[time-nuts] Which First GPSDO to buy?

Bob Camp kb8tq at n1k.org
Fri Dec 12 20:46:31 EST 2014


Hi

A good commercial GPSDO takes care of several issues:

1) It acts as a frequency standard for a lot of gear.

2) It acts as a precision time source for a variety of things (like NTP).

3) A good one can act as a standard to run ADEV and other time nuts sorts of tests against. 

4) It’s good enough (long term) to check atomic standards against 

Lots of reasons to have one, even if you are not heavily into the whole time nut thing. 

Bob 

> On Dec 12, 2014, at 7:57 PM, Anthony Roby <aroby at antamy.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm in the same beginners' category as you.  I'd do more but have other projects on the go and have found I would need more equipment (GPIB interfaces, a spectrum analyzer etc) to get much further.  That said, I like the Lucent KS24361 and have a few bits and pieces on order to tap into J8 on the board of REF-1 and double the 5MHz for use in the lab.  I picked up a decent antenna on eBay, it's probably not in an ideal spot but that was a tradeoff between aesthetics on the house / access to pull a coax down to the basement / height of my ladder, and it seems to work fine.  Power supply was also auction-sourced for less than $20 and runs nicely.  I think eventually I'll make a panel and install the unit in my basement rack.
> 
> I have no need for the time-nuts accuracy, but I have to say I've found this whole area fascinating and have learned a ton over the past couple of months toying around with this stuff and absorbing the expertise from the group here.
> 
> Anthony
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On Behalf Of Hal Murray
> Sent: Friday, December 12, 2014 6:49 PM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Cc: hmurray at megapathdsl.net
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Which First GPSDO to buy?
> 
> 
> 
> kc0wjn at gmail.com said:
>> For a newcomer to this field, which GPSDO would be better to purchase 
>> as  a first-time acquisition: ...
> 
> I'd suggest the Lucent KS24361.  Lots of people here have them so it will be easy to get advice.
> 
> 
> Aside from the GPSDO, you also need a power supply and antenna, and coax to 
> get to the antenna.  It will work a lot better if the antenna is in a good 
> location.  GPS is 1.5 GHz, so you have to pay attention to loss in the coax.
> 
> 
> -- 
> These are my opinions.  I hate spam.
> 
> 
> 
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