[time-nuts] New Member / Z3801

Hi guys Dave at ArtekManuals.com here. Long time electronics enthusiast/tinkerer/ ham radio op. Recently moved and am in the process of setting up my long dreamed of a planned electronics lab and radio shack (NR1DX). At the heart of the lab is a HP Z3801 GPSDO to provide an external 10MHz

[time-nuts] Z3801A Internal A/C Supply ??

OK if you followed the previous thread on this unit you will remember that the front half of my supply the reverse polarity and under/ over voltage switch is bad but the DC-DC converter half of the supply is good. I initially cut a trace and rerouted the power input to bypass the voltage

[time-nuts] update on Z3801A repairs

I had reported earlier that the power supply went south in my Z3801A ( and then the receiver) became a suspect as well In the final analysis I am not sure which went first the Z3801 supply or the external power supply I use to power the unit.Both have a clear failures.But both were down

[time-nuts] Z3801 Update with VP-Oncore 8Ch receiver

As noted in the earlier post my earlier I had a Z3801A in which the receiver would err out after as little as 20 min. this was 6CH Motorola Oncore which had I guess reached end of life after 20 years and 15,000 hours. A friend offered me a used 8CH Motorola VP-Oncore on the condition I report

Re: [time-nuts] OCXO Retrace

To further underscore Charles point and to add another dimension to the discussion.,The Z3801A that I have been working to bring back from intensive care in the last two weeks is sensitive to a very slight mechanical shock. The unit was laying open on the bench with all kinds of test clips

Re: [time-nuts] HPZ3801 Failure

Wes Some one reversed engineered the supply about 10 years ago and they posted the schematic on the WEBThe web link I have no longer works so I will email you the schematics of the supply direct. I will check to see if the files are not already up on KO4BB and if not I will post them up

[time-nuts] Z3801 Newbie Question

OK My Z3801A came out of mothballs after 15 years in controlled storage and appears to be behaving. now I am curious as to what I am seeing First I am not truly a "time" nut ( I am semi retired and have not worn a watch since October 12th 2008 :-) ). I am probably more of "frequency" nut .

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801 Newbie Question

Graham Symmetricom 58532A antenna, just above the roof, with 8 feet of RG213. Flat ( Florida) rural location with 360 degree view other than some trees. The GPS Antenna plot from Z38xx has filled in pretty much 360 degrees down to 20 degrees solid and in most directions to down to 15 degrees

Re: [time-nuts] 58503A does not track

Claude Are you using the same software on the same computer platform for the whole time? By example I have a Z3801 which works sometimes under Z38xx and sometimes not, while SATSTAT works all the time. I did find some flaky things going on with the software and was finding that I had to

Re: [time-nuts] Newbie questions

You will find the following discussion of dB useful http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-volt.htm dB references are not just for RF it is/was used extensively in audio work as well where it was often related to 600ohm load vs the 50ohm RF load As for DMM I have a Tektronix DM501A and a

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801 misbehaving

John What software are you running? Are you are getting the receiver health status at the bottom of the status page? Crank it back up and once the thing goes into HOLD check and tell me if the RCVR status says "err" Dave On 2/1/2016 9:52 AM, John Green wrote: After a couple of days of

[time-nuts] HP Z3801A Internal Power Supply issues

My Z3801A began to die over the last few days. It would work for an hour or two then produce a receiver error and communications problems. Turn it off, let it sit awhile, back on and it would start the survey and then begin to recover. Tonight it finally went dead with high current on the main

Re: [time-nuts] Serial-Ethernet

Joe The problem I had was also with a Belkin unit Dave On 2/25/2016 5:19 PM, Brent Gordon wrote: Joe, I've had good luck with Systech Terminal Servers on eBay. I've bought five of them for use at home and work and none of them have had any problems. Two port ones are around $20 and four

