[time-nuts] Trimble TB replacement options???

[Jim Sanford]

I looked into the Jackson Labs products.  Prices range from nearly $400 
to almost $1300 for a dual-oven unit.

Seemed reasonable, but higher than I'm willing to go at the moment. 
Maybe down the road....

Had a Z3801 which worked for 10 years, then failed - experimenter who 
bought it found the XO some 40 Hz off -- not correctible without 
invasive repair.  I think he gave up and kept it for parts.

I bought one ot the TB clones off the e-place, and am not yet sure 
whether it is good or not.  It spends more time in RECOVERY mode than 
PHASE LOCKED, and the VCO voltage takes large jumps every time the 
number of satellites changes.  Still scratching my head.

Good luck!
Jim
wb4gcs at amsat.org

On 10/12/2013 9:16 AM, Mark C. Stephens wrote:
> As per Bob Camps Wisdom below, most of the thunderbolts and Z38XX have been well picked over, the remaining ones are usually poor in some way.
> The main problem seems to be unstable oscillators, invasive repair is required to meet specifications.
>
> --marki
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On Behalf Of Bob Camp
> Sent: Saturday, 12 October 2013 10:52 PM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Trimble TB replacement options???
>
> Hi
>
> All of these gizmos come on the market cheap when they are being scrapped out. Once that process is over for a generation of parts, the pieces climb. There are only a few working strategies:
>
> 1) Buy several when they first come out.
> 2) Pay the going rate many years later.
> 3) Switch to other gizmos with other cost / feature tradeoffs.
>
> In this case the likely tradeoff is to one of the Nortel / Trimble units or to one of the later HP boxes. The Nortel / Trimbles are in the sub $150 price range delivered. The later HP's are a bit more expensive. The Nortel / Trimble's come mainly from RDR Electronics on the e-place. The HP's come from the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
>
> One other option - before I'd pay $300 for a possibly broken TBolt (I've got a few of those), I'd do an email to find out what a brand new GPSDO (with warranty) from Jackson Labs would cost me.
>
> Bob
>
> On Oct 11, 2013, at 8:51 PM, Paul <tic-toc at bodosom.net> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 7:24 PM, Frank Hughes <hp_ciscovss at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> Does it seem like the Trimble Thunderbolt units are becoming scarce, and commanding prices accordingly?
>> The "inexpensive" used Thunderbolts predate my interest in GPSDOs so I
>> can't speak to relative prices but if your budget is ~ $300 they're
>> still readily available.  The various 2PPS Trimble GPSTM boxes/boards
>> seem to occupy the < $200 Thunderbot-like niche and some work
>> (somewhat) with Lady Heather if you're fond of that program.
>>
>> Various Z38xx devices are also candidates if you just want an
>> inexpensive GPSDO in-a-box with 1 and 10M Hz (some with multiple
>> outputs) if you are willing to deal with  it's-not-quite-a-Z3801
>> behavior.
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