Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Michael Blazer
I always thought it was nice to have the pretty LEDs showing the power 
supplies are working, but then you have to find the one that's not lit.  
I've seen others that have a 'fail' indicator, but if the power supply 
is dead, what powers the fail LED.


The B-1B test stations have an interface board with status LEDs behind a 
smoked plexiglass door.  One version of the CCA has the 90° LEDs facing 
backwards.


Mike

On 5/15/2012 10:25 PM, Hal Murray wrote:

rich...@karlquist.com said:

FWIW, the E1938A oscillator control board had a "happy light" LED that
flashed 1 time per second, and sure enough this corrupted the power supply
and affected some applications.  We added a command to turn it off.

Why should lights blink when they are happy?

Your eye is real good at noticing blinking things.  Why not use blinking for
things that are broken and need attention?

Of course, with a PPS, blinking is an obvious thing to do: 1 resistor, 1 LED,
your eye does all the work.

I built a converter from blink on happy to blink on sad.  I've been happy
with it.




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Re: [time-nuts] Water Proof Vent

2012-05-16 Thread Robert Darlington
Take a look at porous PTFE products like POREX.  High gas
permeability, low liquid permeability.

-Bob

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:43 AM, Lee Mushel  wrote:
> Well, remember that Tyvek is not a vapor barrier---that's what makes it so
> useful but if you're going to  use it I suggest you review partial pressures
> and decide if the vapor movement is in the direction you want it!
>
> Lee
> - Original Message - From: "Brooke Clarke" 
> To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement"
> 
> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 10:05 AM
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Water Proof Vent
>
>
>
>> Hi:
>>
>> You might consider using a piece Tyvek material.  You can get it free from
>> the USPS in the form of a priority mailing envelope or at a construction
>> site where it's used to warp the outside of houses.
>> Passes water vapor and air but not water.
>>
>> Have Fun,
>>
>> Brooke Clarke
>> http://www.PRC68.com
>> http://www.end2partygovernment.com/Clarke4Congress.html
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Magnus Danielson

On 05/16/2012 07:42 PM, Dave Martindale wrote:

But if the LED transition was offset any significant amount of time from
the PPS, you wouldn't be able to use it to set your watch!

 Dave :-)


Well, the offset compensates for the protein computer delay.

Cheers,
Magnus



On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Magnus Danielson<
mag...@rubidium.dyndns.org>  wrote:



Then, to reduce the impact on the PPS signals, the LED on/off could be
forced to be phase-shifted to the PPS.




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Re: [time-nuts] LightSquared Bankrupt

2012-05-16 Thread jim s
The FCC needs to bow to laws (physics) and properly protect the GPS 
spectrum.  Despite pretty colored charts on the wall, the actual 
operation of some systems don't pay attention to the charts.


A friend of mine put a UHF tv station on the air many years ago, and had 
the same problem, actually worse.  His transmitter facility had a pager 
companies antenna on the same site as his transmitter.  They put in a 
lot of filtering but the level of his signal which leaked in was still 
significant enough to require work to keep the pager system going.  It 
was a type which had answer features, so had the pager answer back to 
various sites.


it was his (the TV station's) problem not the pager companies.  They 
also had to pay to replace some repeaters because the new station would 
interfere with that too.  Remote sites were using the frequency to relay 
other tv channels into remote areas (over mountains) and didn't care 
what frequency was used as long as they got their signal down.


On 5/15/2012 2:05 PM, John Darwin Powers wrote:

What Icahn might venture if he gained control of LightSquared spectrum 
represents another unknown on the GPS horizon.


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Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Dave Martindale
But if the LED transition was offset any significant amount of time from
the PPS, you wouldn't be able to use it to set your watch!

Dave :-)

On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Magnus Danielson <
mag...@rubidium.dyndns.org> wrote:

>
> Then, to reduce the impact on the PPS signals, the LED on/off could be
> forced to be phase-shifted to the PPS.
>
>
>
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Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Magnus Danielson

On 05/16/2012 02:21 PM, shali...@gmail.com wrote:

It would be very easy to use a constant current to drive the LED and simply 
short it periodically to provide the blinking without supply current 
variations. You would still have short transients in the drive circuit, but 
these should be much easier to filter.


Agreed. You could also have a pair of LEDs and alternate which of them 
is lit.


Then, to reduce the impact on the PPS signals, the LED on/off could be 
forced to be phase-shifted to the PPS.


Cheers,
Magnus

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Re: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar

2012-05-16 Thread Tom Knox

Hi Group;

I am looking forward to everyone getting together. I am open on times to
 meet since I live here I can be more flexible. I know Boulder (at least
 the good coffee shops) and could help with ideas for a meeting place depending 
on group size. 
Thanks for keeping me in the loop and let me know what I can do to help.
Best Wishes;
Thomas Knox

4475 Whitney Place
Boulder Colorado 80305

1-303-554-0307



> From: jmi...@pop.net
> To: time-nuts@febo.com
> Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 04:04:27 -0700
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar
> 
> I'll be there as well.  Glad to hear so many folks from the list are able to
> make the journey!
> 
> -- john
> 
> > -Original Message-
> > From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On
> > Behalf Of Magnus Danielson
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 12:54 AM
> > To: time-nuts@febo.com
> > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar
> > 
> > Dave,
> > 
> > On 05/16/2012 03:14 AM, David Bengtson wrote:
> > > I'll also be there for the seminar.
> > 
> > Cool! See you there.
> > 
> > As I mentioned in an off-list mail, I have some spare days so I will try
> > to use them to "get out" a little. Considering visiting WWVB for instance.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Magnus
> 
> 
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Re: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar

2012-05-16 Thread Jim Palfreyman
By announcing and bragging we expect a full and detailed report!

