Spend reasonable money. Learn, ask questions, rinse and repeat. It's how a mountain of stuff followed me home. Wife is cool with it.
Electrical fires are a learning experience. Try not to repeat those. On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 1:25 PM, Nathan Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello All, > I'm a ham radio operator, for just a few years, and electronics nut for many > more. I have been reading the archives and trying to learn a bit. I am > wanting > to develop an accurate frequency standard for "lab" and radio use. I see > that I > have 3 basic options that are possible on my budget, a decent OCXO-based > device, > a rubidium standard, and a GPSDO. My current uses are to supply accurate > timing > to a signal generator(not yet purchased, HP 8640/8650-something) and a > frequency > counter(Fluke 1953), mostly used in aligning radios. > In the near future I am hoping to expand that to a homebrew HF > transceiver(probably clocking a DDS chip of some sort), and some higher > frequency(possibly up to 10GHz) transverters. > So what I have learned so far about each option: > -OCXO is probably stable enough for what I am trying to do, but by itself > provides no guarantee of absolute accuracy(I'm looking at the microwave > operators "weapon of choice", the Isotemp 134-10), has an adjustment pin for > a > tuning voltage, but no idea what an appropriate value is for that voltage > without access to a more accurate standard. I will probably build an OCXO > device > of some kind anyway as an interim measure while I earn for the money to > obtain > something better, and to validate a distribution amp within the lab etc. > -Rubidium Standard seems like a very nice idea, but it's still not traceable > in > terms of absolute accuracy(although the adjustment range of the available > standards appears to be several orders of magnitude better than I am likely > to > need). The available standards are being re-imported from China, with > unknown > hours or life remaining, and in some cases unknown condition. They appear to > be > power hogs. A $200 gamble. > -GPSDOs have many options available, and are referenced to primary > standards. > Pretty sure this is where I want to go. I'm looking at Item# 231803015799 on > the > usual auction site, and this seems to be everything I need? I also looked at > item# 111514491254, but there doesn't seem to be any documentation about > what's > inside. > Am I missing key points here? Or am I headed on the right path? Appriciate > any > and all input. > Nathan KK4REY > > Sent using CloudMagic Email > [https://cloudmagic.com/k/d/mailapp?ct=pi&cv=7.4.15&pv=9.1&source=email_footer_2] > _______________________________________________ > 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.
