[time-nuts] HP Stories: A Service Engineering perspective of the 5061A/B, and the incomparable Chuck Little

[Rice, Hugh (IPH Writing Systems)]

Years ago, an old HP Santa Clara Engineer attributed HP's service and support 
policies to Dave Packard:  "HP will provide outstanding service to our 
customers, and we will make money doing it."   Even in the late 1980s, 50 years 
after HP was founded, the legacy of Packard's influence was still strong in the 
Test and Measurement half of HP.   (The computer half, while bigger than T, 
wasn't the essence of historical HP like T)   HP was very proud of making 
the best test equipment in the world.  Remember, HP stood for "High 
Performance", and "High Price".   Keeping these products working well in 
customer hands was important.And making profits was important too.   
Packard made several famous speeches over the years where he made it clear that 
profits were the foundation of the company.  (When delivered to a group of 
General Managers, he would also make it clear if they couldn't manage their 
divisions profitably, he would find someone else who could.)   HP didn't exist 
just to make profits, but without profits we didn't exist.   And profitability 
was the best measure of a valued contribution to the market.

Santa Clara Division, which had the Frequency and Time products, had a 
department devoted to service and support, which included the team that wrote 
and edited the Service and Maintenance manuals for Frequency and Time products. 
 One of my jobs at the end of the 5061B development was to go through the 5061A 
manual, and update it to reflect the 5061B we were now selling.   We had 15 
years of 5061A production change orders to integrate, plus everything we fixed 
on the 5061B. Working with the tech writer assigned to the task, we went 
through the entire manual, line by line.   This was a great lesson in being 
thorough in the details, as the Service Manual was often the only document, 
both inside and outside of HP, which covered the entire product.  I've carried 
this lesson with me in the decades since.

The Service Engineering team was managed by Chuck Little, a cheerful fun loving 
guy, with his own "time-nuts" history.  He had been on some of the early 5060A 
"Flying Clock"  around the word trips HP sponsored  to demonstrate the theory 
of relativity, or to calibrate official time at different international 
locations.  Someone in marketing got the idea to publish a newsletter to 
customers called "The HP Standard", which had articles about future products, 
applications, and service information.   In this, they advertised "The Cesium 
Seminar," a one week class on tuning, servicing, troubleshooting and repairing 
the 5061A/B Cesium Beam Frequency Standards.   As the Production Engineer for 
the 5061B, I was recruited to help.  My job was to gather up a bunch of 5061s 
and assorted test equipment for use in the class, and loiter in the back of the 
room while Chuck taught the class.   There would be about a dozen students, 
split into small teams each with a test patient 5061 and troubleshooting gear.  
The classes were great fun.   The students were mostly senior technicians from 
high end standards labs. Many were X-military NCO "Tech Sergeant" type 
guys.  Many worked for the hard-core defense industry companies or their 
contractors.   They had all kinds of "interesting" stories to tell, especially 
to my young, unsophisticated, untraveled ears.

It was enlightening to observe the difference between seasoned technicians, and 
"engineers."   If you actually wanted something done, these were the guys to 
call.   Their knowledge of electronics was a lot more intuitive than 
classically trained engineers, and many had an appropriately cynical view of 
engineering.  Even HP had some engineers that were all theory, and frankly 
useless when it came time to actually do something useful.   You all know the 
type.   One of the biggest compliments I got from a few of them is that HP 
engineers (and me specifically) were not like the engineers at their companies. 
  First off, they were surprised we were not unionized, which gave us a lot of 
freedom in what we did.   And we actually showed the techs some respect, 
valuing their opinions and skills.

In leading the class, Chuck did two brilliant things.  First, he would go over 
the entire 5061A/B design, and explain from a high, system level perspective, 
how a Cesium Beam Frequency Standard worked. Attached is the overall block 
diagram if you are interested and want to follow along.   He would spend a day, 
starting at the overall block diagram level, and then slowly zoom into each sub 
system, drawing simple but useful pictures and diagrams on a big white board.   
I have a photo of him standing at the white board in front of a crude drawing 
of a CBT, with a silly grin on his face while explaining the operation of this 
amazing machine, telling stories and cracking jokes along the way.   His 
explanation would go something like this:

(If you want to follow along, download the block diagram from Chapter 8 of the 
5061B 

Re: [time-nuts] PPS clock module

[Tom Holmes]

John...

I have a nixie tube clock that I purchased at Hamvention about 10 years ago 
that had an optional chip which worked with a 1 PPS input. It was built around 
a PIC.

Tom Holmes, N8ZM

-Original Message-
From: time-nuts  On Behalf Of Bob kb8tq
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2019 4:34 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement 

Subject: Re: [time-nuts] PPS clock module

Hi

I don’t think anybody runs a clock off of a PPS :)  That would be nutty …. 

