Hi, Here's a little progress report on my REF-0 project. Though there hasn't been a lot of activity in this thread recently, I do hope that some more people have successfully gotten their REF-0s up and running.
My goal all along has been to retrofit a modern GPS into the REF-0. Over the past couple of months I've designed a few small boards and gotten much closer to a solution I'll be happy with. I first turned a prototype I previously posted about into a PCB. That worked fine and installed in the REF-0 without issues. Here is the write-up: http://syncchannel.blogspot.com/2015/09/custom-pcb-for-ks-24361-ref-0.html I also made a small breakout board for the U-blox NEO-6M GPS module in order to test my layout. That worked extremely well, and allowed me to proceed with a larger integrated design. You can find a post about that on my blog if you are curious. Recently, I finished the design of a complete GPS retrofit board. It is the size of an Oncore GPS and mounts just like one in the REF-0. I am calling it the Denuo GPS. All power and signalling goes through a header, so there are no jumper wires internally or externally. The GPS module is the NEO-6M. Combined with a small dongle I made for the interface connector, it creates an almost plug-and-play solution for a GPS retrofit in the REF-0. You can see a render of the board in the link below. I am looking forward to getting those PCBs back and doing some testing. http://syncchannel.blogspot.com/2015/09/sneak-peek.html I have a lot more to talk about, especially in regards to the choice of the GPS module and timing features versus cost. I also have at least two other board variations I am working on. One will be a step down in complexity, essentially making the REF-0 a cleanup oscillator for Rubidium standards and the like. There will also be a more advanced board with a higher grade of GPS module and some really cool features to enable GPSDO experimentation. But I will save all of that for another day and another post. More to come. Thanks, Dan W. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