Re: [time-nuts] Z3815A front panel status indicator

On 2/26/2016 12:58 PM, Dickson Fu wrote: Hi all, A bit frustrated with my newly bought Z3815A. After power up, the "Block" indicator stays lit and no other LED turns on except Power indicator. It appears that GPS has never discipling. I cannot find any user manual for Z3815A and other hp

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801A holdover

Joe, Joe and Bob I am still not ready to condemn the receiver until we have more data.. Do you have any history on how many satellites you were tracking in the past, i.e are the number of sats being tracked and the sat strengths typical for your setup or are they noticeably lower now than in

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801A holdover

night. Attached is the graph you requested. If I read this correctly, yes, it looks like the unit has maxed out the EFC voltage one way. Joe Gray W5JG On Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 1:54 AM, Artek Manuals<manu...@artekmanuals.com> wrote: >On 2/24/2016 11:37 PM, Joseph Gray wrote: >> >&

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801A holdover

On 2/24/2016 11:37 PM, Joseph Gray wrote: I just took a look at my Z3801A that has been in holdover for some time. I have been too busy to do anything about it until now. Before looking at the receiver stats just now, my first guess was that the Oncore GPS board went bad. However, I see that it

Re: [time-nuts] Serial-Ethernet

On 2/25/2016 12:01 AM, Joseph Gray wrote: I just thought I'd report about a serial to Ethernet interface I just bought. I got one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ATV2DX2 At the moment it is hooked up to my Z3801A and I am using Z38XX.exe from across the network. Using the

[time-nuts] Effect of the Antenna Delay in setting in Z380!A

One of the commands for the Z38xx series involves setting the Antenna (feedline) delay.. Am I correct in assuming that the only thing this does is affect the X, Y & Z coordinate accuracy of the ground station? Time and frequency accuracy are not really a factor when it comes to the ANT:DELAY

Re: [time-nuts] GPS Outage

I have an ONCORE and VP-ONCORE neither were affected by the week 860 problem Dave NR1DX On 2/26/2016 6:34 AM, Björn wrote: "The product will not report the correct extended GPS week number after the Feb,13th 2016. After the rollover to week #860, the thunderbolt will not make position for 2

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801A holdover

of the ports. I moved the Z3801A to another port, to make sure that wasn't the problem. What I will do tonight when I get home is to see how many sats the Lucent is tracking. Joe Gray W5JG On Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 8:52 AM, Artek Manuals <manu...@artekmanuals.com> wrote: Joe, Joe and Bob I am

Re: [time-nuts] Trimble Thunderbolt error plot

Ben et all Business as usual here in Florida at 18:32 on Z3801A Dave NR1DX On 2/14/2016 1:33 PM, Ben Hall wrote: Interesting. My Z3801A got really angry a bit ago but never lost satellites: (plus attached if this list doesn't block

Re: [time-nuts] LAST CALL for Symmetricom 58532A antennas

Since I have been out of this loop for many years What is the "advantage" of one of these antennas over a common turnstile with a short feed line If I were to buy where do I order? I have no clue who David Zolden is or how to contact him? Dave NR1DX ArtekManuaLs.COM On 1/18/2016 1:53

Re: [time-nuts] low noise multiplication to 100 MHz

On 1/22/2016 12:20 PM, jimlux wrote: On 1/22/16 2:15 AM, REEVES Paul wrote: Why not use something like an HP5254B/C ? They give out 50MHz harmonics up to the low Ghz region, all filtered by a nice high-Q tuneable cavity. All to typical HP build quality. Of course, they have an amount of 'not

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801 misbehaving

John I am no expert but I have been playing ( A lot) with my Z3801 during the last month, after having it in storage for 15 years ! What software program are you running, under what operating system? Can you see the satellites being tracked in the receiver status window in SATSTAT? on the

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801 misbehaving

On 1/26/2016 12:54 AM, Hal Murray wrote: I'm thinking of trying a new GPS board next. A bad GPS board won't prevent communication to the main CPU. You might try capturing the output when you power it on. It sends out something. I forget what, probably the ID string.. If that doesn't work,