The closest I have seen is to womp up a “pulse 60 times” gizmo. Drive that off 
of the PPS. Feed the output 
into something designed for use in a bedside clock. I’d guess an 8 pin PIC and 
a few (dozen) lines of code
is the quick way to do it. The obvious problem is that if the PPS is correct, 
the clock is not going to roll over 
on the PPS edge (unless the module accepts the 60 pulses at a very fast rate 
….. who knows …. )

Bob

> On Jan 27, 2019, at 3:48 PM, John Ackermann N8UR  wrote:
> 
> I'm putting together a portable Rb standard and thought it would be nice to 
> include a clock on the panel.  I probably haven't hit the magic search words, 
> but I haven't found what I'm looking: a module (no enclosure) that is driven 
> by an external PPS and shows at least HH:MM:SS in 24 hour format on a small 
> LED or LCD display.
> 
> I can whip something together with an Arduino, but rather than reinvent the 
> wheel I thought I'd ask if anyone knows of something that's ready to go.
> 
> Thanks,
> John
> 
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to 
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

[time-nuts] Connector help?

[Mark Sims]

Before I got my multi-band splitter/amp I was using a HP-58517A 8 channel unit. 
  It worked reasonably well with GLONASS and BEIDOU L1.  GLONASS signal was a 
bit degraded and you would lose a few satellites.   I could even track GPS L2 
with an Ashtech Z12, but the L2 carrier phase / pseudorange data was rather 
iffy and getting a good L1/L2 position solution was rather difficult.

---

>Since the HP splitter will knock out everything that is not right on top of 
>GPS, are you
sure you want to go that route? 
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Connector help?

[Tom Knox]

Hi Martin;
The ones I have seen use an SMB.
Cheers;

Tom Knox

"Peace is not the absence of violence, but the presence of Justice" Both MLK 
and Albert Einstein


From: time-nuts  on behalf of Bob kb8tq 

Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2019 3:17 PM
To: martin.fl...@compdecon.org; Discussion of precise time and frequency 
measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Connector help?

Hi

Yes I know, this is beating a dead horse …..

Since the HP splitter will knock out everything that is not right on top of 
GPS, are you
sure you want to go that route? Yes it does depend a bit on the antenna. If 
it’s one of
the telecom / narrowband gizmos then the splitter will not have much affect.

I tend fo find that in a lab setting as broadband a feed as possible is a 
really good idea.
You never really know what will pop up on the bench next.

Bob

> On Jan 27, 2019, at 4:17 PM, Martin Flynn  wrote:
>
> Planning deployment of an HP 58516A GPS 1x4 antenna splitter with the  
> external power option (option 05Q)  at our makerspace.
>
> Anyone know what the mating DC connector is?
>
> martin
>
>
>
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to 
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Connector help?

[Tom Knox]

My mistake, I have a 58516A in my hand and it does look like an SMC
Cheers;

Tom Knox

"Peace is not the absence of violence, but the presence of Justice" Both MLK 
and Albert Einstein


From: time-nuts  on behalf of Clay Autery 

Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2019 3:52 PM
To: martin.fl...@compdecon.org; Discussion of precise time and frequency 
measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Connector help?

It is an SMC connector.  Hard to find and expensive, but worth it to insure 
that the DC power to the splitter doesn't get accidentally hooked to a signal 
I/O.
I've actually converted a non-ext DC 8 to 1 splitter to external DC.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
 Original message From: Martin Flynn 
 Date: 1/27/19  15:17  (GMT-06:00) To: 
time-nuts@lists.febo.com Subject: [time-nuts] Connector help?
Planning deployment of an HP 58516A GPS 1x4 antenna splitter with the
external power option (option 05Q)  at our makerspace.

Anyone know what the mating DC connector is?

martin



___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] PPS clock module

[Adrian Godwin]

Or you could go the other way and count it down to a pulse-per-minute, then
drive a clock intended for a pulsynetic or similar master clock system.
They will mostly be large analog clocks but digital clocks also exist.
Still intended for display rather than a panel, but a 19" rack panel would
fit.

I'm dividing down 10MHz to 50Hz using one of TvB's dividers, then
generating a 50Hz square wave at 6V. This powers a small LED clock intended
to be run from mains power via a transformer.




On Sun, Jan 27, 2019 at 10:01 PM Bob kb8tq  wrote:

> Hi
>
> I don’t think anybody runs a clock off of a PPS :)  That would be nutty ….
>
> The closest I have seen is to womp up a “pulse 60 times” gizmo. Drive that
> off of the PPS. Feed the output
> into something designed for use in a bedside clock. I’d guess an 8 pin PIC
> and a few (dozen) lines of code
> is the quick way to do it. The obvious problem is that if the PPS is
> correct, the clock is not going to roll over
> on the PPS edge (unless the module accepts the 60 pulses at a very fast
> rate ….. who knows …. )
>
> Bob
>
> > On Jan 27, 2019, at 3:48 PM, John Ackermann N8UR  wrote:
> >
> > I'm putting together a portable Rb standard and thought it would be nice
> to include a clock on the panel.  I probably haven't hit the magic search
> words, but I haven't found what I'm looking: a module (no enclosure) that
> is driven by an external PPS and shows at least HH:MM:SS in 24 hour format
> on a small LED or LCD display.
> >
> > I can whip something together with an Arduino, but rather than reinvent
> the wheel I thought I'd ask if anyone knows of something that's ready to go.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > John
> >
> > ___
> > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> > To unsubscribe, go to
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> > and follow the instructions there.
>
>
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.
>
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] PPS clock module

