[time-nuts] Thunderbolt accuracy...??

[Mike Monett]

  >> I just  wanted to ask the group if the Thunderbolt would  be more
  >> accurate than  the internal reference? I want to think it  is but
  >> my link to the thunderbolt spec sheet is no longer valid.

  > Some time  ago,  I  took  my  T-bolt  over  to  the  Metrology and
  > Standards Lab  at the University of Florida and set it  up  to run
  > overnight and let it do its full survey process.

  > In spite  of  the  fact  that the antenna  was  in  a  rather poor
  > location it locked up quickly and seemed to run flawlessly.

  > The monitoring was only intended to look at the frequency accuracy
  > of the  10  MHz output - other timing characteristics  so  dear to
  > Time-Nuts hearts were ignored.

  > After its overnight warm-up and survey process was done,  we found
  > (over a period of 48 hours) that the 10MHz output was  never worse
  > than 1.0  X  E-12  and   was   generally  better  than  that  by a
  > considerable margin about 90% of the time.

  > Mike Baker
  > WA4HFR
  > Gainesville, FL

  Mike, thanks  for  the info. These real-world data  points  are very
  valuable. I have some questions:

  What frequency  reference did they use at  the  university standards
  lab to  measure the T-Bolt frequency? And how did  they  measure its
  frequency?

  How did  they do the comparison to your TBolt? If it was  a counter,
  what kind was it?

  You mentioned the error was better than 1e-12 90% of the  time. What
  was the average error?

  Thanks,

  Mike Monett