[time-nuts] Re: Drop-in replacement receiver boards for Z3801A

[Lon Cottingham]

The price, when I ordered my boards (9/15/23) was $171.  With shipping and
tax, I paid $183 per board, so you should probably add $12.00 to your cost.

I thought the boards were made off shore, but they are clearly marked "Made
in USA".  They are extremely good quality.  I have installed four of the
Synergy boards with no problems.  Two have been running for a week without
any kind of drop out, or lock up.

73 de Lon, K5JV
281-795-1335

On Thu, Feb 1, 2024 at 11:27 PM TomH via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
wrote:

> I got a written quote yesterday for $191 plus shipping and 16-week lead
> time. I get the impression that they are manufactured overseas (no
> assumptions on my part as to where), and part of the lead time is getting
> past customs.
>
> Tom, N8ZM
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian Justin, WA1ZMS via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
> Sent: Thursday, February 1, 2024 5:47 PM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement <
> time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
> Cc: Brian Justin, WA1ZMS <wa1zms at att.net>
> Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Drop-in replacement receiver boards for Z3801A
>
> Gentlemen-
>
> I contacted Synergy yesterday and while the person I spoke with could not
> provide me with a lead-time…..(the demand has been high)…..they are
> accepting orders if you contact them via e-mail or phone. For 1 to 10
> pieces, the price is just under $200  ($191 if I recall) plus shipping.
>
> If a TimeNut were to broker a large order, I’m sure a few dollars could be
> saved per receiver but that just adds complexity and it may not save much
> at all after the man-hours trying to coordinate any savings.
>
> I may order one myself just try it in one of my Z3801A units at the house,
> but at that price I can live off salvaging a few of the original receivers
> as a few other non-HP products also used the same original GPS receiver and
> so I have my personal spares.
>
> The current Synergy part number for the Z3801A and Z3805A is listed as
> model: SSR-VP1 with a Synergy part number of 16U54523G-B1.
>
> NOTE: Synergy advised me they will be updating their data-sheet for the
> entire family of these new receivers and it should be on their website
> soon. So if you do order one, be certain to verify with sales the make and
> model of GPS standard (ie: Z3801A) you intend to use their newest receiver
> in. That will hopefully avoid any future changes in their part numbers if
> that happens.
>
> Regards,
> -Brian, WA1ZMS
> iPhone
>
> > On Feb 1, 2024, at 17:02, Larry McDavid via time-nuts <
> time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:
> >
> > Greg, do you know if Synergy is actively selling this board and how?
> >
> > I ask because I sent them an inquiry from their website message system
> and have no reply.
> >
> > I have several HP Z-3801A units and have had one receiver fail. I would
> like to have a replacement, especially an upgraded one. Several here have
> reported good results with the Synergy board but all those were apparently
> ordered long ago and just recently delivered. I'm wondering if the board is
> an active product...
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Larry McDavid W6FUB
> > Anaheim, California (SE of Los Angeles, near Disneyland)
> >
> >> On 1/31/2024 7:51 AM, Gregory Beat via time-nuts wrote:
> >> The Synergy SSR-series UT+/VP Single Board Replcement
> >> https://synergy-gps.com/synergy-products/ssr-series-ut-vp-single-boar
> >> d-replacement/ does have a modern u-processor with ability to upgrade
> >> its firmware (future-proof).
> >> The Synergy SSR board converts Ublox GPS receiver’s native protocol to
> that of the obsolete Motorola Oncore VP/UT+ receivers.  Since modern Ublox
> receivers detect and receiver more than 8 or 12 satellite, the u-processor
> (MCU) can select the “Best” 8 or 12 GPS satellites to send to GPSDO (in
> Oncore format). The form factor and 10-pin (2x5) header connection is
> identical to the late 1990s Motorola Oncore receivers.
> >> WHY BUY or UPGRADE ?
> >> * Revive from junk pile (dumpster) that GPSDO with a Dead Oncore
> receiver.
> >> * Modern sensitive receiver (ublox), better ADEV observed and graphed
> >> * Faster GPS Lock, “Best of N” sats passed to GPSDO.
> >> * Fix the annoying Week Number Roll Over (WNRO) issue.
> >> * Future Proofing with ability to upgrade u-processor firmware.
> >> —
> >> Symmetricom 58503B
> >> In 2017, I acquired this late GPSDO model that was “thrown in a closet”
> from a former ‘Mom & Pop’ cellular company. It had less than 1,000 hours of
> operation and WNRO may have been mistaken for broken.  This 58503B used the
> Oncore M12+ GPS receiver with a Goshay Group (Norridge, CA) Adapter board
> (Form factor, command changes).
> >> —
> >> I started talking to Art Sepin at Synergy about this specific 58503B
> configuration in 2022.  As Art noted earlier, I sent my 58503B to his
> experienced software team for full testing.  This testing involved both the
> UT+/VP receiver replacement (solution I’m using) as well as M12+ receiver
> replacement with my Goshay adapter board.
> >> Since this was one of the last production runs of the 58503B, a few
> additional commands (Bob’s fiddly problems) were detected between the
> Symmetricom’s firmware & the GPS receiver.  These were addressed in the
> latest firmware.
> >> As Bob noted, this was not an easy task. However, after 2 years of
> work, I believe a good solution now exists for Oncore replacement.  I
> tested it with Lady Heather, SatStat, and SCPI commands.
> >> greg, w9gb
> >> chicago
> >> ==
> >> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2024 09:58:43 -0500
> >> From: Bob Camp <kb8tq at n1k.org>
> >> Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Drop-in replacement receiver boards for
> >> Z3801A
> >> To: <time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
> >> Hi
> >> Just a random comment …..
> >> The Ublox series parts speak a *very* different language than the old
> Motorola parts. Dropping a stock version of one chip in place of the other
> isn’t going to work. You either need a custom version of the base chip or
> some sort of MCU on the board to translate languages. Either way, there’s a
> whole lot of hard work (and testing) that needs to be done to make that
> work right. There are a number of fiddly problems you get into. Not at all
> an easy task.
> >> Bob
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