[time-nuts] Spectracom 8170 Receiver Trouble Requesting help please

[paul swed]

The good receivers do seem to use I+Q. Usually the signal is I and in the
8170 I believe is used to generate the time code. Its not specifically a
Freq rcvr, though I think you can get to everything you need to pull a
reference out for comparison. The Q is generally used for the AGC. So I
might guess the trick would be generate a local 60 KC sig jam it in and see
if it tracks the sig. By being local you could make it large enough to allow
easy troubleshooting with a scope without wwvb typical propagation
variables.
That would let you insure that the AGC is working correctly. I had
downloaded the 8170 manual also as potentially I will have one sometime
soon.
Regards
Paul
WB8TSL

On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 4:58 PM, Paul A. Cianciolo <paulc at snet.net> wrote:

> Hello Paul,
>
> Yes....  I forgot to mention that I have a ferrite resonant antenna with
> very good SNR.
> The receiver also displays code in the left digit of the display like the
> manual says but with about 20% errors which is the digit 4
> I don't think the antenna is the problem, I have built nearly 100 of these
> over the years and they are in use on many different receivers.
>
> I don't a lot about these I&Q detectors and I believe the problem may be in
> one of those.
>
>
> Paul A. Cianciolo
> W1VLF
> http://www.rescueelectronics.com/
> Our business computer network is  powered exclusively by solar and wind
> power.
> Converting Photons to Electrons for over 20 years
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
> Behalf Of paul swed
> Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2011 4:17 PM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Spectracom 8170 Receiver Trouble Requesting help
> please
>
> Paul
> I do not own one of these but perhaps soon.
> Many of the vlf receivers required a pre amplified antenna. Typically a
> loop. Not saying that yours does. But if it were missing that could make
> things difficult.
> Paul WB8TSL near Boston
>
> On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 2:38 PM, Paul A. Cianciolo <paulc at snet.net> wrote:
>
> > Hello Folks,
> >
> >
> >
> > This is my first post to the list and I appreciate being able to do so.
> >
> >
> >
> > I recently acquired a Spectracom  8170 WWVB receiver.
> >
> > The manual is available at the Spec. site and I have downloaded it,
> > and been reading through it.
> >
> >
> >
> > One of the problems is the lock light comes on almost immediately when
> > the RX is powered up with no antenna connected.
> >
> > Also there is a purple wire on the A2 board, pin 6 of J5 that has been
> > fitted so it can be removed and reconnected from J5 easily.
> >
> > This appears to be the synchronous AGC line back to the preamp board.
> >
> >
> >
> > In addition R30 on the A2 board has been adjusted.  I think this is
> > carrier null.
> >
> > Power supplies are all within .1 volts of 12vdc -12vdc and 5 VDC.
> >
> >
> >
> > Looking for some direction from owners of this RX.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you
> >
> >
> >
> > Paul A. Cianciolo
> >
> > W1VLF
> >
> > http://www.rescueelectronics.com/
> >
> > Our business computer network is  powered exclusively by solar and
> > wind power.
> >
> > Converting Photons to Electrons for over 20 years
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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