[time-nuts] Re: Accuracy of a sound card

[David Kirkby]

Alberto di Bene wrote:
> Tom Van Baak wrote:
> 
> 
>>I measured the phase, frequency and Allan deviation of
>>the sound card on my cheap PC. You'll enjoy the results:
>>
>>http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/sound-1pps/
>>
>>If any of you with a high-end sound card want to repeat
>>the experiment let me know.
>>
>> 
>>
> 
> Unfortunately, while my 5328B has the HPIB interface, my PC doesn't, so
> I cannot collect data automatically, otherwise it would have been a very
> interesting experiment...
> 
> 73  Alberto  I2PHD

If your PC has an ISA slot, or you have an older PC with an ISA slot, 
then a GPIB board is not that expensive on eBay. Just save yourself a 
lot of hassle and get one from National Instruments, as they are better 
supported than other makes.

PCI GPIB cards are current, and so are *much* more expensive.

I guess a modern sound card will not fit in an old PC with an ISA slot, 
but there is nothing to stop you using a modern PC with the high-end 
sound card, and an old PC with a cheap ISA card for the data collection.

There are free drivers for FreeBSD, linux and possibly Windoze, but I am 
not sure about the latter.


-- 
David Kirkby,
G8WRB

Please check out http://www.g8wrb.org/
of if you live in Essex http://www.southminster-branch-line.org.uk/