[time-nuts] Picotest U6200A & Timelab

[Ulrich Bangert]

Paul,

please don't get me wrong: I own a 5370A and a SR620 myself and I am happy
with them. But they CAN generate you a lot of trouble starting with bad ic
sockets and ending with serious faults of the 5370's interpolator board. I
got my 5370 only running through the help of a friend who repairs stuff at
the local surplus dealer.

If one is willing to dive deeply in his equipment the boat anchors may be
the better choice. For someone who simply needs a good tool the Picotest may
be the better choice.

Best regards
Ulrich 

> -----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
> Von: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com 
> [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] Im Auftrag von paul swed
> Gesendet: Samstag, 11. Februar 2012 16:42
> An: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] Picotest U6200A & Timelab
> 
> 
> Indeed interesting but the 5370s seem to go for $300-400 and 
> this $1750. I had been lucky to get my 5370s pre-interest 
> price accelerator so $50-75. Because who would ever want such 
> a heavy thing? Much as I love the modern interfaces, size, 
> quite, and low power consumption. The boat anchors stay. ;-)
> 
> Regards
> Paul
> WB8TSL
> 
> On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 8:07 AM, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:
> 
> > Hi
> >
> > If I hit the Acquire / U6200A entry in the Timelab menu will it buy 
> > one for me?
> >
> > How noisy is it? Put another way, it has 40 ps resolution, 
> how close 
> > can you get to that in terms of accuracy?
> >
> > Looks like a cool toy, thanks for sharing.
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
> >
> > On Feb 11, 2012, at 7:52 AM, "Ulrich Bangert" 
> > <df6jb at ulrich-bangert.de>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Gentlemen,
> > >
> > > a few weeks ago a link to a new counter named "U6200A" was to be 
> > > found
> > here
> > > in the group. I considered the technical properties of 
> this counter
> > (which
> > > is sold under the brands "Array" or "Picotest") that 
> interesting at 
> > > its price that i ordered one immediately.
> > >
> > > I did not buy it directly from China but instead from a German 
> > > importer called OSCOMP. They were able to deliver me the counter 
> > > with a built in GPIB-interface. I had not been able to allocate a 
> > > seller in China with
> > this
> > > option.
> > >
> > > I am currently testing the counter and as far everything looks 
> > > pretty
> > good.
> > > You can get an impression of the counter's capabilities by the 
> > > direct comparison to the industry standard here:
> > >
> > > http://www.stantronic.de/b/Comparison-U6200A.pdf
> > >
> > > At its price and the 40 ps single shot resolution it may 
> be a good 
> > > idea
> > to
> > > buy such a counter new for time nuts purposes instead of 
> hunting for 
> > > used 5370s and SR620s.
> > >
> > > Since the manual claims that the counter features a "HP53132 
> > > compatible
> > SCPI
> > > command languge" I tried to run John Miles's Timelab with the 
> > > counter
> > which
> > > failed in the beginning. Due to John's immediate reaction on my 
> > > inquiry concerning the U6200a Timelab now has its own 
> hardware entry 
> > > for te
> > U6200A
> > > in the "Acquire" menu and my tests show that Timelab runs 
> like charm 
> > > with the U6200A.
> > >
> > > Note that Timelab checks the device id with a *IDN? and 
> the current
> > version
> > > recognizes the Picotest brand answer to this. This may be 
> different 
> > > with
> > the
> > > Array brand id.
> > >
> > > Best regards
> > >
> > > Ulrich Bangert
> > > www.ulrich-bangert.de
> > > Ortholzer Weg 1
> > > 27243 Gross Ippener
> > > Germany
> > >
> > >
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