Joe, You are bust greasing an already slippery slope. :)
-John ================== > Eugene, > > Welcome to the list and beware of how 'addicting' this can be. I started > out with your exact same purpose, minus all the equipment you have, and am > still a 'newbie'. > > First question is do you want a 'primary' standard (in essence, one that > does not need to be calibrated) or a secondary standard? The two > practical > choices for a primary standard are a GPSDO and a Cesium Beam Standard. > For > a secondary standard, Rubidium based oscillators or a good OCXO would seem > the most practical. > > The Thunderbolt is a good choice and I do not know if the OCXO in the unit > will make a big difference for your purposes. It does require +12 VDC, > -12 > VDC, and +5 VDC though. I am not a big fan of switching power supplies > for > this application. > > The Z3805A requires only a single power supply and the Z3816A (at least) > had > an option for 110 VAC. It tracks 8 sats. A single DC supply is likely > the > easiest to build a battery back up for for continuous operation. > > You can 'discipline' with a single sat once the site survey is complete > and, > again, the number of sats is not likely to be an issue for your purposes. > > You may have already found it but you might want to take a look at > http://www.realhamradio.com/ for additional information about the various > Z38xxA units. > > Beware the shipping fees from Yixun. > > And, finally, how will you know when your 'reference' fails? You will > probably want to get at least one, if not two, additional units so you can > leave one running and have another you can bring on line in relatively > short > order just to compare. > > Hope this helps. > > Joe > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of W2HX > Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2010 10:48 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Bulk] [time-nuts] ok, newbie questions > > > Hi all, I am sure my questions have been asked before. Unfortunately, the > mailman style archives are so hard to search through. So forgive me my > transgressions. Happy will I be to get a reference to an old thread that > answers my questions. Don't need new answers if old ones suffice. (of > course > new answers always welcome!) > > I am looking for a 10 MHz standard for my lab. Accuracy/stability > probably > wouldn't make a hill of beans difference in the stuff I do, so my > questions > are more academic and it's just nice knowing I have a "really good" > standard. > > 1. So from reading about this topic on KE5FX.com I understand that a > better > ocxo makes for better phase noise and near-term quality. I also > understand > that some later tbolts had a very good ocxo in them and therefore would > not > benefit significantly from an upgrade as ke5fx did using an HP 10811 unit. > I > am considering a thunderbolt advertised on ebay by "flyingbest." I will be > traveling to China (mainland, and Hong Kong) on business the last two > weeks > in December so I might save some shipping. Here is a photo. Can anyone > tell > me if this unit has a "better" 10811-class ocxo or "not so good "ocxo? I > also understand that not all ocxo's are created equal, even if they are > the > same model number. > > http://tinyurl.com/2dg2dz3 > > 2. Other GPS DO units seem to differ on the number of satellites they can > receive from simultaneously (channels). What is the net effect of having a > standard that can see 6,8 or 16 birds? Is noise averaged out? Is > stability/phase noise improved? Here is an example of a 16 sat unit. > Anyone > have any experience with this unit? Good/bad indifferent? It seems they > can > be had for about $200. > > http://tinyurl.com/2ad5kls > > 3. And then there is the venerable HP units like this one. I understand > this uses the 10811 ocxo. Other than the better ocxo, is there anything > inherently superior about these HP units to warrant the additional cost? > Or > are we mostly just paying for the HP name? This one is 6 sats. > > http://tinyurl.com/24tkwdv > > Lastly, my use of a 10 MHz standard will be for use in equipment like > microwave counters (EIP 548A), Spectrum analyzers (HP 8658B) VNA's (HP > 3577A, 8753C to 6 GHz), synthesizer (HP 3326A and HP 8662A), premium > receivers (Harris 590H), etc., etc. For these purposes, is a GPS DO > advised, > or perhaps a rubidium standard? For example, I don't need this to power a > clock. Just a good, clean, stable signal with low noise, low spurs, etc. > > What's the overall opinion? THANKS !!!! > > (here's to hoping this message looks better than the first two tests I > made) > 73 Eugene W2HX > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
