I had one of these systems with a power supply parked on a shelf for a two years, as I got a much newer Efratom system with rubidium back up. I decided to run it to see if it was still working. When I powered it up with a good external amplified antenna, it would not lock (front LED indicator stayed dark), even after 8 hours. I found an old copy of Satstat and loaded it into my Toughbook, and hooked it to the serial output of the Z3801A, I got communication after getting the right protocol set up (Satstat does not appear to save these settings which is unfortunate as the defaults don't come close to working), but there was a large burst of traffic followed by an error message saying updates had been turned off. What?  Well, I turned updates back on, and ran the various system commands, confirmed it was an HP Z3801A, and then did the full status dump, this time it worked, AND the front locked LED came On. The manual specifically says no communication is needed to make the system lock, so I am puzzled by this, and the system now shows 6 satellites active and everything is working (except the calendar date is wrong, which I understand is a roll-over problem).  I have multiple 10MHz outputs, and all seems good. Is this start-up behavior normal?  Also, can it be updated to fix the wrong calendar data?  I am happy that all is working, but concerned it might stop again if II don't correctly understand what happened here. Also, I could not find Satstat anywhere on the web, but was surprised to find it in one of my old archives (the symmetricom version), I am happy to email a copy to anybody that needs it. I think it is version 5.02. All the best, walter -- Walter Shawlee 2 Sphere Research Corp. 3394 Sunnyside Rd. West Kelowna, BC, V1Z 2V4 CANADA Phone: +1 (250-769-1834 -:- http://www.sphere.bc.ca +We're all in one boat, no matter how it looks to you. (WS2) +All you need is love. (John Lennon) +But, that doesn't mean other things don't come in handy. (WS2) +Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment. (R. Buckminster Fuller)

Walter what you experienced is not at all correct. On a good unit turn it on and after some time it all locks. No muss or fuss. I seem to recall the protocol is 7 E 1 maybe 9600 baud. Its not the normal 8 N 1. The satstat did trigger responses. Watch out. Some ports defaul to xon/xoff. Putty as an example. You want no flow control. Good luck the ole 3801 are nice units. Regards Paul. On Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 5:21 PM Walter Shawlee 2 via time-nuts < time-nuts@lists.febo.com> wrote: > I had one of these systems with a power supply parked on a shelf for a > two years, as I got a much newer Efratom system > with rubidium back up. I decided to run it to see if it was still working. > > When I powered it up with a good external amplified antenna, it would > not lock (front LED indicator stayed dark), even after 8 hours. > I found an old copy of Satstat and loaded it into my Toughbook, and > hooked it to the serial output of the Z3801A, > I got communication after getting the right protocol set up (Satstat > does not appear to save these settings which is unfortunate > as the defaults don't come close to working), but there was a large > burst of traffic followed by an error message saying updates had been > turned off. > > What? Well, I turned updates back on, and ran the various system > commands, confirmed it was an HP Z3801A, and then did the full status > dump, this time it worked, AND the front locked LED came On. The manual > specifically says no communication is needed to make the system lock, so > I am puzzled by this, and the system now shows 6 satellites active and > everything is working (except the calendar date is wrong, which I > understand is a roll-over problem). I have multiple 10MHz outputs, and > all seems good. > > Is this start-up behavior normal? Also, can it be updated to fix the > wrong calendar data? I am happy that all is working, but concerned it > might stop again if II don't correctly understand what happened here. > > Also, I could not find Satstat anywhere on the web, but was surprised to > find it in one of my old archives (the symmetricom version), I am happy > to email a copy to anybody that needs it. I think it is version 5.02. > > All the best, > walter > > -- > Walter Shawlee 2 > Sphere Research Corp. 3394 Sunnyside Rd. > West Kelowna, BC, V1Z 2V4 CANADA > Phone: +1 (250-769-1834 -:- http://www.sphere.bc.ca > +We're all in one boat, no matter how it looks to you. (WS2) > +All you need is love. (John Lennon) > +But, that doesn't mean other things don't come in handy. (WS2) > +Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend > on us. > We are not the only experiment. (R. Buckminster Fuller) > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > To unsubscribe send an email to time-nuts-leave@lists.febo.com