[time-nuts] HP 5316B External Reference

[Wes]

Thanks again for your insight Rick. I'll be passing on acquiring one of these.

Wes  N7WS

On 7/13/2020 9:02 AM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
>
>
> On 7/13/2020 6:26 AM, Wes wrote:
>> Hi Magnus,
>>
>> I did have the manual when I posed the original question but I had not delved 
>> into the cal procedure until you mentioned it. It seems to be a bit 
>> complicated for what it does. I wonder how stable this is and how often might 
>> it need to be repeated. Why they didn't use the external reference more 
>> directly is a puzzle.
>>
>> I appreciate your time in looking into this.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Wes
>>
>>
>
> I don't know the specific engineer who designed this injection
> locking scheme, but IMHO it's a "too clever by half" sort of
> thing (and that's being charitable).  Unfortunately, I encountered many 
> examples of that in the 5334A, and other counters.  I took out around
> a dozen of these "clever" circuits in the process of replacing the
> 5334A with the 5334B.  The engineers involved were outside their
> lane as the saying goes; I actually talked to them about why they
> designed the circuit in that way.  Didn't have a valid reason IMHO.
> Just having been in that environment, I would be distrustful of the 5316 
> design for anything important application like time nuts work.
> Actually, I would be distrustful of any injection locking multiplier no matter 
> who designed it.  Unfortunately, you can't conclude that
> a design is good simply because it came out of HP.  In some ways,
> it was disillusioning to go to work for HP and see what is
> really going on.
>
> Rick N6RK