Mark,
Yes, the VFD on those counters do seem to have a limited lifetime. I
have some 20 years old that are getting hard to read in bright light.
If the VFD dies, yes, the counter will continue to measure just fine,
not only all the serial talk-only data output, but the full capability
of SCPI over GPIB. TimeLab won't know the difference. The downside is
that the custom little annunciation icons inside the VFD won't be
visible and those are sometimes quite useful, for example, to know the
status of "ext ref", or even the M/Hz/u/s units.
Here are some other ideas:
1) Just replace the dead / dying VFD. You can find NOS on eBay. Taka has
done this.
2) Use an Arduino or similar to capture the digital signals to the
display board containing the failed VFD to create a mirror of the
display. A multi-digit LCD module should work. Or try one of those nice
looking programmable OLED pixel displays.
Or, for a bit of nostalgia, not to mention a top spot on Hackaday, use
Nixie tubes for the readout and NE-2 bulbs for the status icons. Or get
modern and output the display over BLE and write a phone app as the display.
3) Instead of replacing the front panel readout, instead do all your
comms over SCPI, to the point where you have created a virtual
instrument, not unlike some of the logic analyzer or 'scope PC apps.
This solution would be very welcome by lots time-nuts. It means we could
fully operate our 53131/53132 counters with the VFD disabled. The
downsize is that it requires a GPIB (Prologix) adapter.
/tvb
On 10/22/2020 7:22 AM, Mark Spencer wrote:
I am just curious how viable would it be to use a 531xx series counter with
Timelab if the counter display has failed ?
Thanks in advance
Mark Spencer
[email protected]
604 762 4099
On Oct 22, 2020, at 6:36 AM, Bob kb8tq <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi
On Oct 22, 2020, at 7:50 AM, Giorgio Barinetti <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
As a newbie in the field, I've collected, by chance, some frequency standards.
Now is the time to measure them, and see how they perform.
I've inherited a 5371, but something tells me that is not the right instrument
- and maybe is even faulty.
So, I'm in the need to buy a counter to use togheter with TimeLab.
Choices are many, but I'll try to avoid the "older" machines lile 5370 or 5335.
The 531xx series seems nice ( money apart )
But again : which one between the 3 ? 53131, 53132 or 53181 ?
53181 = single channel 400 ps counter
53131 = dual channel 400 ps counter
53132 = dual channel 100 ps counter
5370 (when working) = dual channel 20 ps counter
The gotcha is that none of them are good enough to properly measure 1
second ADEV on a good ( but still could be cheap ) OCXO. A mixer based
setup is a cheap way to get things done, even with a 5335.
The 531xx counters all share a couple of issues:
1) The power supply was made by who knows who and their quality is not
the best. Good news is that the power supply out of a (cheap) 53181 will
swap over to revive an expensive 53132.
2) They have a fan, it plugs with dust. When that happens it gets hot inside
the cabinet. Things (like the power supply) die as a result.
3) They have a VFD display. It’s a nice one, but they do wear out. Replacing
them is problematic.
4) They have a fancy setup to add digits to a frequency measurement. It
can lead you astray. It also tends to go deaf right at 10 MHz. There are app
notes out there that explain the details.
5) With *any* counter, a good external reference is the way to go for “Time Nut”
grade measurements.
None of that is to say they are a bad counter, far from it. I have a number
of them and have been using them here and at work for decades. The 532xx
counters are the latest and greatest. They are on eBay, but not cheap.
Bob
Can somebody shed some light, and maybe help even to found a baseline for us
beginners ?
Regards,
IZ2JGB
Giorgio
My NTP servers: (ntpd on FreeBSD - PPS in via Serial)
HP/Symmetricom 55300A https://www.ntppool.org/scores/93.41.196.243
Efratom Rb/Xc GPSDO https://www.ntppool.org/scores/95.255.136.126
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