Certainly.  However I was addressing only the measurement capabilities of the 
timer with regard to its width, not the overall operation of the system. 

> On Apr 10, 2014, at 15:52, "Tom Miller" <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Don't you also need to wait for the GPS at first power up?
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Steinmetz" <[email protected]>
> To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement" 
> <[email protected]>
> Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2014 3:31 PM
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] First success with very simple, very low cost GPSDO
> 
> 
>> 
>>> I should have said warm start, not cold. I was referring to the code, not 
>>> the oscillator. So tell me, the OCXO is warm, there's no previous EFC 
>>> information to draw upon, and the oscillator is off-frequency by more than 
>>> can be measured with, let's say eight timer bits. What do those early 
>>> measurements tell me, and which direction from midway should the EFC be 
>>> adjusted?
>> 
>> That's why I suggested a timer.  Certainly, the delay chosen for a cold 
>> start would be excessive for a warm start, but I'm assuming that the GPSDOs 
>> we're discussing are not used in life-and-death circumstances where every 
>> second of unavailability is critical.  Whenever you power up -- warm or cold 
>> -- you wait (probably ~ 5 minutes) for availability.
>> 
>> Using the PPS to discipline the oscillator during warmup may seem like a 
>> good idea.  However:  (i) it will not be disciplined to useful time-nuts 
>> standards both because it is drifting and because the frequency is being set 
>> by the noisy, jittery GPS PPS signal.  But much worse, (ii) if the loop is 
>> fast enough to track the oscillator as it warms up, it is almost certainly 
>> too fast to give best performance at low to medium tau when the oscillator 
>> is warm, because the noisy, jittery PPS will be contributing to stability at 
>> tau where the nice, quiet OCXO should be in charge.
>> 
>> Precision takes time.  Time nuts can't afford to be impatient.
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> Charles
>> 
>> 
> 
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