[paul swed]

This is what I found
http://qrp-labs.com/clockn
I have to say there are a lot of arduino code clocks since its a typical
starter project but you are right John. Doesn't seem common.
Regards
Paul
WB8TSL

On Sun, Jan 27, 2019 at 5:01 PM Bob kb8tq  wrote:

> Hi
>
> I don’t think anybody runs a clock off of a PPS :)  That would be nutty ….
>
> The closest I have seen is to womp up a “pulse 60 times” gizmo. Drive that
> off of the PPS. Feed the output
> into something designed for use in a bedside clock. I’d guess an 8 pin PIC
> and a few (dozen) lines of code
> is the quick way to do it. The obvious problem is that if the PPS is
> correct, the clock is not going to roll over
> on the PPS edge (unless the module accepts the 60 pulses at a very fast
> rate ….. who knows …. )
>
> Bob
>
> > On Jan 27, 2019, at 3:48 PM, John Ackermann N8UR  wrote:
> >
> > I'm putting together a portable Rb standard and thought it would be nice
> to include a clock on the panel.  I probably haven't hit the magic search
> words, but I haven't found what I'm looking: a module (no enclosure) that
> is driven by an external PPS and shows at least HH:MM:SS in 24 hour format
> on a small LED or LCD display.
> >
> > I can whip something together with an Arduino, but rather than reinvent
> the wheel I thought I'd ask if anyone knows of something that's ready to go.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > John
> >
> > ___
> > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> > To unsubscribe, go to
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> > and follow the instructions there.
>
>
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.
>
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] PPS clock module

[Bill Beam]

I went thru this several years ago and ended up home brew with the following 
circuit:

For adjustment of time indication I added switches to run hours and minutes at 
1 pps
rate and a switch to stop seconds. Some always on leds for colons to make it 
look
like a clock.
There are many other circuits out there but no complete commercial units.

On Sun, 27 Jan 2019 15:48:40 -0500, John Ackermann N8UR wrote:

>I'm putting together a portable Rb standard and thought it would be nice 
>to include a clock on the panel.  I probably haven't hit the magic 
>search words, but I haven't found what I'm looking: a module (no 
>enclosure) that is driven by an external PPS and shows at least HH:MM:SS 
>in 24 hour format on a small LED or LCD display.

>I can whip something together with an Arduino, but rather than reinvent 
>the wheel I thought I'd ask if anyone knows of something that's ready to go.

>Thanks,
>John

>___
>time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
>To unsubscribe, go to 
>http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
>and follow the instructions there.


Bill Beam
NL7F




___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Connector help?

[Clay Autery]

It is an SMC connector.  Hard to find and expensive, but worth it to insure 
that the DC power to the splitter doesn't get accidentally hooked to a signal 
I/O.
I've actually converted a non-ext DC 8 to 1 splitter to external DC.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
 Original message From: Martin Flynn 
 Date: 1/27/19  15:17  (GMT-06:00) To: 
time-nuts@lists.febo.com Subject: [time-nuts] Connector help? 
Planning deployment of an HP 58516A GPS 1x4 antenna splitter with the  
external power option (option 05Q)  at our makerspace.

Anyone know what the mating DC connector is?

martin



___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Connector help?

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

Yes I know, this is beating a dead horse …..

Since the HP splitter will knock out everything that is not right on top of 
GPS, are you
sure you want to go that route? Yes it does depend a bit on the antenna. If 
it’s one of 
the telecom / narrowband gizmos then the splitter will not have much affect. 

I tend fo find that in a lab setting as broadband a feed as possible is a 
really good idea. 
You never really know what will pop up on the bench next. 

Bob

> On Jan 27, 2019, at 4:17 PM, Martin Flynn  wrote:
> 
> Planning deployment of an HP 58516A GPS 1x4 antenna splitter with the  
> external power option (option 05Q)  at our makerspace.
> 
> Anyone know what the mating DC connector is?
> 
> martin
> 
> 
> 
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to 
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] PPS clock module

[Tim Shoppa]

Some of the 1970's era National Semiconductor clock modules and chips, you
could leave the 50/60Hz input unused and instead jam a PPS pulse into the
"colon blink" pin.

There were some commercial time display products into the 1990's that used
this and other NatSemi clock tricks. For example where I work we had
hundreds of public facing clocks that would jam-load 24 hour midnight
resets in for synchronization. 10 seconds before midnight we would jam load
midnight and hold it until midnight actually ticked over. On DST changes we
had to sync up to the next mornings time not the current time and once we
made the newspaper for accidentally closing an hour early that night :-)

Today - get an Arduino Nano clone ($3) and a 6-digit-7-segment module or
dot matrix module ($10).

Tim N3QE

On Sun, Jan 27, 2019 at 4:05 PM John Ackermann N8UR  wrote:

> I'm putting together a portable Rb standard and thought it would be nice
> to include a clock on the panel.  I probably haven't hit the magic
> search words, but I haven't found what I'm looking: a module (no
> enclosure) that is driven by an external PPS and shows at least HH:MM:SS
> in 24 hour format on a small LED or LCD display.
>
> I can whip something together with an Arduino, but rather than reinvent
> the wheel I thought I'd ask if anyone knows of something that's ready to
> go.
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.
>
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

[time-nuts] Connector help?

