[time-nuts] Accuracy results with Trimble Thunderbolt?

[Tom Van Baak]

Frank,

The software that most of us use to create Allan deviation plots is free 
and not that hard to use.
You will need ascii numerical phase or frequency data, e.g., from a time 
interval or frequency counter.


1) Stable32, by Bill Riley

See: 
https://ieee-uffc.org/frequency-control/frequency-control-software/stable32/

Documentation and a goldmine of T&F information: http://www.wriley.com/


2) TimeLab, by John Miles

http://www.ke5fx.com/timelab/readme.htm

Documentation and tutorials: 
http://www.miles.io/PhaseStation_53100A_user_manual.pdf


3) Allan deviation for Python, by Anders Wallin

https://pypi.org/project/AllanTools/


4) Command line tools for ADEV

adev_lib.c, adev4.c, adev5.c in my http://leapsecond.com/tools/ directory.


5) Excel, gnuplot, etc.

Any software that generates log-log plots can be used to make ADEV 
plots. You first calculate the statistics using CLI tools and then use 
the GUI to make the plots. This gives maximum flexibility in plotting 
clarity and style but requires more work than canned packages like 
Stable32 or TimeLab.

Normally I recommend TimeLab to new users, but I'm run into VBA and 
Excel wizards who are proficient in that environment.


6) Plotter, by Ulrich Bangert

Still used by some time nuts, maybe "not recommended for new design", 
since Ulrich is no longer with us.


/tvb



On 3/25/2020 1:44 PM, Frank wrote:
> Big thanks to Attila, Frank, and Taka for your responses to my 
> questions on my Trimble Thunderbolt.
>
> I'm inclined to follow Taka's advice and reset the antenna elevation 
> mask angle with LH's FE command to something between 10 and 20 
> degrees. I'm guessing that this is entered in degrees (i.e. "15"), but 
> I can't find anything in the LH documentation to verify this, so if 
> it's wrong I'm happy to be corrected. Also, as noted I set the 
> satellite signal level mask to 1 with LH's FL command, but short of 
> doing a full reset of the Thunderbolt I'm having trouble figuring out 
> what the default value is for this.
>
> I appreciate Attila's and Frank's suggestions on topics to study such 
> as Allan deviation to dip more toes into metrology. I've started in on 
> this, though I imagine it will take a while to work through. For now, 
> I wanted to throw out one follow-up question. I see that ADEV diagrams 
> plotting Allan deviation against time seem to be a primary tool for 
> evaluating GPSDO performance. If I wanted to compare the Thunderbolt 
> to another GPSDO (for example, I also have a Bodnar unit), is there 
> software not wildly beyond a hobbyist budget that would allow me to 
> compile and display similar data?
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Frank
>
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