I used one of the Jupiter GPS receivers that has a 10 KHz output to control my
10 GHz LO to discipline one of the common "brick" type of microwave
oscillators. These oscillators have an internal crystal oscillator (106.6 MHz
for a 10.224 GHz LO) that is multiplied up to the needed microwave frequency.
I divided the 106.5 MHz oscillator frequency down to 10 KHz that was then
compared to the 10 KHz output from the Jupiter. The control loop is very
simple: a single op amp, a resistor, and a large capacitor. The response time
is extremely slow - 5 to 10 seconds or more. All I wanted was to nudge the
crystal oscillator onto frequency.
>From a warm GPS start, the LO is within 1 to 2 HZ at 10.224 GHZ within 45 to
>60 seconds from power on.
The hardest part was designing the divider circuit to get 10 KHz from the 106.6
MHz oscillator.
Tom
WB6UZZ
From: Eric Haskell <[email protected]>
To: Time Nuts <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2016 11:06 AM
Subject: [time-nuts] Using GPSDO as a Refrence for Protable Amateur Radio
Microwave Operations
Hello Time Nuts, I have been on the group and have promoted it to other folks
for a while but this may be my first post here.
I am microwave amateur radio operator and I have question to pose relating to
the use of GPSDO's with amateur radio for microwave communication.
First, the more generic question. A friend was discussing using a eBay
purchased Trimble 57963-D for providing a 10 MHz refrence for his portable
microwave station (primarly at 10GHz). He wants a clean high stability 10 MHz
refrence mainly to lock the station LO. First I think a GPSDO is overkill for
this application and I am thinking that a good surplus ovenized crystal
oscillator should get him to within a few Hz after warm up and a Rb could do
better but may have short term stability that may degrade phase noise of the
LO. I am concerned that a GPSDO is not designed for portable operations.
Moving it should probably force a new site survey which may take a day or more
to complete before it goes into disciplining mode so you would loose any
potential benefit of a GPSDO by moving around frequently. If he wants to do
this I think he should leave it connected at his home location for an extended
time (several days at least), then when he want to go portable (roving), h
e should
disconnect the GPS antenna entirely to force the unit into holdover mode
maintain continuous power with battery backup which should maintain the
internal OCXO very close to the target frequence and allow the holdover
algorithm to compensate for OCXO for aging and best it can. I would guess that
if he chooses to used the GPSDO with the antenna connected it would probably
never exit the site survey mode and you would have the output default to the
last known good DAC value when it was been disciplined so it would be operating
as a OCXO only (although potentially starting from a very accurate starting
point, if it had been in use at a fixed location for a good while) before going
portable. Is this a correct view of the situation? Any recommendations?
I also know of a fellow who has developed some excellent open source Linux
software to drive an Ettus Research USRP microwave SDR transceiver for amateur
radio microwave applications. His code also has features to calculate antenna
baring and with other available code compensates for satellite Doppler shift
and/or synchronize digital communication modes using the GPS coordinates and
timing data. He has a built in interface for a Trimble Thunderbolt for this
purpose. I think it also might be a better solution to use a OCXO for 10 MHz
and a cheap USB GPS sensor for location? Is there a cheep USB GPS that
provides PPS? Any recommendations?
I have seen simpler GPS controlled 10 MHz sources like the Miller design that
divides down a 10 MHz ref and compares it to a 10 KHz output from a Jupiter T
GPS to tweak the ref freq that may or may not be better suited to this
application as it may add phase noise to the LO but would be more real time in
it's GPS correction to the reference frequency.
Regards,
Norman Eric Haskell
KC4YOE
Keller, TX USA
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