[Martin Flynn]

Planning deployment of an HP 58516A GPS 1x4 antenna splitter with the  
external power option (option 05Q)  at our makerspace.


Anyone know what the mating DC connector is?

martin



___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] PPS clock module

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

I don’t think anybody runs a clock off of a PPS :)  That would be nutty …. 

The closest I have seen is to womp up a “pulse 60 times” gizmo. Drive that off 
of the PPS. Feed the output 
into something designed for use in a bedside clock. I’d guess an 8 pin PIC and 
a few (dozen) lines of code
is the quick way to do it. The obvious problem is that if the PPS is correct, 
the clock is not going to roll over 
on the PPS edge (unless the module accepts the 60 pulses at a very fast rate 
….. who knows …. )

Bob

> On Jan 27, 2019, at 3:48 PM, John Ackermann N8UR  wrote:
> 
> I'm putting together a portable Rb standard and thought it would be nice to 
> include a clock on the panel.  I probably haven't hit the magic search words, 
> but I haven't found what I'm looking: a module (no enclosure) that is driven 
> by an external PPS and shows at least HH:MM:SS in 24 hour format on a small 
> LED or LCD display.
> 
> I can whip something together with an Arduino, but rather than reinvent the 
> wheel I thought I'd ask if anyone knows of something that's ready to go.
> 
> Thanks,
> John
> 
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to 
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

[time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[Mark Sims]

I'm currently using one of those sub-$100 Chinese multi-band antennas.  It 
works quite well.   With a L1/L2 survey grade receiver I get position error 
ellipses in the 6-10 mm range (amazing considering my horrible 
antenna/multipath environment).

Antenna feed is 50 feet of RG6 coax.  It feeds a multiband S18-NF 8 channel 
amplified splitter that I bought off of Ebay for $300. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-GPS-Source-p-n-S18-NF-GPS-8-Way-Splitter/323647194793?hash=item4b5ae046a9:g:d~AAAOSw9OFZNNxC:rk:89:pf:0
___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

[time-nuts] PPS clock module

[John Ackermann N8UR]

I'm putting together a portable Rb standard and thought it would be nice 
to include a clock on the panel.  I probably haven't hit the magic 
search words, but I haven't found what I'm looking: a module (no 
enclosure) that is driven by an external PPS and shows at least HH:MM:SS 
in 24 hour format on a small LED or LCD display.


I can whip something together with an Arduino, but rather than reinvent 
the wheel I thought I'd ask if anyone knows of something that's ready to go.


Thanks,
John

___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[jimlux]

On 1/27/19 6:24 AM, Bill Slade wrote:

Hi again,
The very best GNSS antennas tend to be based on suspended patch antenna
(air-dielectric) structures because they give the best
bandwidth/radiation efficiency (and hence, noise temperature)
performance.  The very best include choke-rings for multipath
suppression (Dorne-Margolin & variants), but these are costly items.



In the choke ring world, the typical elements I've seen recently tend to 
be crossed drooping dipoles


There's also the ever popular helibowl (a helix wound on a plastic cup 
(red Solo beer cup is a bit too big) in a metal bowl - think the things 
under a burner in a stove) - non-critical, wideband, etc.


https://www.febo.com/pipermail/time-nuts/2012-May/067138.html
One reference says Spitzmesser apparently based it on the "helicone"
Carver, K, "The Helicone - A Circularly Polarized Antenna with Low Side 
lobe Level" Proc IEEE, vol AP-55, #4, Apr 67, p559.


Maybe, maybe not - I get the impression it's a "lets try this and see if 
it works" antenna.



So I'm going to guess it's not the bit "IEEE Proceedings", but the Trans 
on Ant and Prop.



Helibowls don't have horizon to horizon coverage.





Miniature ceramic pucks can have pretty horrible radiation efficiency,
which degrades noise performance, so be careful when buying Chinese
cheapies.    I have actually seen commercial antennas where resistors
were added (before LNA) to improve antenna return loss!

On 27.01.19 14:28, Bob kb8tq wrote:

Hi

With things like the uBlox F9 now out on the market cheap …. I would go with
an antenna that will do L1 / L2 / L5 and work with everything that it up there.
You still are in the “under $100” range (delivered) for new product from China.
It’s a good bet that the guts of all of them are made there. It’s also a good 
bet
that they all are ceramic slab style designs.

Bob


On Jan 26, 2019, at 11:10 PM, Denny Page via time-nuts 
 wrote:

Hi all,

I’m looking for recommendations on an antenna / splitter configuration. I 
currently have six GPS/GLONASS/Galileo timing devices, each with it’s own puck 
antenna in a window. I have an opportunity to move to a (single) roof top 
antenna, with a splitter to feed the individual devices, and I am looking for 
recommendations on which antenna and splitter people would recommend.

