[time-nuts] Very stable synthesizer, alternative to PTS(Programmed Test Sources) x10 or 040?

[Didier Juges]

Jim said:

"It's like a HP 8663B (not the modern Agilent E8663).. very low noise,"

The Agilent E8663 has similar SSB phase noise spec as the older HP 8662A
(-144dBc/Hz @ 10 kHz with option UNY, versus -143 for the 8662). You seem
to imply they are different. Can you elaborate?

Of course, the Agilent has many more features and 0.001Hz resolution, and
the 8662 only goes to 990MHz (I think, I should know, I have two thanks to
JohnM...), but are they that much different in pure phase noise or ADEV?

Didier


On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 10:02 AM, Jim Lux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:

> On 7/8/13 7:55 AM, Ed Palmer wrote:
>
>> In 2002, this document:
>>
>> THE CRYSTAL OSCILLATOR CHARACTERIZATION FACILITY AT THE AEROSPACE
>> CORPORATION
>> http://www.pttimeeting.org/**archivemeetings/2002papers/**paper32.pdf<http://www.pttimeeting.org/archivemeetings/2002papers/paper32.pdf>
>>
>> stated:
>>
>> "The Programmed Test Sources, Inc. PTS model #250M6NIGSX-51 low-noise
>> frequency synthesizer is
>> used to offset the frequency reference to obtain the desired beat
>> frequency. In our previous system, we
>> used a Fluke 6160B frequency synthesizer, since the Fluke 6160B
>> frequency synthesizer had the lowest
>> noise contribution of all the frequency synthesizers on the market at
>> that time.  The reason for having the
>> low-noise frequency synthesizer is the synthesizer  noise contributions
>> to the system noise-floor.
>> Unfortunately, Fluke has discontinued manufacturing and maintaining this
>> synthesizer. Therefore, we
>> looked at the new synthesizers on the market and found that the PTS
>> synthesizer was the closest to the
>> Fluke 6160B frequency synthesizer in terms of noise floor. "
>>
>> Sounds like a working 6160B would be a nice thing to have.
>> Unfortunately, it's too large for my already overcrowded lab. :-(
>>
>>
>
> It's like a HP 8663B (not the modern Agilent E8663).. very low noise, not
> made any more, I don't think Agilent will even repair them.  We've got lots
> of them sitting on the floor, partly dead, at work: they were the workhorse
> of the Deep Space Network systems.
>
> Fluke does make a modern copy of the HP8663B with all the same
> peculiarities (e.g. smooth sweep, modulation input, etc.) which the Agilent
> does not do.
>
> (for instance, we feed the signal from a 3325 at around 10 MHz into the FM
> port on the 8663 and then filter to select just the modulation sideband,
> which then gets multiplied up to the desired frequency)
>
>
>
>
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