http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts hourly 1 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://gmane.org/img/gmane-25t.png http://gmane.org http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/30004 <pre>Hello, Since I bought my FE-5680A (10 MHz, 1 PPS variety), I have been collecting control programs for it and keeping then in reserve. Now that I'm going to box it with a distribution amp I tried some of them, first of all to adjust the frequency against the GPS. I used Bob Campbel's VK4XV "Fe5680Calibrator.exe" with good results. I have other programs which interrogates the device and shows the hex dumps, but I would like to know if there is a windows program that allows to send other that the offset related commands to the device and get the responses not in hex but translated to plain language. In fact I don't know if there are housekeeping commands for reading thinks like the lock status or the lamp voltage like the analog outputs of the FRS-C and others. Thanks in advance, Ignacio EB4APL </pre> EB4APL 2013-05-23T23:44:19 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/30001 <pre> That's not my reason. That's not an equivalent for my needs. I'm not a time nut so I'm probably pursuing different goals. </pre> Paul 2013-05-23T23:25:04 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29999 <pre>On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 3:25 PM Perhaps you have the older boards. google "Raspberry Pi Reboots on inserting a USB device" "by mahjongg » Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:09 am Don't hot plug USB devices directly into the PI, if you must hot plug plug into a hub instead! Its called "the rush in current problem", and it makes that the current PI itself is non "hot pluggable", note that the revision 1 PI was hot pluggable, as the two polyfuses prevented any rush in current because the fuses had a non zero resistance. But in the current board there is literally zero resistance between the PI's 5V supply, and any USB device you plug in, that means that if you plug in any USB device with empty power decouplers, (which act as a complete short for a very small time) then you are actually simply shorting the 5V when you plug de USB device in. The polyfuses in the revision 1 board however caused much greater problems than this problem, and for that reason have been removed." </pre> Paul 2013-05-23T23:03:38 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29991 <pre>Hello to the group I obtained 2 of these units at the last MIT flea. Both not working correctly. Virtually no documentation on the internet. I recall that 2 years ago someone else asked EGG info also and no real responses. That said I can tell you a few things. There is a diagram on the unit that shows the 16 connections. Its accurate. +24 requires up to 1.5A cold and drops to 300-400 ma hot +5 for the synthesizer draws a constant 300 ma It seems you can start the RB up without the +5 RB and synthesizer are quite separate. The EGGs seem to have a fair amount of reserve RB gas in the lamp. The two units I have have high lamp voltages even though they were mid 1990s. Both units were bad. The problem is the 470 uf &lt; at &gt;25 V 15 volt bypass caps and a regulator cap 270 uf &lt; at &gt;16V. It literally fell apart when I was removing it. One of the 470 UFcaps read 1UF esr 2.6 ohms Replaced with high temp 50 V equivalents and both units startup and automatically lock in about 5 minutes. Changing these caps also put the units bac</pre> paul swed 2013-05-23T18:00:52 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29986 <pre>On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 1:06 AM, A variation is still available for sale from Soekris and they're more than $129. However I don't think they're worth buying from Ebay at that price even if it included a nice CF card. A better comparison would be a Pi for $45, 5V power for $20, a case for $20 and a powered USB hub for $25. ~$100 (including shipping) assuming it comes with an SD card. The Raspberry Pi wouldn't need a USB hub if they didn't reboot when you plugged into the USB ports. Speaking as someone who has two RPi's :-( and three Beaglebone Blacks :-) Of course I have a bias toward Ubuntu so the Beaglebones are a better fit for me for other reasons. </pre> Paul 2013-05-23T14:51:23 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29972 <pre> Does anyone happen to have a manual, or at least a pinout for the 8 pin mini-DIN serial port? It doesn't appear to be one of the common mini-DIN serial arrangements. If you do have a manual, I'm really just interested in the pinout and serial command set. Any help greatly appreciated, --msa </pre> Majdi S. Abbas 2013-05-22T18:45:18 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29970 <pre>Following the recent discussion of using the Extron ADA 6 as a distribution amplifier for 1/5/10 MHz reference signals, I dug out the schematic of the amplifiers and typed up my notes re: modifications (see attached). Note that the ones I have are "plain" ADA 6's, not "MX" or "MX-HV." I do not know if the MX or MX-HV units use this circuit or, if they do, if the component numbers are the same. However, the gain-switching circuitry is present on the "plain" ADA 6 PC cards (but the switch itself is not), which leads me