be a number of threads running on this. So in fact you

Re: [time-nuts] Mercury Ion Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi On Nov 1, 2014, at 2:35 PM, Jim Lux jim...@earthlink.net wrote: On 11/1/14, 11:05 AM, Magnus Danielson wrote: Jim, However, if you were happy with lab grade construction, and you have the Kurt Lesker and Duniway catalogs as bedside reading, I think you'd have a chance. Yes. I

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Brooke Clarke
Hi Mike: The hourly synchronization 1 second wide pulse turns on a second prior to the top of the hour and off at the top. But . . . . it's not a low voltage pulse, but rather each clock is in a series loop where the external resistance is more than an order of magnitude higher than the

Re: [time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi This sort of thing is normally done with a precisely controlled temperature chamber and multi day temperature ramp runs. Even then there is a bit of “wonder what that was, let’s try it again”. If you are looking at a crystal oscillator, what you have is a perturbation in the frequency /

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Brooke Clarke
Hi Bob: When we received new computers from HP and plugged them in the date/time was correct. I believe the DS32xx series of RTCs, like those in wrist watches run on almost no power. The trick is in getting a super cap with low leakage and low resistance. The super caps designed to keep memory

[time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Mark Sims
You could try submitting your data to zunzun.com It will fit it to around 40,000 different curves and find the best ones. Beware that with all curve fitting formulas, once your live data starts to wander out of the range of your original curve fit data, things can go rather badly...

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread GandalfG8--- via time-nuts
Well, I'm happy to report that Arthur's modification does do the trick, although I don't know why as I don't have any data for the interface as yet. I daren't disturb the 15 pin connector right now as this Z3811A PCB is still out of its case and connected to a breadboard with wires just

Re: [time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Anthony Roby
Thanks for this. I should have said that I have a Racal-Dana 1992 counter (with GPIB) and I have an Isotemp OCXO134-10, so its sounds like I just need the opamps, an RPD-1 and a GPIB-USB interface plus some software. I'll do a bit more digging around and see if I can get the GPIB up and

Re: [time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Anthony Roby
Thanks - seems that I should be able to do this with my Racal-Dana 1992 counter. Anthony -Original Message- From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of Magnus Danielson Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2014 1:29 PM To: time-nuts@febo.com Cc: mag...@rubidium.se Subject:

Re: [time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Dan Drown
Ok, I hadn't considered rate of change. This data is currently 3 day's worth and seems to repeat itself on both days at the same temperature point. Attached is a time based graph to show that. The ppm axis (on the right) is inverted to make it easier to see the relationship between the

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Brooke Clarke
Hi Hal: The click-click-click... is the self winding. A solenoid vibrates back and forth and a pawl and ratchet winds the main spring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIxOVo_0xgofeature=youtu.be Mail_Attachment -- Have Fun, Brooke Clarke http://www.PRC68.com

Re: [time-nuts] Setting Clocks in the Mid 1800's

2014-11-01 Thread Brooke Clarke
Hi Larry: Yes, please. Here's my Dent Dipleidoscope: http://www.prc68.com/I/Dent.shtml Mail_Attachment -- Have Fun, Brooke Clarke http://www.PRC68.com http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html http://www.prc68.com/I/DietNutrition.html Sanjeev Gupta wrote: On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 11:23

[time-nuts] HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base...

2014-11-01 Thread Burt I. Weiner
Tom Bob, Thanks for the comments and quick reply. Tom, when I originally did a google search I did not see the site that you sent, but from your guidance I did find the manual showing the frequency adjustment and I'm letting the 5300B/5308A combination counter heat up. From a cold

Re: [time-nuts] Selling time to the railroad

2014-11-01 Thread Brooke Clarke
Hi Howard: From what I know the USNO used a Photographic Zenity Tube that made use of a pool of Mercury and glass plate that was exposed 4 times for a single star meridian crossing. The plate was then read using what amounts to a microscope and large X-Y table and after doing some math the

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Brooke Clarke
Hi Bob: AFAICR on the old 6-channel Motorola GPS boards there was an option for a backup battery. Without the backup battery if there was any power interruption the memory would erase and you needed to do a cold start. Having the almanac and ephemeris, even if from a year ago has the effect

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Stewart
Didn't the clocks in cars back in the day use the same sort of thing to wind themselves?  Though I remember a single click every x minutes, not the vibration of a solenoid. Bob From: Brooke Clarke bro...@pacific.net To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Self-setting / self-winding clock

2014-11-01 Thread Brooke Clarke
Hi Mike: There's a heart shaped cam that forces the hour, minute and if the clock has one the second hand to 12:00 and holds them there until the sync pulse goes away. Note the second hand only was used on clocks in radio stations so they could join the network. For that 1 second was close

Re: [time-nuts] 10MHz Rubidium reference source for frequency counter

2014-11-01 Thread Angus
On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 23:40:04 -0400, you wrote: John wrote: It seems to me that it's just a case of expecting too much from a counter. Possibly, but a well-tuned 5370B can get to the low e-12's at 1-10 seconds. It has better one-shot resolution than the Pendulum, but not by a factor of 10.