So far, I am looking at the following antennas:

PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-26N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-reference-antenna-gnss1-tmg-26n/)

PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-40N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-antenna-gnss1-tmg-40n/)

And the following splitters:

GPS Networking ALDCBS1x8 (https://www.gpsnetworking.com/products/aldcbs1x8)

GPS Source S18 
(https://www.gpssource.com/collections/gps-splitter/products/s18-1x8-standard-gps-splitter)

The run from the antenna to the splitter will be 30-35 feet, and from the 
splitter to the units will be 3-5 feet. I’m wondering about the need for the 
40dB vs the 26dB. I haven’t looked at any passive splitters, but even with the 
40dB I’m thinking won’t offer enough to support even a 1x6 splitter.

I would appreciate any thoughts folk have to offer.

Thanks,
Denny


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.




___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

[time-nuts] GNSS Antennas (was: Rooftop antenna and splitter)

[Attila Kinali]

On Sun, 27 Jan 2019 14:24:52 +
Bill Slade  wrote:

> The very best GNSS antennas tend to be based on suspended patch antenna 
> (air-dielectric) structures because they give the best 
> bandwidth/radiation efficiency (and hence, noise temperature) 
> performance.

While it is true that air-patch antennas give good bandwidth
and radiation efficiency, they are not really ideal antennas
for GNSS applications. The main drawback is their quite high Q,
which results in high group delay variation. Another annoyance
is that patch antennas form wave guides between the radiating
element at the top and the ground plane at the bottom. This leads
to radiation out at the sides and thus increased side and backlobes,
which in turn limit both multipath surpression and the axial ratio
(ie the ratio between RHCP and LHCP radiation)

The cheap patch antennas also employ only a single feed-point, which,
due its asymmetry, leads to non-uniform radiation and phase patterns
(aka movements of the phase center). The "good" patch antennas thus
employ a four point feed, but this makes the whole antenna quite a
bit more expensive, as a 0°/90°/180°/270° phase spliter/hybrid is
needed. Of course, any such circuit is rather difficult to make
wide-band and thus becomes the bandwidth limiting element.

Of the common geodetic class antennas I am aware of, only the
Trimble Zephyr is a patch antenna[1], but with an rather complex
n-point feed. The Novatel PinWheel[2,3] is a variation of the
archimedian spiral antenna. Most of the single frequency geodetic
GPS antennas are, AFAIK, crossed dipoles, often combined with
a electromagnetic bandgap (e.g. choke rings) to increase impedance
towards low and negative elevations. I have seen bow-tie antennas
as well, but I do not know how common these are.

The jury is still out on what the best antenna structure for geodetic
work is, but it seems that it is more an issue of how much money
someone spends on optimizing the non-ideal behaviour than a fundamental
issue of the structure itself.

For more information on GNSS antennas, I recommend the book
by Rao et al. [4]. It's quite expensive if you buy it normally,
but Artech has some sale every half year. If you wait for the
right one you can get the book for 30-50% less.


Attila Kinali

[1] "The Design and Performance of the Zephyr Geodetic Antenna",
by Krantz, Riley, Large, 2001
https://kb.unavco.org/kb/file.php?id=135

[2] "A Novel GPS Survey Antenna", by Waldemar Kunysz, 2000
http://meridware.com.tw/NOVATEL/Documents/Papers/gps600antenna.pdf

[3] "High Performance GPS Pinwheel Antenna", by Waldemar Kunysz, 2000
http://webone.novatel.ca/assets/Documents/Papers/gps_pinwheel_ant.pdf

[4] "GPS/GNSS Antennas", by Rao, Kunysz, Fante, McDonald, 2013

-- 
The bad part of Zurich is where the degenerates
throw DARK chocolate at you.

___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

True indeed and for about $10,000 you can get pretty close to “the best”. If you
want to slum it, you can get “pretty good” for about $2,000.  If you are truly 
after high end performance new is the way to go. Getting the full  modern suite 
of signals on a used one …. not so much. Even getting a used one that isn’t a 
bit 
beat up may be a challenge. I have also seen used antennas listed for more
than they cost new …..

Since all that “best” stuff applies mainly to survey work, it’s not clear that 
one needs to spend that much for a timing antenna. In the context of 
what’s coming, you do very much want all the bands / all the signals /
all the services. That will matter, even for timing. At the very least the 
European
system should be a great timing source (as GPS already is). The Russian 
system keeps getting better. I have not seen a lot of papers showing the 
Chinese doing quite as well. I’d bet they will catch up if they have not
already. 

Why is best different for survey vs timing? For a good survey, you want
sat’s spread out all over the sky. That quickly gets you to sats that are
close to the horizon. Multipath it going to be an issue when you do that. 
For timing (with a well known static location of course) your best sat’s 
are straight overhead. (the path through the atmosphere is shorter, the 
path is easier to estimate / correct ). You set things like an elevation mask 
to toss out the sat's likely to give multipath. 

Lots of variables ….

