[time-nuts] New Rubidium Frequency Standard Group

Tom Van Baak tvb at LeapSecond.com
Thu Feb 2 16:35:57 UTC 2012


> I have only been a member of the time-nuts group for a short while. It 
> seems like 75% of the posts here have to do with the FE-5680A Rubidium 
> Frequency Standards and there use and modification. This seems like the 
> most popular subject and takes up allot of the group's bandwidth.

Hi Rich,

Welcome to the group.

Clock performance looks different short-term, long-term, and many
terms in between. There are a number of statistical tools that are
used to measure stability. It is often the case that the performance
of an oscillator over seconds is quite different from its performance
over hours or days.

Clocks also exhibit phase shifts and frequency jumps; white noise
and random walk. Long-term drift. Then there are GPS disciplined
oscillators. ADEV plots neatly sums up the character of an oscillator.

This mailing list, also, has a certain character. There are jumps and
shifts. There is some noise. To fully appreciate how good the group
is you need to sample it for longer. A couple of months at least. Over
several years you may even be able to measure drift. And although
the time constant may be slow the list can be steered.

If the Rb thread gets too out of hand, or gets too far off-topic some
gentle hands will come in and pull it back on frequency. Meanwhile,
enjoy the discussion. A great deal of interesting detail is emerging.
A number of members who have been quiet are now contributing
nicely. Creative ideas are emerging. So please stick around. Over
time you will learn a lot here.

/tvb
www.leapsecond.com/time-nuts.htm





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