[time-nuts] I'm the new guy

Joseph Gray jgray at zianet.com
Tue Jul 12 23:17:04 EDT 2005


I just joined the list and thought I would introduce myself. To begin with, 
I make my living dealing with PC's, networks, servers (Windows, Linux and 
Unix), routers, firewalls, security, etc. I have been doing this for 20 
years now. In my first computer job 20 years ago, I dealt with HP 
workstations. Several years ago, I worked with PC-based telemetry systems. I 
got my ham license almost 20 years ago, although I haven't been active in a 
while. I have been an electronics hobbyist and tinkerer with neat stuff 
since I was a teenager. I have been curious all my life and hope to stay 
that way.

Almost a month ago, I came across an HP 5061B at the local surplus place. 
Out of curiosity, I borrowed it (I've known the guy since before he started 
the business). I found the operations manual on-line and checked the 5061B 
out. After messing around with it for a while, I decided to buy it and 
negotiated a good price. Now, this is not a piece of equipment that I really 
need (I could say that about a lot of my stuff). But, being the kind of 
person I am, I think it is cool having it and I am enjoying learning new 
things related to metrology (that is a new area for me).

After reading some of the interesting doings at febo.com, reading the entire 
time-nuts archive, some app notes from HP (I mean Agilent) and some papers 
from NIST, I got more interested and decided to buy a time-interval counter. 
I wound up with an HP 5370A (I have a PDF of the "B" manual and am still 
looking for a cheap "A" manual). I am currently trying a few simple 
experiments to get a better understanding about how this counter works and 
to further my understanding of these types of measurements (I may have some 
questions later).

I am working on getting an HP Z3801A soon, to add to the collection (I found 
a great resource on this at realhamradio.com, which I'm sure you guys know 
about). I have just ordered a used GPIB interface and a copy of LabView with 
textbook (student version), so that I can really collect some data. I can 
only write so fast :-)

Finally, I am only a hobbyist. I don't have a PhD (like most of you seem to 
have) and in fact, have no practical reason to be doing any of this, other 
than curiosity. So, I will probably be asking some basic questions from time 
to time. If this is not the type of mailing list where this is welcome, let 
me know now and I'll be on my way. Otherwise, I hope to learn more about 
time and frequency measurements and have fun doing it. I have already picked 
up a bit by reading the archives.

I have already have a few emails with two of the members here. Thanks for 
replying to a newbie.

Joe





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