[time-nuts] 5370B / TimeLab question

[Skip Withrow]

Hello Time-Nuts,
I have been having fun playing with the DMTD, but have a question
regarding data collection.

Obviously with a 10Hz offset oscillator I am feeding square waves with
a 100ms period to the START and STOP of the 5370B.  The trigger lights
are happily blinking away at 10Hz.  However, I seem to have two
different operating modes depending on the difference between the
START and STOP signals.

If the difference is small, no problem.  I get 10 samples per second
when TimeLab is run (TimeLab puts the 5370B in Talk Only mode, I
believe).  When the difference between START and STOP approaches
something larger than 50ms I start getting only 5 samples per second.
 I believe this is because the re-arm time misses the next START edge,
such that I get every other sample.

This definitely gives bad data for TimeLab.  So, the question is, how
do I straighten out this mess?  For long-term measurements with two
oscillators that have any kind offset/aging difference you are toast.
I have thought about maybe adding a 10Hz EXT ARM signal, but if it is
not at exactly the 10Hz difference frequency that could create
problems too (and it is a pain in the butt).

I would like to use the 5370B, but maybe it's time to switch to the TICC.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Skip Withrow