[time-nuts] What's best an HP 58503A, Z3805A, or Z3801A upgraded to 58503A?

Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd) drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk
Sun Nov 30 09:03:05 EST 2014


I'm seriously giving consideration to getting an HP frequency
standard, and are looking at some from the Chinese seller "yixunhk" on
eBay. I would be interested in the views of people on the merits of
these 5 quite similar items as a GPS locked frequency standard. I'm
not really so bothered about performance as a time-standard. Most
around $500 with carriage, although the one with the inbuilt power
supply is quite a bit more.

I suspect they are all good enough for a frequency standard, but if X
is better than Y, and cost the same or very similar, I would rather
get X.

1) Z3805A http://www.ebay.com/itm/251527236609
* 16 channels
* double oven
* dual outputs
* $499 + free carriage

2) Z3805A http://www.ebay.com/itm/271324714268

* 8-Channels GPS Receive
* 6-Channel GPS Parallel tracking
* double oven
* dual outputs.
* $399+ carriage, so probably the same cost as #1 above

Why do #1 and #2 have the same part numbers, but a different number of
channels??? One has 16, the other 6/8.

3) Z3801A upgraded to 58503A http://www.ebay.com/itm/271482477428

* 6-channel, Parallel tracking
* Single oven
* Single output
* $499 with free carriage

4) Z3805A upgraded to 58503A http://www.ebay.com/itm/281294190956
* 6-channel, Parallel tracking
* Double oven
* Dual outputs
* $550 with free carriage, so a little more expensive than the others.

5) 58503A http://www.ebay.com/itm/271642102264

* 6-channel, Parallel tracking
* C/A code, L1 carrier
* Single oven
* Single outputs
* $799 + free carriage, which is significantly more expensive than the
others, but does have the advantage of built in power supply, which I
must admit I do find attractive, but at $300 more, it is quite a jump
in price.

Dave


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