to believe that at least the MX version was built with this same card. There may be other Extron video DAs that use this circuit -- in particular, models that have a PC card parallel to the rear panel and mounted to it by the BNC connectors may do so. There is another, discrete design that Extron apparently produced at the same time, one example of which is the ADA 3 180. This design cannot drive 50 ohm loads to +13dBm (1 Vrms) without severe distortion (negative peak clipping</pre> Charles P. Steinmetz 2013-05-22T17:59:37 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29969 <pre>A year or so ago I modified an Extron ADA 6 300MX TV distribution amplifier to house one of David Partridge's divider boards along with a 1 MHz sine-wave filter and a 10 MHz to 100 MHz multiplier after Luciano Paramithiotti's design. I use the rear BNC connectors to distribute 1, 10, &amp; 100 MHz sine-waves. The synch channel was modified to distribute 1 MHz square-waves. On the front panel are BNC connectors for 1, 10, &amp; 100 MHz sine-waves; 1 MHz &amp; 5 MHz square-waves; and an output with rotary-switch-selected 1, 10, 100, 1 kHz, 10 kHz, or 100 kHz square-wave from the Partridge divider board. My ADA 6 300MX unit had conventional resistors on the board so it was relatively easy to change them to 50-ohms. I eliminated the 0.7/1.0 V switch. I found it possible to power the Partridge divider board and 10 to 100 MHz multiplier module as well as the distribution amplifier from the internal Extron power supply by adding a 12 V to 5 V inverter module (bought on eBay) and a Murata RFI f</pre> Brucekareen-YDxpq3io04c< at >public.gmane.org 2013-05-22T15:54:17 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29952 <pre>Never guess how long ago I purchased a pair of these things...   I thought that everybody would have figured this out by now and would be using a 2.6 kernel       FIELD SERVICE BULLETIN FSB #:098-50620-059 Date: August 3rd, 2012 ______________________________________________ System: SyncServer S2xx Series Network Time Servers   Product Identity: NTP Servers ______________________________________________ NOTE: Find a copy of this FSB in Support section of our website at http://www.symmetricom.com/. Behavior: Affects all S200 | S250 | S250i SyncServer Series Units For a SyncServer S2xx Series SyncServer that remains running continuously for 497 days, it will likely reboot on day 497 or possibly the unit’s display or key pad may become nonfunctional on that day.   Explanation: The issue is in relation to the Linux 2.4 kernel being used inside the S2xx Series SyncServer. This known Linux issue can cause unexpected behavior of the SyncServer S2xx Series when uptime reaches 497 Days.   The 2.4 kernel co</pre> Tom Clifton 2013-05-21T13:57:56 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29946 <pre>Hello Fellow time nuts, I received a Datum 9390 GPS receiver I bought off eBay today. It had a PSU fault and I am running it off a bench supply until I can get the PSU working again. All the PSU does is supplies 28V so I can probably adopt a more recent supply to fit if I can't fix the old one. I pulled the PSU apart and so far found a blown triac. There is bound to be more 'things' blown but I want to see if it's worth repairing first. I mean, it's not much use repairing something that proves to be useless? Funnily enough in the back of the Manual binder was a second manual. A service Manual for a Trimble 5000A GPS/TIME frequency monitor. I'll scan it if anyone needs it? This particular 9390 is an odd Chap, doesn't look at all like picture in the supplied manual. http://www.vk2hmc.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/9390-fr.jpg When I opened it up, http://www.vk2hmc.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/9390-insides.jpg I saw an Efratom FRK! http://www.vk2hmc.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/frk.jpg </pre> Mark C. Stephens 2013-05-21T10:42:21 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29942 <pre>Most of you like to DIY, but this might be of interest to some. http://www.symmetricom.com/lp/gbu/email/time-display-promo-landing-page/?emailid=GBU078_NTD_Promo_ProdPg&amp;lead_source=Web J.D. </pre> J.D. Schoedel 2013-05-21T04:26:20 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29934 <pre>Hello to the group. I have updated the WWVB costas loop. Thanks to some guidance from fellow time-nuts. The key items; A error in the 74hc86 gate pins. A new 12 Mhz 10 ppm Oscillator that uses available known parts. These changes have been tested and behave well. I would also add that the 150 uf filter caps needs to be very low leakage. Also the TRF receiver is included no changes to it just thought I would keep the set together. Regards Paul WB8TSL </pre> paul swed 2013-05-20T22:24:28 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29933 <pre>Is anyone else seeing posts to this list showing up many hours to days late? -John ================ </pre> J. Forster 2013-05-20T22:15:15 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29921 <pre>Several years ago there was a thread on EG&amp;G RBs. But no documentation was ever shared. Looking at the web there seems little still. However at one time EG&amp;G might have been a good reference and company. Not interested in what happened to the company its