And while this subject is still up, I want to let the group know that Synergy *really* went out of their way to help me with this. I was a bit surprised at their level of commitment to some ham radio operator who had bought a single unit from them and probably didn't know what the heck he was talking about. A real class act all around!
Bob - AE6RV ________________________________ From: Art Sepin <a...@synergy-gps.com> To: Bob Stewart <b...@evoria.net>; Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement <time-nuts@febo.com> Cc: Tom Van Baak <t...@leapsecond.com>; Dusty Morris <doxielove...@cox.net> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2014 5:17 PM Subject: RE: [time-nuts] Synergy-GPS SSR-6tru Problem Resolved Bob, Once in a while a mea culpa is required and we're posting it here so everyone understands our commitment to the users of Synergy's products. The Original Synergy Adaptor Board was designed to allow Motorola's newer 3 volt 12 channel M12+ to plug into an older 5 volt 8 channel UT+ slot. That product worked for hundreds of users over the years until (we found out through your personal aggravation and agony) the recent introduction of Synergy's SSR series of u-Blox based precision timing boards. To make sure that the Synergy UT+ Adaptor Board issue is put to bed properly we asked for an external, formal technical review of this product that was introduced fourteen years ago. The reviewing engineer's first comments were "Ouch! This will not work." And, "no, the SSR boards do not work the same as the M12 boards on the Synergy Adaptor Board". "The M12+ and M12M receivers have separate serial ports for the two functions (Receiver command RxD and DGPS RxD input) so it does not matter what you do with the RTCM port, pin 5 on UT+ connector and pin 8 on the M12+/M12M connector, if not in use with an M12x receiver." "The SSR boards, however, had to combine the two serial data streams expected by the M12x navigation receivers into one because the u-Blox receiver modules only use one serial input port for both receiver commands and DGPS correction data. The Synergy Adaptor Boards use a simple gate combiner circuit that worked well when using the M12+ or M12M but left Synergy open to this problem when using an SSR. Both serial lines on the SSR board, pins 2 (Receiver RxD) and 8 (DGPS RxD) are pulled high on the SSR board so open pins are OK but they must not be grounded." "The solution is for Synergy to make a UT+ Adaptor Board part number available to users who only want to test the features of SSR timing receivers." That new SSR only Adaptor Board part number, which we'll have available in a few days, will remove R3 (4.7K) and R4 (6.8K) from the adapter board and the compatibility issue will be resolved. In the interim, other users can pull pin 5 of the UT+ connector high (+5V) as you did. We apologize for the confusion and frustration, Bob, and thank you for the valuable feedback! Art Sepin _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