Re: [time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Dan Drown
I gave zunzun a try and the one with the lowest root mean squared error was: f(x) = a( x**0.5) + b( x ) + c( sin(x) ) + d( cos(x) ) It got 0.202 RMSE, so I guess I'll stick with my original function as it seems to be closer to what I expect will happen at colder/hotter temps. You have a

Re: [time-nuts] 10MHz Rubidium reference source for frequency counter

2014-11-01 Thread Charles Steinmetz
Hal wrote: Yes, using TI mode is essential for getting down to the counter's limits. What's going on there? It's just a divide, right? Is the firmware not smart enough to do get enough precision? Do all counters have that problem? The raw TI data have all of the benefit of the

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Hal Murray
bro...@pacific.net said: The click-click-click... is the self winding. A solenoid vibrates back and forth and a pawl and ratchet winds the main spring. I don't think that's what I was referring to. It was a long time ago so my memory may be buggy. The click-click-click... that I remember

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812A GPSDO system

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi I think if you look at the math, the 0.022 F cap isn’t going to take care of the rated 20 uA current drain for very long. Bob On Nov 1, 2014, at 4:59 PM, Brooke Clarke bro...@pacific.net wrote: Hi Bob: When we received new computers from HP and plugged them in the date/time was

Re: [time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Hal Murray
ar...@antamy.com said: I'll do a bit more digging around and see if I can get the GPIB up and running in the next couple of weeks. I've been happy with the ProLogic GPIB-USB gizmo. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/549 It took some fiddling to get going, but I like chasing that sort of

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread Anthony Roby
I wasn't clear from the photo whether the circuit was a representation of what is on the board, and you just had to connect the pins listed together, or whether this was a new circuit that had to be inserted. Sounds like the latter? Anthony -Original Message- From: time-nuts

Re: [time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi On Nov 1, 2014, at 5:09 PM, Dan Drown dan-timen...@drown.org wrote: Ok, I hadn't considered rate of change. It’s one of the limits on this sort of thing in general. It’s even more of an issue with a coupled mode like the one you show. Since there are an enormous number of possible

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi It’s an added circuit you need to build up and add to the box. It fakes out the slave detection logic. Bob On Nov 1, 2014, at 6:41 PM, Anthony Roby ar...@antamy.com wrote: I wasn't clear from the photo whether the circuit was a representation of what is on the board, and you just had

Re: [time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Hal Murray
dan-timen...@drown.org said: I'm experimenting with using a temperature sensor to estimate local oscillator frequency changes. My goal is to have a decent holdover clock for a NTP server with not so great GPS antenna placement. This is for ntpd rather than chrony, but it's a good read:

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread GandalfG8--- via time-nuts
Hi Anthony, It's a new circuit that has to be inserted, which is what I've done, but I'm not sure whether or not it's strictly necessary for the unit to function or whether it's just there to get the lights sequencing properly and perhaps all that's needed for basic functionality are just

Re: [time-nuts] 1903 Railroad self-Winding / Self-setting Clock

2014-11-01 Thread Brooke Clarke
Hi Hal: I think there were a number of slave clock systems and some of them could do DST/ST changes and/or catch up from a power failure. That very well might have been what you heard. To me the winding sounds like a muffled air compressor. The setting sounds like Thunk. Mail_Attachment --

Re: [time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Chris Albertson
If this is just for holdover then I don't think you even want a general solution. Have the controller always keep the last few days of data for temperature vs. EFC value. Then if GPS fails use the most recent data for the current temperature. This makes for a self adapting system accounting for

Re: [time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Alan Melia
Mmmm yes you can see the equation evaluation starting to rise in your Warmer plot, as Mark says, which will make a nonsense of the formula if your summer temps get above 28. Why not a table and then interpolate between the table data points?. You might have more points where the changes are

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi If you: 1) Do not have two units (Ref 0 and Ref 1) — and — 2) Do not “fake out” the slave detect (= use the mod) Then the unit you have will not: 1) Enable the pps out 2) Enable the 15 MHz out It will try to disciple the OCXO, but you won’t be able to see any result of that. Bob On

[time-nuts] UPDATE: HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base...

2014-11-01 Thread Burt I. Weiner
The closest it will adjust is -2.5 Hz of 10. MHz. This unit differs from the one in the manual in that it has a Microsonics OCXO with the adjustment on the side of the module. The oven does not feel warm but is written on the side is: Adjust at 25 Deg C, which is about 77 degrees F.

