[time-nuts] Beginner's Atomic Clock

[Magnus Danielson]

Hi,

On 2019-09-21 12:33, pisymbol . wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 12:06 PM Bob kb8tq <kb8tq at n1k.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> You probably are not going to find the Nano’s on the used market.
>> The last one I worked with was very much a pre-production unit and
>> that was only a few years back.
>>
>> Indeed if you are simply looking for a lab clock, the miniature Rb’s may
>> not be the best choice. Their stability is generally not as good as that
>> of their
>> bigger cousins. That applies to temperature as well as short term
>> stability. Since you pay a premium for the smaller parts, the “bang for the
>> buck” really isn’t there in a home bench application.
>>
>> If indeed you are trying to build something to go in a drone or put into
>> space, they make a lot of sense. If you are carrying it on your back along
>> with all the batteries to power it, again a very reasonable thing to go
>> with.
>>
>> Lots of fun !!!
>>
> Bob et al: Can folks recommend some starter oscillators to work with? A
> friend mentioned a used Accubeat for a nice cheaper Rb standard.

There is a range of telecom rubidiums to choose from, such as LRPO-101,
LPFRS, the FEI, PRS-10. They all offer a way to get started. Those
having digital read-out can offer some additional things to learn and
study, but I often put a LPRO 101 in the hands of friends that want to
get started. Their next challenge is to verify and trim it against GPS.
Next challenge is to do long term measures and see the variations and
learn from those, both systematic variations as well as the random noise
variants. The same set of challenges can also be done with crystal
oscillators.

Hmm. Should one write a set of lectures and lab exercises to have
different set of challenges to aid in building experience?

Cheers,
Magnus