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Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement

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Re: James Miller/Brooks Shera 10 MHz GPSDO

DK
Dan Kemppainen
Wed, Aug 31, 2022 1:47 PM

Hmmm, What is the temperature coefficient of coin cells?
At one point I hooked a AA battery to high resolution voltage data
logger. The AA battery made a pretty good thermometer.

Maybe the temperature coefficient of the battery combined with the low
EFC sensitivity wouldn't matter. Personally, I'd be concerned adding
anything else to the system that could tune the crystal frequency.

Dan

On 8/31/2022 3:31 AM, time-nuts-request@lists.febo.com wrote:

Pretty clever approach to establishing an offset. But doesn't it matter how
the vari-cap is hooked up in the oscillator circuit? If the veri-cap needs
a negative voltage to work that may indicate the cathode is at ground and
the positive voltage would forward bias the vari-cap. Just thinking about
the possible impact.
Though the cost of experimenting is $0. No harm.
Regards
Paul
WB8TSL

On Tue, Aug 30, 2022 at 1:22 AM Mervyn Thomas via time-nuts <
time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote:

Stephen,

An idea I may try -thanks for your response.  The current involved in
the EFC line to the oscillator is extremely small-button cells would
last years.

Merv

On 29/08/2022 8:42 pm, Stephen C. Menasian via time-nuts wrote:

Merv,

If I understand your problem, the 10811's VCO control input voltage has
drifted above the output range of the GPSD driver board. If the VCO
control terminal current is low enough, you might be able to quickly
solve
this problem by putting 1 or 2 Lithium Ion Coin cells in series with the
control lead. If only a few microamperes are involved, this solutin might
last several years.

Stephen Menasian

On Mon, 29 Aug 2022 15:56:52 +0800
Mervyn Thomas via time-nutstime-nuts@lists.febo.com  wrote:

Hmmm, What is the temperature coefficient of coin cells? At one point I hooked a AA battery to high resolution voltage data logger. The AA battery made a pretty good thermometer. Maybe the temperature coefficient of the battery combined with the low EFC sensitivity wouldn't matter. Personally, I'd be concerned adding anything else to the system that could tune the crystal frequency. Dan On 8/31/2022 3:31 AM, time-nuts-request@lists.febo.com wrote: > Pretty clever approach to establishing an offset. But doesn't it matter how > the vari-cap is hooked up in the oscillator circuit? If the veri-cap needs > a negative voltage to work that may indicate the cathode is at ground and > the positive voltage would forward bias the vari-cap. Just thinking about > the possible impact. > Though the cost of experimenting is $0. No harm. > Regards > Paul > WB8TSL > > On Tue, Aug 30, 2022 at 1:22 AM Mervyn Thomas via time-nuts < > time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote: > >> Stephen, >> >> An idea I may try -thanks for your response. The current involved in >> the EFC line to the oscillator is extremely small-button cells would >> last years. >> >> Merv >> >> On 29/08/2022 8:42 pm, Stephen C. Menasian via time-nuts wrote: >>> Merv, >>> >>> If I understand your problem, the 10811's VCO control input voltage has >>> drifted above the output range of the GPSD driver board. If the VCO >>> control terminal current is low enough, you might be able to quickly >> solve >>> this problem by putting 1 or 2 Lithium Ion Coin cells in series with the >>> control lead. If only a few microamperes are involved, this solutin might >>> last several years. >>> >>> Stephen Menasian >>> >>> On Mon, 29 Aug 2022 15:56:52 +0800 >>> Mervyn Thomas via time-nuts<time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote: >>>
BK
Bob kb8tq
Wed, Aug 31, 2022 5:41 PM

Hi

The specific version of the 10811 involved has a very wide tune range
on the EFC. When they blocked access to the mechanical trim, they
boosted the EFC range. The circuit is basically still the same, they just
changed some values to take it up above +/- 1 ppm ( on most examples).

Since this is a locked circuit ( a GPSDO ), long term drift and even medium
term issues likely get taken out by the lock process. Just how quick things
go from “this matters” to “taken care of by lock” depends a lot on exactly
which of the many versions of this GPSDO is involved.

On many GPSDO’s the lock bandwidth is in the “couple hundred seconds”
range. Go to ~5X that and all you should see is the GPS. Go to  ~1/5 of that
and the oscillator is all that is involved.

As has been noted a lot of times here, the correct lock point is determined
by the noise of the OCXO and just how good a PPS you get out of your specific
GPS module. Things like sawtooth correction can make a difference. So
can the “era” the module came from. Since neither the OCXO or module
have a “single number” sort of noise process, it’s very much a measure and
see sort of thing.  Simply put, there are a number of versions for a very good
reason ….

