[time-nuts] My stubborn Z3801A
Robert Benward
rbenward at verizon.net
Mon Jun 14 00:01:07 UTC 2010
To All,
An update to my Z3801A saga.
Summary: As you know, I purchased this Z3801A at the Dayton Hamfest. The
person who sold it to me said it was modified for RS-232. I powered the
unit up and the only thing it ever did was go into the holdover mode. Tried
hooking RS-232, but got no response. Did some reading and found the little
green blinking light was a good thing, all the others indicated a failure in
ram, rom, etc. Boot was good if all the front panel lights went on in
sequence.
Update: Took the unit apart to do some serious trouble shooting. Found the
signals (logic side) on the RS-232 did not go all the way to ground. Subbed
in another RS-232 transceiver, still no luck. Found another note on the
internet about removing the 5 little zero ohm resistors on the bottom to do
the RS-232 conversion. Looked on the bottom and they were still there!!! I
removed them and the signals now went all the way to ground and appeared to
be normal. Tried various programs to link up (GPS.EXE, SatStat, RS-232
comm). Saw the commands going in, and I did see a response from the Z3801A,
but the computer could not read the response. Since I did see a response
from the Z3801A on the scope, I figured it was receiving commands. I hooked
up an antenna and sent a survey command. Apparently if the GPS is moved (I
don't know how much) the Z3801A needs to do a survey otherwise it won't
lock. I went shopping, and came back about 2 hours later, and low and
behold, a GPS LOCK!!!
Still to go: The RS-232 signals look fine going into the cable, +/-5V, any
ideas why the computer won't read it? Am I missing something? I tried two
different ports in case I screwed one up one of the ports, but no luck.
Bob
AC2AZ
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