Thanks for the suggestions! It turns out the answer was.... my serial dongle was failing.
*head bonk* I swapped it out for another FDTI-based dongle and suddenly there's a happy working z3801a. Before I throw it on eBay, would anyone like a working (yay!) z3801a modified to take mains power? I'll throw in a little puck antenna and a homebrewed rs232 db25-to-db9 cable. Pictures as per my previous email about it. (please CC: me on reply -- I'm stuck in digest subscription and having issues.) ((No 'issues' jokes, please. :)) I'll note there's a risk that putting the switcher in it causes added noise. I haven't measured it precisely enough to tell. I didn't need nanoseconds for what I was using it for, but I did want it to be pain-free to plug in and use. -Dave … On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 1:18 AM <time-nuts-requ...@febo.com> wrote: > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: James C Cotton <jim.cot...@wmich.edu> > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement < > time-nuts@febo.com> > Cc: > Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 16:26:17 -0400 (EDT) > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] z3801a - serial help and for sale. > > David, > > Using a USB dongle with an Apple Mac Laptop works fine for me. > > The chip is a FTDI FT232BL. > > Drivers from the FTDI site. > > In "terminal or console" use one of the following commands: > > [generic $5 dongle with no serial number] > > cd /dev > screen tty.usbserial > > [xs880 with a serial number, > http://www.usconverters.com/usb-serial-adapter-xs880] > > cd /dev > screen tty.usbserial-A101OFXZ > > Having one (or more) with a serial number(s) allows several to work at the > same time... > I use the same USB-serial converters on windows PCs too. > > Jim > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Scott McGrath <scmcgr...@gmail.com> > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement < > time-nuts@febo.com> > Cc: > Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 16:50:51 -0400 > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] z3801a - serial help and for sale. > Try going through all the speeds starting at 300. Sounds like a baud rate > mismatch to me from the symptoms > > Also try 8 bits 1 stop no parity > > Content by Scott > Typos by Siri > > > On Jun 10, 2015, at 10:28 AM, David Andersen <d...@pobox.com> wrote: > > > > I'm throwing my hands up in the air - I don't have the time to wrestle my > > silly mac into trying to talk to the box, unless someone has quick advice > > on something I might be doing wrong. > > > > z3801a, jumpered to RS232, modified with an internal switching power > supply > > (see photos below). Power light comes on, unit is outputting stable > > 10MHz. Doesn't GPS lock, but that makes sense, since I haven't been able > > to issue a SURVEY command and I don't live where I used to. > > > > The internal green status light is blinking (as normal), suggesting that > > it's probably happy and I'm an idiot for not being able to make it work, > > but I don't vouch for anything about it past the 10mhz being there. The > > double-oven oscillator is clearly happy given the 10mhz (compared > against a > > working Thunderbolt). > > > > Hooked up a serial cable at 19200, 7, O, 1, but only got a garbled little > > prompt back - no response to standard z3801a commands. I *think* I have > > the cable configured properly. I opened it up and checked the RS232 > > jumpers and they're correct. > > > > I'm open to advice on getting the serial working under my Mac or Linux, > or > > anyone who wants to relieve me of the burden of z3801a ownership and > take a > > risk that it's a fixer-upper. :-) I suspect that in some previous life, > I > > switched it over into a binary mode of some sort while using it to sync > > something, but I can't for the life of me remember what I might have > done. > > > > Some reasonable price plus shipping and it's all yours... I'm trying to > > de-clutter in preparation for a sabbatical on the other side of the > country. > > > > Pictures: > > > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/ursszjgie8m1xj8/2015-06-09%2011.57.16.jpg?dl=0 > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/it8d2f65ztn4rkq/2015-06-09%2011.57.24.jpg?dl=0 > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/1p1g6xrapzdmvzh/2015-06-09%2011.59.56.jpg?dl=0 > > > > Thanks! > > > > -Dave > > _______________________________________________ > > 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. > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Bob Camp <kb...@n1k.org> > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement < > time-nuts@febo.com> > Cc: > Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:27:36 -0400 > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] z3801a - serial help and for sale. > Hi > > Normal drill for this sort of thing: > > 1) First connect the serial dongle back to back (output to input) and make > sure > it gives you back what you type in. If not, find another dongle. > > 2) Check the output levels from the Z3801 with a scope. It should be > swinging at least > +/- 5V and more like +/-12. The key thing here is that the swing is the > same in both directions. > > Then, in combination, try each of the following: > > 3) Try the usual suspects in terms of parity: 8N1, 7E1, 7O1 > > 4) Try the usual speeds: 4800, 9600, 19200 > > A quick power cycle between each of the 9 possibilities should get it > feeding > out something that you can recognize. Yes this is a generic approach, but > sometimes > the generic one is quicker than doing a bunch of research, looking for > notes on how you > switched the thing around back months ago …. > > Bob > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Hal Murray <hmur...@megapathdsl.net> > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement < > time-nuts@febo.com> > Cc: hmur...@megapathdsl.net > Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 18:50:11 -0700 > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] z3801a - serial help and for sale. > > kb...@n1k.org said: > > 2) Check the output levels from the Z3801 with a scope. ... > > > A quick power cycle between each of the 9 possibilities should get it > > feeding out something that you can recognize. Yes this is a generic > > approach, but sometimes the generic one is quicker than doing a bunch of > > research, looking for notes on how you switched the thing around back > months > > ago …. > > If you have the scope out, you can easily check the baud rate and with a > bit > more work you can probably get the parity. _______________________________________________ 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.