Bob

On Aug 31, 2022, at 5:47 AM, Dan Kemppainen via time-nuts time-nuts@lists.febo.com wrote:

Hmmm, What is the temperature coefficient of coin cells?
At one point I hooked a AA battery to high resolution voltage data logger. The AA battery made a pretty good thermometer.

Maybe the temperature coefficient of the battery combined with the low EFC sensitivity wouldn't matter. Personally, I'd be concerned adding anything else to the system that could tune the crystal frequency.

Dan

On 8/31/2022 3:31 AM, time-nuts-request@lists.febo.com wrote:

Pretty clever approach to establishing an offset. But doesn't it matter how
the vari-cap is hooked up in the oscillator circuit? If the veri-cap needs
a negative voltage to work that may indicate the cathode is at ground and
the positive voltage would forward bias the vari-cap. Just thinking about
the possible impact.
Though the cost of experimenting is $0. No harm.
Regards
Paul
WB8TSL
On Tue, Aug 30, 2022 at 1:22 AM Mervyn Thomas via time-nuts <
time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote:

Stephen,

An idea I may try -thanks for your response.  The current involved in
the EFC line to the oscillator is extremely small-button cells would
last years.

Merv

On 29/08/2022 8:42 pm, Stephen C. Menasian via time-nuts wrote:

Merv,

If I understand your problem, the 10811's VCO control input voltage has
drifted above the output range of the GPSD driver board. If the VCO
control terminal current is low enough, you might be able to quickly

solve

this problem by putting 1 or 2 Lithium Ion Coin cells in series with the
control lead. If only a few microamperes are involved, this solutin might
last several years.

Stephen Menasian

On Mon, 29 Aug 2022 15:56:52 +0800
Mervyn Thomas via time-nutstime-nuts@lists.febo.com  wrote:


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Hi The specific version of the 10811 involved has a very wide tune range on the EFC. When they blocked access to the mechanical trim, they boosted the EFC range. The circuit is basically still the same, they just changed some values to take it up above +/- 1 ppm ( on most examples). Since this is a locked circuit ( a GPSDO ), long term drift and even medium term issues likely get taken out by the lock process. Just how quick things go from “this matters” to “taken care of by lock” depends a lot on exactly which of the many versions of this GPSDO is involved. On many GPSDO’s the lock bandwidth is in the “couple hundred seconds” range. Go to ~5X that and all you should see is the GPS. Go to ~1/5 of that and the oscillator is all that is involved. As has been noted a lot of times here, the correct lock point is determined by the noise of the OCXO and just how good a PPS you get out of your specific GPS module. Things like sawtooth correction can make a difference. So can the “era” the module came from. Since neither the OCXO or module have a “single number” sort of noise process, it’s very much a measure and see sort of thing. Simply put, there are a number of versions for a very good reason …. Bob > On Aug 31, 2022, at 5:47 AM, Dan Kemppainen via time-nuts <time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote: > > Hmmm, What is the temperature coefficient of coin cells? > At one point I hooked a AA battery to high resolution voltage data logger. The AA battery made a pretty good thermometer. > > Maybe the temperature coefficient of the battery combined with the low EFC sensitivity wouldn't matter. Personally, I'd be concerned adding anything else to the system that could tune the crystal frequency. > > Dan > > > On 8/31/2022 3:31 AM, time-nuts-request@lists.febo.com wrote: >> Pretty clever approach to establishing an offset. But doesn't it matter how >> the vari-cap is hooked up in the oscillator circuit? If the veri-cap needs >> a negative voltage to work that may indicate the cathode is at ground and >> the positive voltage would forward bias the vari-cap. Just thinking about >> the possible impact. >> Though the cost of experimenting is $0. No harm. >> Regards >> Paul >> WB8TSL >> On Tue, Aug 30, 2022 at 1:22 AM Mervyn Thomas via time-nuts < >> time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote: >>> Stephen, >>> >>> An idea I may try -thanks for your response. The current involved in >>> the EFC line to the oscillator is extremely small-button cells would >>> last years. >>> >>> Merv >>> >>> On 29/08/2022 8:42 pm, Stephen C. Menasian via time-nuts wrote: >>>> Merv, >>>> >>>> If I understand your problem, the 10811's VCO control input voltage has >>>> drifted above the output range of the GPSD driver board. If the VCO >>>> control terminal current is low enough, you might be able to quickly >>> solve >>>> this problem by putting 1 or 2 Lithium Ion Coin cells in series with the >>>> control lead. If only a few microamperes are involved, this solutin might >>>> last several years. >>>> >>>> Stephen Menasian >>>> >>>> On Mon, 29 Aug 2022 15:56:52 +0800 >>>> Mervyn Thomas via time-nuts<time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote: >>>> > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com