Bob

> On Jan 27, 2019, at 9:24 AM, Bill Slade  wrote:
> 
> Hi again,
> The very best GNSS antennas tend to be based on suspended patch antenna 
> (air-dielectric) structures because they give the best 
> bandwidth/radiation efficiency (and hence, noise temperature) 
> performance.  The very best include choke-rings for multipath 
> suppression (Dorne-Margolin & variants), but these are costly items.  
> Miniature ceramic pucks can have pretty horrible radiation efficiency, 
> which degrades noise performance, so be careful when buying Chinese 
> cheapies.I have actually seen commercial antennas where resistors 
> were added (before LNA) to improve antenna return loss!
> 
> On 27.01.19 14:28, Bob kb8tq wrote:
>> Hi
>> 
>> With things like the uBlox F9 now out on the market cheap …. I would go with
>> an antenna that will do L1 / L2 / L5 and work with everything that it up 
>> there.
>> You still are in the “under $100” range (delivered) for new product from 
>> China.
>> It’s a good bet that the guts of all of them are made there. It’s also a 
>> good bet
>> that they all are ceramic slab style designs.
>> 
>> Bob
>> 
>>> On Jan 26, 2019, at 11:10 PM, Denny Page via time-nuts 
>>>  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi all,
>>> 
>>> I’m looking for recommendations on an antenna / splitter configuration. I 
>>> currently have six GPS/GLONASS/Galileo timing devices, each with it’s own 
>>> puck antenna in a window. I have an opportunity to move to a (single) roof 
>>> top antenna, with a splitter to feed the individual devices, and I am 
>>> looking for recommendations on which antenna and splitter people would 
>>> recommend.
>>> 
>>> So far, I am looking at the following antennas:
>>> 
>>> PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-26N 
>>> (https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-reference-antenna-gnss1-tmg-26n/)
>>> 
>>> PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-40N 
>>> (https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-antenna-gnss1-tmg-40n/)
>>> 
>>> And the following splitters:
>>> 
>>> GPS Networking ALDCBS1x8 (https://www.gpsnetworking.com/products/aldcbs1x8)
>>> 
>>> GPS Source S18 
>>> (https://www.gpssource.com/collections/gps-splitter/products/s18-1x8-standard-gps-splitter)
>>> 
>>> The run from the antenna to the splitter will be 30-35 feet, and from the 
>>> splitter to the units will be 3-5 feet. I’m wondering about the need for 
>>> the 40dB vs the 26dB. I haven’t looked at any passive splitters, but even 
>>> with the 40dB I’m thinking won’t offer enough to support even a 1x6 
>>> splitter.
>>> 
>>> I would appreciate any thoughts folk have to offer.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Denny
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ___
>>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
>>> To unsubscribe, go to 
>>> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
>>> and follow the instructions there.
>> 
>> ___
>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
>> To unsubscribe, go to 
>> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
>> and follow the instructions there.
> 
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to 
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and 

Re: [time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[Ben Hall]

Hi Denny and list,

Some thoughts from me...worth about what you paid for them considering 
my Time-Nuts membership card was revoked the week before last for 
heresy, hahaha!  ;)


PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-40N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-antenna-gnss1-tmg-40n/)


I've got the GPS-only version of this antenna as my main antenna bought 
off the e-place - example:    (no connection to 
the seller, not even sure if this is the place where I got mine)


It's a very nice antenna and has a nice mounting kit with it.  The 
filters on the GPS-only version I've got are tight enough to block out 
GLONASS.  IMHO, this is nice, as it shows they paid attention to the 
design.  On the other hand, now that I do want to receive GLONASS...I've 
got one of the eBay shipped-from-China "CORS RTK GNSS Survey Antenna 
high gain measurement GNSS GPS GLONASS BDS" antennas on the way that 
folks were discussing in the uBlox F9 thread here.



And the following splitters:


I have no experience with commercial active splitters.  I've used either 
commercial passive units, homebrew active units, or modified commeriical 
passive units.


>The run from the antenna to the splitter will be 30-35 feet, and
from the splitter to the units will be 3-5 feet. I’m wondering about 
the need for the 40dB vs the 26dB. I haven’t looked at any passive 
splitters, but even with the 40dB I’m thinking won’t offer enough to 
support even a 1x6 splitter.


Your proposed setup is pretty close to mine.  From my PCTEL to the 
Polyphaser lighting arrester is about 30 feet, and from the arrester to 
my splitter is about 10 feet.  The 30 feet is Cable Experts CXP-1318, 
the 10 feet is RG-58.  Depending on what receiver is on the splitter, 
add a couple of feet of RG-316.  (some are farther, some are closer, but 
it's about two feet from the splitter to the Z3801 or the TruePosition.)


My splitter is a modified Mini-Circuits ZC6PD-1900W.  This is a six way 
splitter, theoretical loss 7.8 dB.  I've modified it by adding a DC 
block capacitor to 5 of the output ports so that the PCTEL is fed +5VDC 
from the Z3801, and none of the other receivers see this DC voltage. 
This was simple - cut the traces at the five output ports I wanted to 
block, soldered on a SMD capacitor of value I cannot remember.


The VNA at work says I've got from 9 to 11 dB loss from 1.0 GHz to 2.5 
GHz.  It's actually a little less, but those are easy numbers to use.


Why the passive splitter?  I was able to get these off of the e-place 
for like $10 each...while an active 6-way splitter was at least $100 used.


This setup, while sub-optimal in so many ways, works pretty well! 
Here's a screen dump from Lady Heather:




Lowest signal is 40 dBc...and it's pretty much *always* has the full 8 
satellites it can simultaneously track.