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801 misbehaving

there are two versions a 24V version and a 48V version ... If you look at the back of the Z3801 there will be a "dot" on which voltage your unit is powered for . ...The 48V version is the more common. Since your unit is going through the full LED cycle on 27V supply I suspect that you do have

Re: [time-nuts] MTI 260-0624-D OCXO

Bob is point on Said another way ...few of us consider the value of our time in these projects ..Lets say your personal time is worth $50/hour (cheap cheap for a professional today) let's say you have to spend 10 hours testing this oscillator that puts the real cost of the oscillator at $500+

[time-nuts] Lanch-3 order problems (LAST CALL for Symmetricom 58532A antennas)

On 2/20/2016 3:17 PM, Robert Watzlavick wrote: Has anybody had trouble getting their antennas? I exchanged emails with David and sent him $40 for one but I never received it. I've emailed him twice now with no response. Before I try to get my money back from PayPal, I thought I'd check to see

[time-nuts] Z3801A GPSDO discipline algorithm

Does anyone have knowledge of or better yet access to the algorithm or flow diagram of the GPSDO control process for the Z38xx family .. No real reason..just normal engineer curiosity but I would like to know what the unit takes into account, 1PPS error (or does it average x number of

Re: [time-nuts] HP Reliability

My bet is that the split between Medical and Test Equipment is to facilitate the eventual sale of one or the other division. As for reliability I have mostly HP and Tektronix in my stable with an odd Racal and Boonton piece here and there. The Boontons never fail ( arguably much simpler) but

Re: [time-nuts] Trimble Thunderbolt error

Interesting my Z3801A here in Florida reports no hold over errors for the last 72 hours A novice to the GPS community why are (apparently)only the Trimble units affected? Dave NR1DX On 2/14/2016 7:02 AM, Tom Van Baak wrote: This NANU just arrived: From:

Re: [time-nuts] Effect of the Antenna Delay in setting in Z380!A

On 2/29/2016 11:36 PM, Andy wrote: Dave wrote: For those of who might care I would assume that actually taking the coax and measuring the delay at 1.5GHZ would be better than relying on the manufactures published specs for velocity factor. I was going to set up and measure the delay with a

Re: [time-nuts] Difference between Oncore models

Joe The newer Motorola VP-Oncore receivers are known to be an improved design over the original Oncores that came with the Z3801A's . I have recently done some side by side comparison's with two z3801A's on the same antenna the newer Vp-Oncore's ran SS numbers 15-30 points higher on the

Re: [time-nuts] How to run Lady Heather under Windows10

On 3/17/2016 5:34 AM, Neville Michie wrote: Hi, a new laptop and a new problem, I can not find COM1, and the slash command on Lady Heather provokes a response that spaces and slash marks are illegal in file names. Any ideas? thanks, Neville Michie

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801A recovering

Joe I am confused by the fact that it shows the unit has been in HOLDOVER for 496 hours if you did a fresh survey Did you do a SYSTEM:PRESET: and GPS:POS:SURVEY:ONCE commands to initiate the new survey or just the survey command or What software are you running? I would power the

Re: [time-nuts] Thunderbolt Serial Port Shutdown

On 3/20/2016 2:10 AM, Dave Brown wrote: Are there any circumstances when the Thunderbolt serial port is disabled by firmware? My TB runs 24/7 but stopped the night before last for no apparent reason. I only discoverd this when I checked Lady Heather early yesterday.(19 March) LH had stopped

Re: [time-nuts] PRS 10 and serial port communication

The "inverter's" went by the jargon name of "null modem" back in the day ...if you google "null modem" you will find the wiring diagrmas for rolling your own with a couple DB9 connectors I have to use the null modem adapter when using a standard off the shelf serial cable with my z3801A

Re: [time-nuts] Antenna mounting location

On 3/8/2016 5:40 PM, Steve wrote: Hello all, I have a Trimble Bullet GPS antenna. Is the performance of those antennas affected if they are mounted adjacent to an aluminum awning? The awning is about 8ft X 15ft. The antenna would be a few inches to a few feet above the awning. My first thought

Re: [time-nuts] Raspberry PI 3 NTP server with GPS time data.

