[time-nuts] FS: Spectracom 8161 "Standard Frequency Receiver - Oscillator" for WWVB (and question...)

[Magnus Danielson]

Hi,

I got a bit curious, so I dug up the manual (Available from Orolia that
Spectracom is part of):

https://www.orolia.com/sites/default/files/document-files/8161_manual.pdf

It is apparent that the reference oscillator is actually free-running
but compared to the WWVB, so you manually tune it to make the
strip-chart become more of a flat line.

This is interesting, because the receiver locks up another 10 MHz
oscillator.

Now, there is a 45 degree (2.1 micro) modulation on the WWVB signal,
that shows up as time-tags on the strip-chart, so it is not trivially so
that you just replace the simpler 10 MHz oscillator with the more
advanced, unless you can live with that modulation at which time it is a
fairlly trivial hack. You can be a bit more cunning to add hardware to
compensate the modulation, but I wonder if that is what is done.

To figure it out, one has to pop the lid to figure out. That is however
not for me to do.

Anyway, I thought the manual pointer and quick analysis would maybe be
appreciated.

Good luck!

Cheers,
Magnus

On 2020-10-04 09:37, Kirk Bailey wrote:
> I ran across an interesting widget in my ongoing "find the bottom of the
> pile" task.  Has a label indicating it was modified for "WWVB Continuous
> Monitored".  I thought these were all for WWVB, so what does "Continuous
> Monitored" mean?  See attached pic.  If anyone is interested in being the
> new owner please contact me directly.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kirk Bailey
> bailey at peak.org
>
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