[time-nuts] Which First GPSDO to buy?

[Lizeth Norman]

I second the "build it yourself" comment. GPS receivers and steerable
oscillators are cheep on the bay. Steep learning curve, however, the
ideas carry over to many, many other things.

There are certainly more stable/accurate ways to do it. Spending money
is not always the best idea at first, at least if you're interested in
why. Later, when I understood more about the nuts and bolts, valuing a
particular buy is easier.

Do have fun. This stuff is a gas. Beware, if you're a pack rat, it's
an acquisitive hobby.

Norm n3ykf

On Sat, Dec 13, 2014 at 5:30 AM, Neil Schroeder <gigneil at gmail.com> wrote:
> In a relative newcomer to this intense of a crowd :-).  But j also found
> that I'm not quite  instrumented (yet) to tackle the accuracy problem.  As
> such Im focusing where i can  on what I know (power, systems, the like)
> while I accumulate the other gear.
>
> As such I can say the thunderbolt and now the lte lite have been rock
> solid.
>
> On Friday, December 12, 2014, Anthony Roby <aroby at antamy.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm in the same beginners' category as you.  I'd do more but have other
>> projects on the go and have found I would need more equipment (GPIB
>> interfaces, a spectrum analyzer etc) to get much further.  That said, I
>> like the Lucent KS24361 and have a few bits and pieces on order to tap into
>> J8 on the board of REF-1 and double the 5MHz for use in the lab.  I picked
>> up a decent antenna on eBay, it's probably not in an ideal spot but that
>> was a tradeoff between aesthetics on the house / access to pull a coax down
>> to the basement / height of my ladder, and it seems to work fine.  Power
>> supply was also auction-sourced for less than $20 and runs nicely.  I think
>> eventually I'll make a panel and install the unit in my basement rack.
>>
>> I have no need for the time-nuts accuracy, but I have to say I've found
>> this whole area fascinating and have learned a ton over the past couple of
>> months toying around with this stuff and absorbing the expertise from the
>> group here.
>>
>> Anthony
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com <javascript:;>] On
>> Behalf Of Hal Murray
>> Sent: Friday, December 12, 2014 6:49 PM
>> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
>> Cc: hmurray at megapathdsl.net <javascript:;>
>> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Which First GPSDO to buy?
>>
>>
>>
>> kc0wjn at gmail.com <javascript:;> said:
>> > For a newcomer to this field, which GPSDO would be better to purchase
>> > as  a first-time acquisition: ...
>>
>> I'd suggest the Lucent KS24361.  Lots of people here have them so it will
>> be easy to get advice.
>>
>>
>> Aside from the GPSDO, you also need a power supply and antenna, and coax to
>> get to the antenna.  It will work a lot better if the antenna is in a good
>> location.  GPS is 1.5 GHz, so you have to pay attention to loss in the
>> coax.
>>
>>
>> --
>> These are my opinions.  I hate spam.
>>
>>
>>
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