Re: [time-nuts] Digital temperature compensation

2014-11-01 Thread Dan Drown
I think you have a good point - any model is going to have a larger error than the data itself. I'll be looking into this. Quoting Chris Albertson albertson.ch...@gmail.com: If this is just for holdover then I don't think you even want a general solution. Have the controller always keep

[time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread Arthur Dent
Keep in mind that I made the modifications to my RFTG-u REF 1 almost 4 years ago and the details of why I did what I did are kind of foggy today. It was a pure hack but I *believe* that the circuitry as well as the jumpers were required, or at least I thought so. The big problem with getting

Re: [time-nuts] UPDATE: HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base...

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi If the OCXO was not heating, it would be off by about 20 to 60 Hz. It’s close enough that it is getting power and heating up. If it does move when you fiddle the trimmer, that part is likely still connected. It sounds like the beast has simply aged further than it’s trim range. Bob On

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread GandalfG8--- via time-nuts
Hi Bob, I understand the consequences of not modifying the unit but, having done so and having a REF-1 unit running stand alone, I was just commenting that I wasn't sure whether or not it was necessary to implement all of Arthur's modification in order to enable the basic functionality, or

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread Bob Camp
Hi I’ve watched the two boxes fire up. They spend a bit of time blinking lights on this one and then on that one. From watching the “dance”, I think that the transistor delay circuit (or something like it) is indeed needed. There are multiple ways the delay and sequencing could be implemented.

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread GandalfG8--- via time-nuts
Hi Arthur, Thanks for the extra information, it sounds like you may well have answered my question:-) As I commented to Bob, I was hoping I might be able to find an option that didn't require any internal access, I knew that was a long shot anyway but I quite liked the idea of a plug and

Re: [time-nuts] Measuring ADEV for a beginner

2014-11-01 Thread Magnus Danielson
That will work as a starting-point. When you look at your ADEV plot, you will notice a 1/tau curve for the lower taus, that is due to your counters limitations. If you need to go below that, you need a better counter, but for the moment you should start believe the plot as it flattens out,

Re: [time-nuts] Setting Clocks in the Mid 1800's

2014-11-01 Thread Larry McDavid
Yes, that is one of the original 1843 dipleidoscope designs. All the original black finish seems to have been polished away, however. This original design used a lot of expensive brass. Later models used a cast brass {scroll base and a dipleidoscope body machined from a round brass bar; this

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361, HP/Symmetricom Z3809A, Z3810A, Z3811A, Z3812...

2014-11-01 Thread GandalfG8--- via time-nuts
That's one down side of course of only buying the REF-1 units, not having any idea of the normal behaviour. It's certainly sounding like any hopes of a purely passive solution is one for the wishful thinking department. I'd still like to minimise any internal modifications, and mounting

Re: [time-nuts] UPDATE: HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base...

2014-11-01 Thread Dave M
Are yu sure that it's an OXCO? According to the manual that I have, the only option for the 5300B counter unit was option 001, which added a TXCO. The manual doesn't give any data on the Option 001 oscillator, so can't confirm that your oscillator is TXCO or OXCO. If it's a TXCO, it won't get

[time-nuts] UPDATE: HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base...

2014-11-01 Thread Burt I. Weiner
Bob, Alas, I suspect you've hit the nail on the head. I'll probably wind up replacing the oscillator with something similar that I can make work. While I've got some pretty good counters in the racks in my workshop, the 5300B is a handy little counter to schlep around for low frequency

Re: [time-nuts] UPDATE: HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base...

2014-11-01 Thread Tom Miller
Bert, the normal oscillator is just a crystal. Option 001 is a TCXO, no oven. If you do not have opt 001, I would look for the second adjustment internally. Two are shown on the schematic. - Original Message - From: Burt I. Weiner b...@att.net To: time-nuts@febo.com Sent: Saturday,

Re: [time-nuts] UPDATE: HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base...

2014-11-01 Thread Scott McGrath
I've had a few of these over the years and option 001 is indeed a TCXO. Best bet for calibrating the TCXO is removing it from 5300B and tweak the osc on the bench Also remember these were designed as service grade counters for land mobile service not lab grade instruments. There are battery

Re: [time-nuts] UPDATE: HP 5300B - HP 5308A Counter Time Base...

2014-11-01 Thread Flemming Larsen
HP Agilent 05341-60047 10 MHZ Oscillator Microsonics 0960-0394 HP Agilent 05341-60047 10 MHZ Oscillator Microsonics ... US $99.00 Used in Business Industrial, Electrical Test Equipment, Test Equipment View on www.ebay.com Preview by Yahoo