[time-nuts] Accuracy results with Trimble Thunderbolt?

[Frank O'Donnell]

Tom,

Thanks very much, that's a great list and will keep me busy for some time.

At the hobbyist level, are there time interval counters or frequency 
counters that are particularly popular, and/or that pair well with the 
listed software?

Frank



On 3/25/20 2:30 PM, Tom Van Baak wrote:
> 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
>>