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

[paul swed]

Bill
Thats exactly why they showed up. Though I still tend to see silly prices.
Heck serious humor you still see the GOES satellite Truetime DC468s for
sale again at silly costs and thats been dead since 2001 or so. (Unless you
have a GOES simulator)

So you are right GPSDOs have taken their place pretty much. At least for a
low cost investment we time-nuts get a very nice reference that's just
there.
But there are ways to make those old units work. Its a bit complicated and
requires diving in pretty deeply. Some methods are simpler than others and
if your closer they will work. I am in New England so its a lot tougher.
WWVB can deliver a good signal. But GPSDOs have made me a bit lazy.
Guess what I am listening to right now? The KD2BD wwvb costas loop
receiver. There you go.
Old habits die hard.
Enjoy.
Paul WB8TSL

On Sun, Oct 4, 2020 at 8:21 PM Bill Notfaded <notfaded1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Is this why so many really high end devices are basically dumped on eBay
> now?  I wondered why SRS device was so cheap now considering price of the
> SR620.  It's too bad they don't work anymore.  I'm sure when this happened
> it was a HUGE let down to many here that were using them?  What's the best
> modern one of these for metrology use?  Or has GNSS basically ended it?
> I'm very interested in your knowledge about these because I've really
> wondered how a modern one would compare to GNSS?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bill
>
>  .ılılı..ılılı.
> notfaded1
>
> On Sun, Oct 4, 2020, 2:54 PM paul swed <paulswedb at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Agree with Bobs comment. The 180 degree phase flip killed all of the gear
> > unless significant mods are done or the d-psk-r is used. Great old boxes
> > though.
> > Regards
> > Paul
> > WB8TSL
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 4, 2020 at 3:15 PM Bob kb8tq <kb8tq at n1k.org> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi
> > >
> > > This is another of the many devices out there that pre-date the
> > > “modern” 180 degree phase modulation approach on WWVB. Getting
> > > one of these to run properly with the new modulation approach would
> take
> > > some major mods …..
> > >
> > > Bob
> > >
> > > > On Oct 4, 2020, at 10:23 AM, Magnus Danielson <magnus at rubidium.se>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > 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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