Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Attila Kinali
On Sat, 28 May 2016 12:08:18 +1000 Michael Wouters wrote: > I also have been looking at low-cost SDR hardware for T&F measurements > and have made an RF phase meter based on the Red Pitaya. The > performance of this was not as good as I was hoping for: the > fractional frequency resolution of thi

Re: [time-nuts] FE-5680A Year of Manufacture

2016-05-27 Thread Mike Cook
> Le 27 mai 2016 à 22:10, Bob Camp a écrit : > > Hi > > Best guess is that the 0331 at the start is the date code. 31st week of 2003 > would > be it’s manufacture date. > > Bob > Bob’s guess fits with mine too. All between 0321 and 0345 >> On May 27, 2016, at 3:09 PM, Richard Webb wrote:

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Attila Kinali
On Fri, 27 May 2016 18:58:35 -0700 Hal Murray wrote: > bruce.griffi...@xtra.co.nz said: > > All the filtering and down mixing is done in the digital domain. > > Anitialiasing filters in front of the ADCs are also be required. > > What sort of bandwidth is expected? > > The usual trick with aud

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Bob Stewart
Hi Bruce, What about the BeMicroCV-A9 that Scotty Cowling has been recommending in QEX? It has a Cyclone V SoC FPGA running at 800MHz. Installments to his series have been slow coming, but I've been wondering if this could be the basis for a Timepod type of unit. Bob ---

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Bruce Griffiths
For anyone thinking of rolling their own: The results in the paper were achieved using an ADC pair with no input buffers. The TI ADCs with sample rates much greater than 100MHz or so use input buffer amps that drive sets of interleaved ADCs. The more complex clock conditioning and distribution ci

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Bruce Griffiths
The first version of the Red Pitaya apparently used an  LTC2145 dual input 14 bit ADC with an SNR of around 72dB (11.6 bits) or so. Various claims of 10 bits effective implies that poor layout, and/or a noisy sampling clock, and/or the analog front end degrade the performance somewhat. For this

Re: [time-nuts] GPS week rollover and time of day

2016-05-27 Thread Bob L.
Hi Michael, Having the same issue with an early Trimble Lassen SX-8 receiver in a clock on my desk. Currently looking for a receiver with a more recent firmware revision. An SK-8 with 78479-D on the pcba silkscreen and f/w 9949 on the ROM label is running fine with correct date output. A second

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Bob Camp
Hi > On May 27, 2016, at 8:17 PM, Bruce Griffiths > wrote: > > On Thursday, May 26, 2016 06:40:26 PM Bob Camp wrote: >> Hi >> >> Very interesting paper, thanks for sharing !! >> >> One question: >> >> In many DMTD (and single mixer) systems, a lowpass and high pass filter are >> applied to

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Michael Wouters
The following may be of interest to those playing with low-cost SDR hardware: I also have been looking at low-cost SDR hardware for T&F measurements and have made an RF phase meter based on the Red Pitaya. The performance of this was not as good as I was hoping for: the fractional frequency resolu

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Bruce Griffiths
The Red Pitaya FPGA may be a little too small.Its not clear if a single chip ADC is used.If not, the performance will suffer.Dc coupled inputs will degrade the performance somewhat compared to transformer coupled inputs. Input bandwidth would be around 40MHz or so for the Nyquist band of intere

[time-nuts] GPS week rollover and time of day

2016-05-27 Thread Michael Wouters
Earlier this year, a venerable VP Oncore in one of our systems started outputting a time of day which was 1024 weeks in the past. This was presumably because it had some reference time in its firmware which it was using to resolve the n*1024 weeks ambiguity in broadcast GPS time, and it was now mor

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread djl
This might be a good job for the Red Pitaya q.v. Don On 2016-05-27 18:17, Bruce Griffiths wrote: On Thursday, May 26, 2016 06:40:26 PM Bob Camp wrote: Hi Very interesting paper, thanks for sharing !! One question: In many DMTD (and single mixer) systems, a lowpass and high pass filter are

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Hal Murray
bruce.griffi...@xtra.co.nz said: > All the filtering and down mixing is done in the digital domain. > Anitialiasing filters in front of the ADCs are also be required. What sort of bandwidth is expected? The usual trick with audio ADCs is to have a low cost analog filter that does't have a shar

Re: [time-nuts] Commercial software defined radio for clock metrology

2016-05-27 Thread Bruce Griffiths
On Thursday, May 26, 2016 06:40:26 PM Bob Camp wrote: > Hi > > Very interesting paper, thanks for sharing !! > > One question: > > In many DMTD (and single mixer) systems, a lowpass and high pass filter are > applied to the signal coming out of the mixer. This is done to improve the > zero cross

[time-nuts] Looking for a Trimble Lassen SK-8 or SK II 5V GPS receiver

2016-05-27 Thread Bob L.
Hi folks, I’d like to find one or two Trimble Lassen SK-8 5V OEM GPS receiver boards with a 9949 or more recent firmware date code. I have one receiver that does what I need marked 28479-D in silk screen on the pcba with “-3101 9949” on the ROM. A more recent Lassen SKII 5V receiver would p

Re: [time-nuts] FE-5680A Year of Manufacture

2016-05-27 Thread Bob Camp
Hi Best guess is that the 0331 at the start is the date code. 31st week of 2003 would be it’s manufacture date. Bob > On May 27, 2016, at 3:09 PM, Richard Webb wrote: > > New to this list, this week - having lusted after a 56' since seeing Gerry > Sweeney's series of videos on this unit and b

[time-nuts] FE-5680A Year of Manufacture

2016-05-27 Thread Richard Webb
New to this list, this week - having lusted after a 56' since seeing Gerry Sweeney's series of videos on this unit and building up a distribution amp, and then finally getting one. I was interested in knowing how old my unit is, is there a way of decoding the serial number to give a date code? - I

[time-nuts] New (old) 53132A - Time Interval Delay Arming - question

2016-05-27 Thread cfo
Gents i just got a 53132A - Opt 010 Serial : 3404A00xxx Fw Rev : 3403 An old lady w. a 10811 OCXO in it - HP 1994 Unit - Nice bright display. I noticed in the Prog. manual (pg 17) that this applies to my counter : * Snip * Agilent 53132A Time Interval Delay Arming --