[time-nuts] motorola oncore descriptions

[Jason Rabel]

Hi Jamie,

The VP is the top of the line model. I bought one of the VP models from
midnight_seller on eBay, it is running the latest firmware (10), has an
onboard battery, right angle MCX, and has all the features enabled (IBC),
position hold, 1PPS and all that jazz. I asked Randy @ Synergy what that
code meant and he said the following:

The options go like this:
	I: TRAIM
	B: Basic "plain vanilla receiver"
	C: Carrier phase

The UT+ is the timing model, it uses a subset of the VP commands. It also
only works in the Motorola Binary format, it can not switch to NMEA mode. It
also has TRAIM and position hold. Besides the 1PPS output, it can also do a
100PPS output. I bought a couple of these from sales3600 on eBay, they do
NOT have a battery, have a straight MCX connector, and they were running
firmware 3.1, which the latest is 3.2, I again asked Randy @ Synergy what
the difference was and he said 3.2 had a fix for 100PPS. He would update a
receiver for $25 each, but since I'm not using 100PPS I have no real reason
to upgrade it since it works fine as-is.

The GT models are more for navigation, not timing. They do not have position
hold or TRAIM. They do have 1PPS but it is not as accurate as the VP or UT+
models.

For the prices on eBay I would get the VP receiver, unless you specifically
want/need the 100PPS, which you would still have to update the firmware.

Once you start considering costs for everything else you will need, i.e.
adapter for power & RS232 signals, antenna, etc... You could just also spend
a little more and get a M12M Timing (newer model) Starter Kit from Synergy
Systems.

Now, about the Rockwell Jupiter 8 boards...

The TU30D140 is 5V powered (Antenna can be passive, 5V or 12V)
The TU30D160 is 3.3V powered (Antenna can be passive, 5V or 12V)

Both boards have 10 KHz output. That's about it...

Any of the above units will work with NTP, in their native binary modes. I
know with the Jupiter 8 if you switch it to nmea mode then the time will be
1-2 seconds behind always in the nmea sentences. I've experienced the same
issue with an old sirf receiver, and a superstar II. I haven't tried my
motorola in nmea mode so I don't know what it would do. As far as support
goes, the motorola has the most options in NTP.

I'm listing a couple jupiter boards on eBay, and I would be willing to sell
them direct for less than what I'm listing them.

If you dig around in the time-nuts archives, you can a discussion on these
boards within the past couple months I believe.

I have loads of PDFs for all the above Motorola & Rockwell stuff. Too much
to email but I can throw it online and you can download whatever you need or
want.

If you want a frequency reference, someone has been selling Brandywine GPS-4
units on eBay for $355, I don't know how many he has left or when the next
batch will be listed. You can go to their website for more info, but it's a
GPS unit with an OCXO and everything.

Jason

> Hello all
> 
> I am looking for information on the different
> Motorola Oncore GPS's.  Would like to know what the
> difference is between the UT+ and VP, and the
> differences between the different model numbers. 
> Advantages of one over the other?  Stuff like that. 
> The links from TAPRs page to Motorola is no longer
> valid.  Can anyone point me to a good source of basic
> information like that?  Maybe someone had an e-version
> of the specs for these?  Looking at different ones on
> ebay and not sure which one to get for building a
> frequency reference like the one by Brooks Shera.  
> 
> Also, I found some Rockwell Jupiter's, models TU30D140
> and TU30D160.  What is the difference between them?  I
> believe the TU30D140 has the 10KHz output.  Is that
> true?
> 
> Thanks in advance! --Jamie