[time-nuts] FSA3011 Frequency Stability Analyzer, HP 8405A or TAPR TIC

[Perry Sandeen]

Yo Bubba Dudes!,
I've been following the discussion of the FSA3011 with great interest.
Now I'm not in the upper levels of TN esoteric knowledge or have a burning desire to ever get there.   After seeing some small reference somewhere I looked at the HP 8405A on ebay and the price range seemed comparable to the FSA3011. Now the HP 8405 is a huge beast but i was thinking that it might be easier for me to use.  I'm interested in just 5 and 10 MHz oscillator comparison.  I know nothing about computer programs or writing any code.
I also looked at the TAPR TIC.
So my conclusion are:
The FSA3011 may be technically the best BUT it seems to be having some teething problems and I don't really know about what programs it runs or needs.
The HP 8405A is a big beast, but it maybe simpler for me to run and get the results I want which is stopping around 10 to ^12th. But I may have to watch it for a long time.
The TAPR TIC is small (needed) cheaper (also a plus) and seems to run available software. but needs a dedicated laptop, which is not a real problem. I also have several extra HP 18011's available.

Your opinions are gratefully solicited,
Regards,
Perrier

Perrier

If I can just download programs AFAIK I could use the TAPR TIC as I have a spare laptop that I could dedicate for its use.  The two advantaages