[time-nuts] Meaning of "SS" on status screen from 58503A

[Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd)]

Hi,

I'm trying to make sense of the output from the status screen of this GPSDO

E-113> :SYSTEM:STATUS?
------------------------------- Receiver Status -------------------------------

SYNCHRONIZATION ............................................. [ Outputs Valid ]
SmartClock Mode ___________________________   Reference Outputs _______________
>> Locked to GPS                              TFOM     3             FFOM     0
   Recovery                                   1PPS TI +48.6 ns relative to GPS
   Holdover                                   HOLD THR 1.000 us
   Power-up                                   Holdover Uncertainty ____________
                                              Predict  8.5 us/initial 24 hrs

ACQUISITION ................................................ [ GPS 1PPS Valid ]
Tracking: 6 ____   Not Tracking: 1 ________   Time ____________________________
PRN  El  Az   SS   PRN  El  Az                UTC      19:12:37     14 Dec 2014
  5  43 191   71    21  13 307                GPS 1PPS Synchronized to UTC
 13  67  96   59                              ANT DLY  0 ns
 15  36 290   52                              Position ________________________
 26  81 307   50                              MODE     Hold
 28  50 108   53
 30  39  62   45                              LAT      N  51:39:04.122
                                              LON      E   0:46:36.379
ELEV MASK 10 deg                              HGT               +44.16 m  (MSL)
HEALTH MONITOR ......................................................... [ OK ]
Self Test: OK    Int Pwr: OK   Oven Pwr: OK   OCXO: OK   EFC: OK   GPS Rcv: OK
E-113>


What does the "SS" mean? According to the 58503A / 59551A *Symmetricom* manual

http://www.leapsecond.com/museum/hp59551a/097-59551-02-iss-1.pdf

there should be a "C/N" there, not a "SS". The manual says 50 is the
maximum value for C/N, and 35 is the minimum for stable tracking. The
fact I have four satellites showing an SS of over 50 indicates that I
can't just assume SS=C/N.

The manual for the 58503B,

http://www.leapsecond.com/museum/hp58503a/097-58503-13-iss-1.pdf

which I assume is a later model than the 58503A, says again C/N is
used on the 58503B, but it does say "SS" is used on the 59551A, which
is a quite a different beast - it does not have a 10 MHz output. For
that it says SS ranges from 0 to 255, and that 20-30 is weak. *IF* I
can assume the SS in the 58503A works the same was as SS in the
59551A, then it looks like I have 6 satellites which are not weak. But
that is a big "IF"

Does anyone have an HP manual for the 58503A?

Dr. David Kirkby Ph.D CEng MIET
Kirkby Microwave Ltd
Registered office: Stokes Hall Lodge, Burnham Rd, Althorne, Essex, CM3 6DT, UK.
Registered in England and Wales, company number 08914892.
http://www.kirkbymicrowave.co.uk/
Tel: 07910 441670 / +44 7910 441670 (0900 to 2100 GMT only please)