The Z3801 shows the lowest signal strength right now as SS = 118 for PRN 
20, and it's not tracking PRN 14 if you want to compare it's signal 
strengths versus the TruePosition.


Doing some quick loss calcs:  (warning:  I've not had my coffee yet, so 
very prone to error!)


30 feet of CXP-1318 = 2 dB loss (had to assume similar to Belden 9913 as 
Cable Experts doesn't have loss above 400 MHz)


arrester = 1 dB loss (a guess)

10 feet of RG-58 = 2.5 dB loss

splitter = 10 dB loss

2 feet of RG-316 = 1 dB loss

Sum of the loss = 16.5 dB.  Probably should toss a few more dB in there 
because of connectors, etc...


So even with my crappy, far-less-than-optimal setup, I get pretty good 
results.


Like I said earlier, I haven't had my coffee yet so all of the above may 
be totally worthless.  ;)


thanks much and 73,
ben, KD5BYB

___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[Bill Slade]

Hi again,
The very best GNSS antennas tend to be based on suspended patch antenna 
(air-dielectric) structures because they give the best 
bandwidth/radiation efficiency (and hence, noise temperature) 
performance.  The very best include choke-rings for multipath 
suppression (Dorne-Margolin & variants), but these are costly items.  
Miniature ceramic pucks can have pretty horrible radiation efficiency, 
which degrades noise performance, so be careful when buying Chinese 
cheapies.    I have actually seen commercial antennas where resistors 
were added (before LNA) to improve antenna return loss!

On 27.01.19 14:28, Bob kb8tq wrote:
> Hi
>
> With things like the uBlox F9 now out on the market cheap …. I would go with
> an antenna that will do L1 / L2 / L5 and work with everything that it up 
> there.
> You still are in the “under $100” range (delivered) for new product from 
> China.
> It’s a good bet that the guts of all of them are made there. It’s also a good 
> bet
> that they all are ceramic slab style designs.
>
> Bob
>
>> On Jan 26, 2019, at 11:10 PM, Denny Page via time-nuts 
>>  wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I’m looking for recommendations on an antenna / splitter configuration. I 
>> currently have six GPS/GLONASS/Galileo timing devices, each with it’s own 
>> puck antenna in a window. I have an opportunity to move to a (single) roof 
>> top antenna, with a splitter to feed the individual devices, and I am 
>> looking for recommendations on which antenna and splitter people would 
>> recommend.
>>
>> So far, I am looking at the following antennas:
>>
>> PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-26N 
>> (https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-reference-antenna-gnss1-tmg-26n/)
>>
>> PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-40N 
>> (https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-antenna-gnss1-tmg-40n/)
>>
>> And the following splitters:
>>
>> GPS Networking ALDCBS1x8 (https://www.gpsnetworking.com/products/aldcbs1x8)
>>
>> GPS Source S18 
>> (https://www.gpssource.com/collections/gps-splitter/products/s18-1x8-standard-gps-splitter)
>>
>> The run from the antenna to the splitter will be 30-35 feet, and from the 
>> splitter to the units will be 3-5 feet. I’m wondering about the need for the 
>> 40dB vs the 26dB. I haven’t looked at any passive splitters, but even with 
>> the 40dB I’m thinking won’t offer enough to support even a 1x6 splitter.
>>
>> I would appreciate any thoughts folk have to offer.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Denny
>>
>>
>> ___
>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
>> To unsubscribe, go to 
>> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
>> and follow the instructions there.
>
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to 
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.

___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

With things like the uBlox F9 now out on the market cheap …. I would go with 
an antenna that will do L1 / L2 / L5 and work with everything that it up there. 
You still are in the “under $100” range (delivered) for new product from China. 
It’s a good bet that the guts of all of them are made there. It’s also a good 
bet
that they all are ceramic slab style designs. 

Bob

> On Jan 26, 2019, at 11:10 PM, Denny Page via time-nuts 
>  wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I’m looking for recommendations on an antenna / splitter configuration. I 
> currently have six GPS/GLONASS/Galileo timing devices, each with it’s own 
> puck antenna in a window. I have an opportunity to move to a (single) roof 
> top antenna, with a splitter to feed the individual devices, and I am looking 
> for recommendations on which antenna and splitter people would recommend.
> 
> So far, I am looking at the following antennas:
> 
> PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-26N 
> (https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-reference-antenna-gnss1-tmg-26n/)
> 
> PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-40N 
> (https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-antenna-gnss1-tmg-40n/)
> 
> And the following splitters:
> 
> GPS Networking ALDCBS1x8 (https://www.gpsnetworking.com/products/aldcbs1x8)
> 
> GPS Source S18 
> (https://www.gpssource.com/collections/gps-splitter/products/s18-1x8-standard-gps-splitter)
> 
> The run from the antenna to the splitter will be 30-35 feet, and from the 
> splitter to the units will be 3-5 feet. I’m wondering about the need for the 
> 40dB vs the 26dB. I haven’t looked at any passive splitters, but even with 
> the 40dB I’m thinking won’t offer enough to support even a 1x6 splitter.
> 
> I would appreciate any thoughts folk have to offer.
> 
> Thanks,
> Denny
> 
> 
> ___
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to 
> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
> and follow the instructions there.


