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

[JF PICARD]

 Hello,

Do you supply a drop in GPS replacement board for the HP 58503B ? 

Thank you.
     On Friday, February 2, 2024 at 09:04:05 PM GMT+1, Art Sepin via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:  
 
 All,

I apologize the frustration. With the exception of the u-Blox modules, all of Synergy's products are, and have always been, manufactured here in San Diego, CA. They also meet stringent telecom, RR and EU standards.  Delays have occured due to our inability to forecast demand which forces us to build smaller lots at higher costs. We're also in the process of selecting another local CM In San Diego (part of the most recent delay).  

As a courtesy to Time-Nuts, Hams, Experimenters, effective immediately Synergy offers the first Replacement board, whether a larger format VP, GT+, UT+ or the smaller format M12+, M12M replacement at $150. Any additional boards, and boards for commercial orders, are quoted at their current price.

Art
(former K6IWS - previously known as a 14 year old, lower band, 20 meter CW freak)


-----Original Message-----
From: TomH via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com> 
Sent: Thursday, February 1, 2024 3:01 PM
To: 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement' <time-nuts at lists.febo.com>
Cc: tholmes at woh.rr.com
Subject: [time-nuts] Re: Drop-in replacement receiver boards for Z3801A

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://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsyn
>> ergy-gps.com%2Fsynergy-products%2Fssr-series-ut-vp-single-boar&data=0
>> 5%7C02%7Cart%40synergy-gps.com%7C127bc0b9667e4be6192d08dc23afd1f1%7Cc
>> 81f9fdec0e04d8c95779afaa0cad9ed%7C1%7C0%7C638424485258933505%7CUnknow
>> n%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiL
>> CJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=tCsQ2G31g9ynRFJwpWZoRe2eHKstjxQ%2FXa
>> L6Tkahk8A%3D&reserved=0 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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