Jan IS the GPS antenna "outside" with a clear view of the sky say at least down to 20 degrees elevation or is it "inside" the building? Dave On 4/24/2016 2:51 PM, jan hugo prins wrote: Hi, To get a more stable NTP source into our production network I have started exprerimenting with a

Re: [time-nuts] Crazy PPS

On 5/2/2016 8:58 AM, Joseph Gray wrote: After replacing the GPS module in Z3801A #2, I fired it up and let it run. For over an hour, things looked OK, then the PPS TI/s rose dramatically. Later, it started back down, Other than a high HUP, everything else looked good. What would cause this to

Re: [time-nuts] Can a Symmetricom 58532A antenna and ham radio transmitters coexist?

Pete The reality is there are almost two many variables to predict the outcome 1) Proximity of the ham antennas vs the GPS antennas (obviously farther away is better) 2) Polarization of the ham antennas may or may not play a role 3) Direction the ham antennas is pointing. Pointing away from

Re: [time-nuts] Heathkit clock available

On 8/10/2016 11:31 AM, Nick Sayer via time-nuts wrote: Frankly, I don’t know why they didn’t make it a GPS clock. That would truly be a worthy successor to the GC-1000. Well, I do suspect I know why… and it’s not flattering. :) As I recall ( At 70 my memory is not quite as accurate as it

Re: [time-nuts] 5061B Service Manual, Page 8-57 (BEAM I, if LOW)

Christopher ManualsPlus closed it doors about a year ago so you will get no satisfaction there Send me a private email request and I will send you a copy of page 8-57 from our scan. Page 8-56 is a "blank" Dave manu...@artekmanuals.com On 7/16/2016 11:11 PM, Christopher Hoover wrote:

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent boxes

Dick Not rocket science ...go to KO4BB main page and enter "RFTGm" In the search box Dave NR1DX On 7/19/2016 12:42 PM, Richard W. Solomon wrote: KO4BB's site is massive, can you pin down the cable drawing ? Tnx, Dick, W1KSZ -Original Message- From: time-nuts

Re: [time-nuts] Lucent boxes

-Original Message- From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of Artek Manuals Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 10:19 AM To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Lucent boxes Dick Not rocket science ...go to KO4BB main page and enter

Re: [time-nuts] Speaking clock

On 8/8/2016 7:28 AM, Morris Odell wrote: Hi all, There was a thread about this a few weeks ago and I mentioned that I was working on one with a "Stephen Hawking" voice - well here's a video: https://youtu.be/lmg0YsHlB3g So far it's not GPS controlled but that will come one day. Cheers,

Re: [time-nuts] 10MHz to 25MHz

Dont know about this one but I know from some other venues that it can take a day or two for an episode that was aired this morning to actually show up the link may bew pointing to last weeks show still ...Try again on Monday or Tuesday Dave On 1/21/2017 5:00 PM, Bob Camp wrote: Hi

Re: [time-nuts] HP 5060A training manual

Frans We have it ..contact me off list Dave manu...@artekmanuals.com On 2/25/2017 7:13 AM, Electronics and Books via time-nuts wrote: is there a pdf of Hewlett Packard 5060A Cesium Beam Frequency Standard Training Manual 02127-2 Feb 1967 Met vriendelijke groeten Regards Frans

Re: [time-nuts] Thunderbolt Harmonics

R Is what your seeing a harmonic (2nd? 3rd?) or a spur i.e what frequency is the "harmonic" ? How are you measuring this ? (Spectrum analyzer ? make/model?) More importantly and at the risk of displaying my naivety, what is the application that you are using the 10MHz source to feed and why

