[time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361 GPSDO arrived today several questions

Anthony Roby aroby at antamy.com
Fri Nov 7 11:34:25 EST 2014


My frustration with getting anything out of the Diag port onto a PC continues.  I received an RS422 to USB cable and also an RS422 to RS232 convertor but neither of them has given me any success, on either box.  I can see data coming out of the port on my scope, on top of a noisy 1.2V line, but cannot get a terminal program, SatStat or Z38XX to display anything.  It's crazy.

Anthony

-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On Behalf Of Bob Camp
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2014 6:42 AM
To: GandalfG8 at aol.com; Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Lucent KS-24361 GPSDO arrived today several questions

Hi

Well, it took me a *long* time to get around to the command line on these boxes. For what ever reason (yes one could guess  ? ) I stayed focused on finding a 3810/11/12 manual rather than dropping back to the 3801 manual. 

Now the question becomes that magic 10 pin header on the board. If it ??s jumpers (might not be) one of them could enable bi-directional communication.

Thanks for checking this to see that it works on at least one other box.

Bob

> On Nov 7, 2014, at 4:03 AM, GandalfG8--- via time-nuts <time-nuts at febo.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Bob
> 
> Very many thanks for the prod re the Diagnostic port.
> 
> Considering the other GPS kit I talk to using Hyperterminal and the  
> like, often because there's no other option, I don't know why it's  
> never occurred to me to do the same with the Z3801As and now  these......
> and any rude suggestions as to why will just be politely  ignored:-)
> 
> It's not that I don't have access to the command set, but  I suspect 
> that twelve years or so ago, totally green when it came to  GPSDOs and 
> with my first Z3801A to play with, I was just grateful to find  
> SatStat, and eventually some nice commercial options, and never gave 
> it a  thought after that, silly me.
> 
> Anyway, I've just switched my Z3811A comms over to Hyperterminal  and 
> tried the :SYST:STAT? command for starters.
> That's obviously what SatStat uses to generate it's front page, 
> although it is continuously updated with SatStat, and we do have 
> contact, and something  else to play with:-)
> 
> Regards
> 
> Nigel
> GM8PZR
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a message dated 07/11/2014 00:07:56 GMT Standard Time, 
> kb8tq at n1k.org
> writes:
> 
> Hi
> 
> Ok, I got to spend a little quality time with my pair  today. I mostly 
> poked at the Diag port with a terminal program.
> 
> Both  of the units seem talk over the Diag port regardless of the mode 
> they are in  (master / slave / fault ). Both respond to a sub-set of 
> the Z3801 SCPI  commands (= not all commands work). There are a few 
> enhancements where a query  to a  ??node ?? gives a reply (which it should not if it ??s  ??node only ??
> ). All of it  works ok at 9600 baud 8N1. All of it comes back with an 
> error message (E-xxx)  after a valid command response. It may not like 
> the terminal program sending  cr/lf or something like that.
> 
> By far the most useful thing to type is  :SYST:STAT? 
> That executes the system:status request and gives you a nice  full 
> screen of information. It shows you about 95% of the useful 
> information  all on one page. About the only major thing missing is 
> the DAC value. That ??s  available with another command out of the 
> Z3801 list. It does take a while to compose and transmit the screen, 
> so it ??s not the best way to to this forever  and ever.
> 
> The data from the request is the same on both boxes. Same  everything 
> except one shows as standby etc. The interesting details are things  
> like elevation mask and cable delay. Why interesting? You can set them 
> with  discrete commands. You can also query the data with the same 
> commands to make  sure the box  ??took ?? what you sent.
> 
> This allows experimentation with  changing the elevation mask on each 
> box (or just simply doing a discrete query  for the mask on each box). 
> The Ref-0 / slave will happily change things around  with discrete 
> commands. None of them are reflected in the :SYST:STAT? listing  on 
> the Ref-0 or Ref-1. When you look at the Ref-1 / gps box, it ??s 
> discrete  query information matches the :SYST:STAT? screen on both 
> boxes. When you  change things on the Ref-1 box both screens follow that data.
> 
>  ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
> 
> When you pull the antenna on the gps box, it immediately  (almost) 
> goes into gps fault led flashing mode. The slave box happily sits  
> there for a while (say a minute) with it ??s gps led saying all is 
> well. When  you plug the antenna back in, the process is reversed. The 
> gps box goes out of  flash mode right away. The led goes out in a bit. 
> The led on the slave box  does not follow for a minute or so.
> 
>  ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
> 
> All of this suggests  to me that the Ref-0 / slave does not talk back 
> to the other box via serial.  It also suggests to me that all it 
>  ??sees ?? from the Ref-1/gps box are the  duplicates of the serial 
> string out of the Motorola gps module. The Ref-0 just  figures out 
> what ??s happening by watching those strings as they roll  by.
> 
> Hope that makes sense ? .
> 
>  ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
> 
> If that ??s all true, it  should be  ??easy ?? to put dummy gps 
> sentences into the Ref-0 interface port and  a pps from something 
> else. Once it sees stuff that it likes, it will start  locking up to 
> that pps. Cheap micro and just about any modern gps = fancy new  
> GPSDO. Quick / easy / not much work. A little more complex if you 
> decide to  translate sawtooth data. That of course assumes these boxes do anything with  sawtooth ...
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Nov 6, 2014, at 7:52 AM,  GandalfG8--- via time-nuts
> <time-nuts at febo.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Bob
>> 
>> I view the master/slave situation the same way you do,  but only
> commented
>> because Lucent effectively sets things up  the other way round so 
>> just wanted to be sure which way Paul  was considering it.
>> 
>> As regards, the "faking", yes, a single  15 way plug containing just  
>> a
> link
>> and a resistor is exactly  what I use now.
>> 
>> I realise the RS422 fudge isn't ideal but  certainly very handy for 
>> some quick tests.
>> 
>> I've got two or three RS422 PCI interfaces but hadn't previously had 
>> any
> 
>> spare slots, now I've got a couple of lovely Magma 13 way PCI  
>> expansion
> units
>> but need to hack them about so the ports are at the  front.
>> Whoever decided rack mount PC kit should be built with all  the
> connections
>> at the rear must have been really nuts, and it  was too long ago  to 
>> use "corridors" of racks as a viable  excuse, someone somewhere just 
>> fitted
> ears to
>> desk top style  cases and left the rest of us to get on with  it..
>> 
>> One  of the best things I ever did was to buy a pair of "back to front"   
>> rackmount PC cases with all ports and cards available at the front,
> trouble is
>> now I want everything else to match, and most test  gear has just the
> same
>> issues!
>> 
>> All good fun,  and certainly never a dull moment:-)
>> 
>> Regards
>> 
>> Nigel
>> GM8PZR
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
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