On 7/21/2016 4:56 PM, Nick Sayer via time-nuts wrote:
Oh my. That’s a bit more than I was originally considering… What I had in mind was adding a DAC front end to an OCXO so that you could tune the EFC with serial commands rather than analog and calling that a product.
20 years ago when HP was working on a so called "smart clock" GPS box, they decided to do what you said, use a DAC to tune the EFC on the E1938A oscillator. I recommended to them NOT to try to do that, but they didn't listen to me. At that time, it was nearly impossible to come up with a DAC, buffer amplifier, and voltage reference that didn't degrade the stability of the E1938A, which isn't even as stable as a 10811. What you need to ask yourself is: in 2016, can I finally get analog components that are an order of magnitude or two better than what was available in 1996? I don't know, without researching it. Certainly, we can't depend on Moore's law coming to the rescue. If anything, that works against analog IC's by obsoleting older analog processes. Also in 1996, phase microsteppers were already legacy technology and didn't have a good reputation for spectral purity. Another non-panacea. Rick _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.