Re: [time-nuts] Nutty time-nuttery with WWVB

On 11/10/2016 4:52 PM, Ruslan Nabioullin wrote: On 11/10/2016 07:18 AM, Peter Reilley wrote: I have a few of those "atomic" clocks that receive WWVB to set the time. However since I live on the east coast they may only pick up the signal once or twice per year. Could I implement my own

Re: [time-nuts] Satellite TV messed up, how is GPS time

On 11/4/2016 6:04 PM, Peter Vince wrote: Sorry Don, I beg to differ. The effects are often not noticeable in these days of digital television, but the noise-floor can definitely be seen to rise dramatically on a spectrum analyser. Regards (ex BBC TV, London) On 4 November 2016 at

[time-nuts] Commercial avionics GPS bruohaha

http://gpsworld.com/faa-suspends-approval-of-certain-navworx-ads-b-units/ -- Dave manu...@artekmanuals.com www.ArtekManuals.com ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to

Re: [time-nuts] quartz drift rates, linear or log

Tom et all While our instinct based on some "pre- knowledge" of the aging and drift processes is to try and fit these to linear or logarithmic curves there is a third possibility . That is, in fact the aging is not exactly either and may be better represented in fact be some kind of

Re: [time-nuts] HP 59309A Clock runs, sets via GPIB, but no GPIB output?

Frank One of the best places to store ROM dumps for easy access by everyon is KO4BB.com Dave NR1DX dit dit On 10/10/2016 3:20 AM, Francesco Messineo wrote: I have a dump of the 1818-2295A somewhere, it should be archived in one of my backups. I also made a replacement with a board having 2

[time-nuts] Original HP 5370B Ops + Service Manual 4 sale

All the talk a few weeks ago about the 5370B reminded me I have an original Operating & Service manual for the beast. This is a slightly earlier manual for serial prefix 2313A ( with no change pages) # 05390-90020. Pages are no longer glued in the binding so it you will need a 3 ring binder

[time-nuts] SOLD !!! Re: Original HP 5370B Ops + Service Manual 4 sale

On 12/7/2016 5:49 PM, Artek Manuals wrote: All the talk a few weeks ago about the 5370B reminded me I have an original Operating & Service manual for the beast. This is a slightly earlier manual for serial prefix 2313A ( with no change pages) # 05390-90020. Pages are no longer g

Re: [time-nuts] Line Voltage - USA

Vlad do you have that data for a longer period of time...say 3 to 6 months? Dave On 1/3/2017 11:05 AM, Vlad wrote: Speaking about MAIN... I was interesting to see if "leap second" event has correlation with MAIN frequency fluctuation Here is graphs for the MAIN periods recorded. Note:

Re: [time-nuts] HP 5062C Service Manual

Yes it does. http://artekmanuals.com/manuals/hp-manuals/ Dave manu...@artekmanuals.com On 1/8/2017 11:54 AM, Richard W. Solomon wrote: Does a Service Manual (not the Operating Manual, I have that) exist out in the wild for the HP 5062C ? To begin with I am looking for a Part Number

Re: [time-nuts] Survey plot as art.

Gary Only 1" ? (1" center to center or edge to edge spacing?) My gut reaction is that "coupling" between the two antennas may have some effect on some of the variation. You may in fact have unintentionally created a phased array. This phased array could favor one antenna in an particular

Re: [time-nuts] Why is holdover LED on HP 58503A not lit, when GPS lock is unlit too?