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[Bill Slade]

Hello Denny,

Things to keep in mind:

  1.  To keep noise performance, LNA gain at the antenna should be at least 10 
dB above total losses in antenna cable & distribution network.  13-16 dB above 
is better.  Something like this would be more than suitable for a 30 ft run: 
https://www.pasternack.com/flexible-0.403-rg8-type-50-ohm-coax-cable-pvc-jacket-pe-b400-p.aspx
  2.  amplified splitter best (I see that's what you have in your web links).

If cable losses are under 13dB or so, a 26dB gain antenna should be fine.  40dB 
gain will not give you any better performance.  In fact, excess LNA gain makes 
GNSS receiver tracking more susceptible to disruption by possible interference 
(e.g. from harmonic distortion, reciprocal mixing effects, etc.) depending on 
how good the band filters in the antenna are and what interferers are nearby.

Cheers,

Bill



On 27.01.19 05:10, Denny Page via time-nuts wrote:

Hi all,

I’m looking for recommendations on an antenna / splitter configuration. I 
currently have six GPS/GLONASS/Galileo timing devices, each with it’s own puck 
antenna in a window. I have an opportunity to move to a (single) roof top 
antenna, with a splitter to feed the individual devices, and I am looking for 
recommendations on which antenna and splitter people would recommend.

So far, I am looking at the following antennas:

 PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-26N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-reference-antenna-gnss1-tmg-26n/)

 PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-40N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-antenna-gnss1-tmg-40n/)

And the following splitters:

 GPS Networking ALDCBS1x8 (https://www.gpsnetworking.com/products/aldcbs1x8)

 GPS Source S18 
(https://www.gpssource.com/collections/gps-splitter/products/s18-1x8-standard-gps-splitter)

The run from the antenna to the splitter will be 30-35 feet, and from the 
splitter to the units will be 3-5 feet. I’m wondering about the need for the 
40dB vs the 26dB. I haven’t looked at any passive splitters, but even with the 
40dB I’m thinking won’t offer enough to support even a 1x6 splitter.

I would appreciate any thoughts folk have to offer.

Thanks,
Denny


___
time-nuts mailing list -- 
time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

Re: [time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[Chris Burford]

For a 30-35 outdoor cable run go with as big a coax as you can afford. At these 
frequencies attenuation becomes even more critical than say an HF application. 
There are several online attenuation calculators for various cable 
configurations that you might want to play around with:

https://www.timesmicrowave.com/

https://www.pasternack.com/t-rf-microwave-calculators-and-conversions.aspx

Chris

 Denny Page via time-nuts  wrote: 
> Hi all,

I’m looking for recommendations on an antenna / splitter configuration. I 
currently have six GPS/GLONASS/Galileo timing devices, each with it’s own puck 
antenna in a window. I have an opportunity to move to a (single) roof top 
antenna, with a splitter to feed the individual devices, and I am looking for 
recommendations on which antenna and splitter people would recommend.

So far, I am looking at the following antennas:

 PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-26N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-reference-antenna-gnss1-tmg-26n/)

 PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-40N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-antenna-gnss1-tmg-40n/)

And the following splitters:

 GPS Networking ALDCBS1x8 (https://www.gpsnetworking.com/products/aldcbs1x8)

 GPS Source S18 
(https://www.gpssource.com/collections/gps-splitter/products/s18-1x8-standard-gps-splitter)

The run from the antenna to the splitter will be 30-35 feet, and from the 
splitter to the units will be 3-5 feet. I’m wondering about the need for the 
40dB vs the 26dB. I haven’t looked at any passive splitters, but even with the 
40dB I’m thinking won’t offer enough to support even a 1x6 splitter.

I would appreciate any thoughts folk have to offer.

Thanks,
Denny


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.

[time-nuts] Rooftop antenna and splitter

[Denny Page via time-nuts]

Hi all,

I’m looking for recommendations on an antenna / splitter configuration. I 
currently have six GPS/GLONASS/Galileo timing devices, each with it’s own puck 
antenna in a window. I have an opportunity to move to a (single) roof top 
antenna, with a splitter to feed the individual devices, and I am looking for 
recommendations on which antenna and splitter people would recommend.

So far, I am looking at the following antennas:

 PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-26N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-reference-antenna-gnss1-tmg-26n/)

 PCTEL GNSS1-TMG-40N 
(https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/global-gnss-timing-antenna-gnss1-tmg-40n/)

And the following splitters:

 GPS Networking ALDCBS1x8 (https://www.gpsnetworking.com/products/aldcbs1x8)

 GPS Source S18 
(https://www.gpssource.com/collections/gps-splitter/products/s18-1x8-standard-gps-splitter)

The run from the antenna to the splitter will be 30-35 feet, and from the 
splitter to the units will be 3-5 feet. I’m wondering about the need for the 
40dB vs the 26dB. I haven’t looked at any passive splitters, but even with the 
40dB I’m thinking won’t offer enough to support even a 1x6 splitter.

I would appreciate any thoughts folk have to offer.

Thanks,
Denny


___
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to 
http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com
and follow the instructions there.