in the threads. Did anyone ever find technical docs on these units? I have one powered up and it seems to do quite well. But to get it to lock requires a power cycle after its warmed up. Regards Paul WB8TSL </pre> paul swed 2013-05-20T17:03:36 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29919 <pre>Have any tnuts used the Apple Xcode programming setup? If so, quick comments? tnx Don </pre> Don Latham 2013-05-20T16:53:31 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29898 <pre>Moin, A couple of weeks ago, there was a short discussion on "bad" connectors and cables and the coupled in noise of those. Summarized it said that measurements in the time-nuts scale are very sensitive to even the lowest noise levels and coupled in signals. But, all the measurements we do are done using some sort of coax which have their shield connected to the case of the devices. As the invovled devices in a measurement are also grounded over their power supply this will lead to ground loops and thus a 50/60Hz noise. Also, because loops are good magnetic antennas, a lot of other noise floating around in the ether is coupled in (eg a nearby radio station). How do you handle this kind of problems? Attila Kinali </pre> Attila Kinali 2013-05-20T12:08:03 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29881 <pre>I may not have mentioned that I think I figured out the underlying problem with this OCXO lies with the trimpot in the oven control circuit. (I believe that someone mentioned this as a possibility, so I can't take credit for finding it on my own.) Some of the other things I did helped, but adjustment of the trimpot was the final issue. If the pot is misadjusted, the oscillator will wander all over the place as the oven temperature swings wildly. I drilled a second hole in the Ovenaire case so that I could access the pot. I also monitored the current to the unit with a DVM. When the oscillator started wandering, I tweaked the trimpot until the current increased, indicating the oven was activated. I kept adjusting it to the point that the frequency varies by 0.1 Hz on my GPSDO counter. Perhaps it is less than that, but I don't have enough digits to say. (I know that for final adjustment, I will need to use a scope but the counter does let me see if the OCXO is wildly unstable.) Now, it i</pre> Frederick Bray 2013-05-20T01:15:04 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29878 <pre>Hi folks, I recently picked up a Symmetricom SA.22c rubidium oscillator. According to the datasheet, it outputs a square wave with programmable frequency (well you can pick among some set of frequencies). I'd like to build up a small circuit locked to the square wave output which outputs a 10MHz sine wave for use as my "house clock" for my various instruments (spec an, counter etc). I of course could distribute the square wave, but am concerned about harmonics, among other things. The FE-5680A uses a AD9830A DDS to synthesize its output. Is a DDS the right way to go - in terms of performance, phase noise and so on? I suppose I could do this with a tank or some other analog circuit, but.. Andy Bardagjy bardagjy.com </pre> Andy Bardagjy 2013-05-19T23:30:36 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29872 <pre>Anyone got any Time Nut quality items at the MIT fleamarket today ? Stan, W1LE Cape Cod </pre> Stan, W1LE 2013-05-19T20:42:12 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29869 <pre>Hi! I am struggling trying to convert my Acutime's PPS signal from RS422 to RS232 for NTP use. I am using this converter: http://www.dpieshop.com/quatech -sscvt500n-rs232-to-rs422485-serial-converter-p-282.html and I connected - Port A (T+) to R+ on the converter - Port A (T-) to R- on the converter - PPS+ to T+ on the converter - PPS- to T- on the converter On the RS232 part of the converter - TXD (pin 3) to computer pin 1 (DCD) - RXD (pin 2)to computer pin 2 (RXD) - GND (pin 5)to computer pin 5 (GND) all other pins are connected to the same pin on the computer except for the DCD on the converter which is not connected. I can see the serial time code on the computer yet the PPS (a long 400 ms one) doesn't seem to reach the computer. I've tried everything I could remember off and connecting the RS422 PPS+ pin directly to the computer makes the NTP daemon stop randomly and losing the PPS signal. I really think I need to convert the PPS signal (30 meters long cable). Without PPS and using this converte</pre> Miguel Barbosa Gonçalves 2013-05-19T21:03:16 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.nuts/29857 <pre>Just a heads up, there are some (8+ &lt; at &gt; last count) used Soekris Net4501's for $29 on eBay (Search for: Soekris)... I submitted a bid for $20 each and it was instantly accepted... Don't know how low you can go, from the description the guy wants to get rid of them or they are going in the trash. Seems like a good deal if you are looking to make a little NTP server, especially compared to the retail price for a net4501... ;) I'm not affiliated with the seller in any way, I just love those little net4501's... I already have 5 of them, I don't know why I just bought 5 more... lol... Now I need more GPS modules! </pre> Jason Rabel 2013-05-19T14:45:56 Search the mailing list at Gmane query http://search.gmane.org/?group=$group=gmane.comp.time.nuts