[time-nuts] Frequency counter recommendation
Bob Camp
lists at rtty.us
Sun Dec 19 04:52:55 UTC 2010
Hi
The real thing you would learn about is writing code that runs an FPGA.
The other gotcha here is that the feature list can get pretty large:
1) WiFi interface
2) Bluetooth interface
3) USB 2.0 interface
4) RS-232 interface
5) HPIB emulation of an HP box
6)Ethernet interface
----- combined with -----
1) Web server software
2) Windows PC application / logging software
3) Mac application / logging software
4) Linux application / logging software
5) iPhone application software
6) iPad application software
----- combined with ----
1) Front pannel controls
2) Front pannel display
3) Front interface connections (DUT's)
4) Rear pannel standard interfaces and controls
---- combined with ----
1) Internal hard disk storage
2) Flash card storage
3) USB stick storage
4) SD card storage
5) Battery backed RAM storage
---- combined with ----
1) Some number of counter inputs
2) Some number of reference inputs
3) Internal GPS receiver
4) Internal Rb standard
----- combined with ---
1) Battery power
2) Auto 12 V power
3) AC line power
So lest's see, that's 3 x 4 x 5 x 4 x 6 x 6 = 8,640 combinations. That does not include any options that actually relate to how the gizmo works. That's just talking about the eye candy around the thing.
A practical device might be:
2 DUT inputs
10 MHz reference input
"RS-232" to connect to a USB dongle
+12 DC power
Application software TBD.
Bob
On Dec 18, 2010, at 11:29 PM, Chris Albertson wrote:
> It all depends on the goal. Is it to have a working instrument or to
> learn how they work and maybe to push the state of the art ahead a
> little
>
> One might ask the same question about ham radio: "Why bother with all
> that work? If you want to talk to some one just buy a cell phone and
> be done with it." Yes if that was the goal the cell phone is the
> obvious solution.
>
> I think there are ony two reasons to build vs. buy. (1) You want to
> make something that you can't buy, or (2) you want to learn about the
> technology.
>
> One feature I'd add if I were building this is a self-calibration with
> GPS. There are a lot of features I can think of. I'd like a web
> server built-in so the instrument would be operated from an iPhone
>
>
>> The calibrated and running counter is something you can have tomorrow (more or less). That's very different than the kit of boards.
> --
> =====
> Chris Albertson
> Redondo Beach, California
>
> _______________________________________________
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
> and follow the instructions there.
More information about the time-nuts
mailing list