On Wednesday, 16 May 2012, John Miles wrote:

> I'll be there as well.  Glad to hear so many folks from the list are able
> to
> make the journey!
>
> -- john
>
> > -Original Message-
> > From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com  [mailto:
> time-nuts-boun...@febo.com ] On
> > Behalf Of Magnus Danielson
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 12:54 AM
> > To: time-nuts@febo.com 
> > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar
> >
> > Dave,
> >
> > On 05/16/2012 03:14 AM, David Bengtson wrote:
> > > I'll also be there for the seminar.
> >
> > Cool! See you there.
> >
> > As I mentioned in an off-list mail, I have some spare days so I will try
> > to use them to "get out" a little. Considering visiting WWVB for
> instance.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Magnus
>
>
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Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread shalimr9
It would be very easy to use a constant current to drive the LED and simply 
short it periodically to provide the blinking without supply current 
variations. You would still have short transients in the drive circuit, but 
these should be much easier to filter.

Didier KO4BB

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless thingy while I do other things...

-Original Message-
From: Magnus Danielson 
Sender: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com
Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 09:51:00 
To: 
Reply-To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement

Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

On 05/16/2012 05:25 AM, Hal Murray wrote:
>
> rich...@karlquist.com said:
>> FWIW, the E1938A oscillator control board had a "happy light" LED that
>> flashed 1 time per second, and sure enough this corrupted the power supply
>> and affected some applications.  We added a command to turn it off.
>
> Why should lights blink when they are happy?
>
> Your eye is real good at noticing blinking things.  Why not use blinking for
> things that are broken and need attention?
>
> Of course, with a PPS, blinking is an obvious thing to do: 1 resistor, 1 LED,
> your eye does all the work.
>
> I built a converter from blink on happy to blink on sad.  I've been happy
> with it.

If you have a timer trigger that invert the LED drive, when it gets 
stuck for whatever reason, then you will notice the lack of blinking. 
This is why happy blinking is being used. It's really a form of simple 
software debugging tool in its simplest form.

You could get a watchdog timer that would trigger an unhappy blinker. 
More hardware.

Cheers,
Magnus

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Re: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar

2012-05-16 Thread John Miles
I'll be there as well.  Glad to hear so many folks from the list are able to
make the journey!

-- john

> -Original Message-
> From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On
> Behalf Of Magnus Danielson
> Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 12:54 AM
> To: time-nuts@febo.com
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar
> 
> Dave,
> 
> On 05/16/2012 03:14 AM, David Bengtson wrote:
> > I'll also be there for the seminar.
> 
> Cool! See you there.
> 
> As I mentioned in an off-list mail, I have some spare days so I will try
> to use them to "get out" a little. Considering visiting WWVB for instance.
> 
> Cheers,
> Magnus


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Re: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar

2012-05-16 Thread Magnus Danielson

Dave,

On 05/16/2012 03:14 AM, David Bengtson wrote:

I'll also be there for the seminar.


Cool! See you there.

As I mentioned in an off-list mail, I have some spare days so I will try 
to use them to "get out" a little. Considering visiting WWVB for instance.


Cheers,
Magnus


Dave Bengtson


On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Tom Knox  wrote:


Hi Magnus;
I live in Boulder and would enjoy meeting you.
Best Wishes;
Thomas Knox




Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 23:40:27 +0200
From: mag...@rubidium.dyndns.org
To: time-nuts@febo.com
Subject: [time-nuts] NIST Time and Frequency Metrology Seminar

Dear Time-nuts,

I'm going to the NIST seminar this year, anyone else going? Any fellow
time-nuts in Boulder area I should meet and visit?

Cheers,
Magnus

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Re: [time-nuts] Why are 1PPS signals so skinny?

2012-05-16 Thread Magnus Danielson

On 05/16/2012 05:25 AM, Hal Murray wrote:


rich...@karlquist.com said:

FWIW, the E1938A oscillator control board had a "happy light" LED that
flashed 1 time per second, and sure enough this corrupted the power supply
and affected some applications.  We added a command to turn it off.


Why should lights blink when they are happy?

Your eye is real good at noticing blinking things.  Why not use blinking for
things that are broken and need attention?

Of course, with a PPS, blinking is an obvious thing to do: 1 resistor, 1 LED,
your eye does all the work.

I built a converter from blink on happy to blink on sad.  I've been happy
with it.


If you have a timer trigger that invert the LED drive, when it gets 
stuck for whatever reason, then you will notice the lack of blinking. 
This is why happy blinking is being used. It's really a form of simple 
software debugging tool in its simplest form.


You could get a watchdog timer that would trigger an unhappy blinker. 
More hardware.


Cheers,
Magnus

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