[time-nuts] Equipment question: OCXO versus GPSDO + XTAL

Greg Broburg semiflex at comcast.net
Fri Mar 18 02:36:45 UTC 2011


I have a 53131 and 53181. There were several TB options.
I dont have a manual for the 53230A. If you could, see what
the option TB assembly PNs are, then go looking for these
assemblies. Mine just dropped in and did the autocal right
off. I paid 300 to upgrade the 53181. The autocal using a
DAC works very well, no more tweaking Rs or Cs and
waiting a day for them to restabilize.

On 3/17/2011 7:17 PM, paul swed wrote:
> Welcome to the group Wolfgang
> My thinking would be go with the T bolt at a fraction of the cost of the
> oven.
> See if that takes care of your needs. If not add the oscillator later?
>
> Regards
> Paul.
>
> On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 8:59 PM, Wolfgang<timenuts at triplespark.net>  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm new on this list.
>>
>> Right now, I'm planning to buy a brand new Agilent 53230A frequency
>> counter (350 MHz, 20 ps, 12 digits/s, 2500 EUR).
>>
>> I'm wondering whether it is worth investing into a built-in OXCO timebase
>> option when ordering the 53230A since that adds 950 EUR.
>>
>> The alternative would be to go with the standard timebase and connect
>> a GPSDO like the TBolt or a Rb-based oscillator to the 10MHz reference
>> clock input. Or, to use the both OCXO option AND the GPSDO/Rb clock.
>>
>> Opinions needed based on experience with other devices: Would you think
>> buying the 53230A with a built-in OXCO timebase gives better performance
>> for any measurement than using the standard clock with an accurate external
>> reference?
>> Or, how would "OCXO option + GPDSO" compare to "standard osc + GPDSO"?
>> (Especially for usual gate times 10ms to 10s.)
>>
>> Regards,
>> Wolfgang, DL1SKY
>>
>>
>>
>> Known specs are:
>>
>> Standard oscillator:
>>   ??? / day
>>   0.2 ppm / month
>>   1 ppm / year
>>
>> OCXO option:
>>   0.3 ppb / day
>>   10 ppb / month
>>   50 ppb / year
>>
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