I believe the "Holdover" function only occurs when you you loose just the satellites Once locked disconnect the antenna for a minute and you will see the holdover LED light. IF the unit looses POWER it has no way of of powering the oscillator and its ovens ( to do a holdover) and has no

Re: [time-nuts] Cesium tube magnets

h oooh I want a set. ! any idea how many gauss? Dave On 4/8/2017 8:31 PM, cdel...@juno.com wrote: Here are some magnets from an HP Cesium tube. It shows one pair of state selection magnets, (there are two pairs in each tube), and the magnet for the ion pump. Cheers, Corby

Re: [time-nuts] Austron/ Systrom Donner 8181 Time Code Reader

Dave If you know the Zener voltage and the supply voltage then calculating a reasonable value for the series resistor is pretty straight forward Dave On 4/23/2017 2:31 PM, Dave Wood wrote: Bill, actually what happened is the zener diode that the resistor fed shorted and that's the reason

Re: [time-nuts] Specifications (Service manual?) for HP 00105-60xx oscillators?

There is a free copy of the 105A/B Manual floating around (BAMA or KO4BB?) contains osc. assy 00105-6005 Dave manu...@artekmanuals.com On 5/13/2017 4:45 PM, EB4APL wrote: Hi Ulf, I don't have a service manual, I think that it does not exist since HP stated that it was not a field

Re: [time-nuts] Fluke 207 VLF receiver info

Chris We have it both on Evil-Bay as a CD or from our WEB site ArtekManuals.com as a download .. High quality scan ...not free but not insulting, contact me off list if you need more info 73 Dave NR1Dx manu...@artekmanuals.com On 5/8/2017 3:24 PM, kc9ieq via time-nuts wrote: Hi all,

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801A and Z38XX Issues

You need the null modem adapter which reverses the TX and RX lines on one end of the cable. Also not all USB to Serial adapters work.. I bought an old laptop with a real serial port  at a junk computer shop for not much more than USB adapter to solve the RS-232 problem Dave On 9/16/2017 6:48

Re: [time-nuts] Z3801A

/2017 07:49 PM, Artek Manuals wrote: Magnus This is available for free download somewhere...not our scan .. reverse engineered Dave manu...@artekmanuals.com On 9/11/2017 1:12 PM, Magnus Danielson wrote: Fellow time-nuts, Does anyone has the schematic of the PSU-board in the Z3801A? Me

Re: [time-nuts] GPS Antenna Feed Line Decision

Clay LMR-400 is probably the best compromise , I doubt you will see any useful improvement in system performance as a result of the improved 1.5db loss characteristics of the larger cables. Losses due to atmospherics, ionospherics and multi-path will be an orders of magnitude  higher than the

[time-nuts] 5071A Reference Oscillator ?

One of the few things I dont have a manual for Can anyone tell me if there is an HP model number for the Reference Oscillator Assembly (A19) in the 5071A? Might be a  a 10544A ? Thanks, -- Dave manu...@artekmanuals.com www.ArtekManuals.com --- This email has been checked for viruses by

Re: [time-nuts] TruePosition GPSDO Holdover Issues

Nigel As I recall there is more to it than just the number of satellites. involved. Also factored in to all the math is the signal strength of the sats plus there relative angles to your spot on the earth. If all three are directly overhead the solution is not that accurate compared to if

Re: [time-nuts] nuts about position (cheap receiver)

To further Chris' question if I took data say on the same day every year can I measure which way my tectonic plate is moving and how far? -DC manu...@artekmanuals.com On 5/3/2018 10:17 AM, Chris Caudle wrote: On Wed, May 2, 2018 11:36 pm, Mark Sims wrote: have Heather do all the receiver

Re: [time-nuts] Skilled Math Editor(s) Needed

Perry et all As someone who indirectly makes a living (? ...ok so it pays for my addiction to expensive electronic toys) with OCR as a tool , I can tell you that OCR can bring a host of errors.Most OCR engines that i am familiar with do not read in context. The largest error source are

Re: [time-nuts] HP 107BR Ski Question

Perrier The manual we offer on our WEB site is centered on serial Prefix 512 with change sheets up to serial prefix 708. There are several changes, between the 512 and 708, different configuration of the A1Y1 , Coax changes, Powers Supply changes. Many many changes in circuit details between