Re: [time-nuts] Racal-Dana 1992 switches
Had the same trouble!!! bought a junk racal unit (they have several models) for $10 & stole the switches from it!!! Sad way to send a unit to the scrap BIN!!!
The unit is EXCELLENT & well worth the repair effort
Norm
---- David McGaw david@endor.com wrote:
Does anyone know of a source of push-button switches for the
Racal-Dana 1992? I have one that over half are bad. No luck from
Racal-Dana or their service house.
Thanks,
David
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I have a friend who has two of the surplus (telephone Co. ?) timing
receivers. That use a Motorola
(A111219115) GPS receiver and a ovenized 5 MHz oscillator
It has external connectors for 5 MHz., 1 PPS, -48Volts, RS232, and the
Antenna.
He has the matching Antenna which is marked 5 Volt and looks like it has
a helix inside.
What I want to do is get one of them running so I need to find the
correct commands to set the
Lat and Long. and read the status messages.
Anyone recognize this equipment?
Bill K7NOM
Can you get some photos so we can try to recognise it?
Rob K
-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On
Behalf Of Bill Janssen
Sent: 10 March 2008 18:30
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: [time-nuts] Motorola GPS + 5 MHz oscillator ?
I have a friend who has two of the surplus (telephone Co. ?) timing
receivers. That use a Motorola
(A111219115) GPS receiver and a ovenized 5 MHz oscillator
It has external connectors for 5 MHz., 1 PPS, -48Volts, RS232, and the
Antenna.
He has the matching Antenna which is marked 5 Volt and looks like it has
a helix inside.
What I want to do is get one of them running so I need to find the
correct commands to set the
Lat and Long. and read the status messages.
Anyone recognize this equipment?
Bill K7NOM
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and follow the instructions there.
Bill,
This one of the old Motorola "Basic" receivers. Is it in a plastic box or an
aluminum one? Doesn't matter, just curious.
Many years ago I created a PDF version of the old VP command set which is
supported by the Basic. I think Jason Rabel has a copy on his website.
Jason, are you out there? Can't remember your URL.....
For instant gratification I would recommend you download TAC32 from Rick
Hambly's website:www.cnssystems.com (I think it is on the TAPR site too.
TAC32 will automatically go through all of the messages on power-up needed
to identify the receiver. Once you know that we can make a pretty good guess
on which commands it will support.
It's also a quick way to see if the receiver even functions.
Randy Warner
-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On
Behalf Of Bill Janssen
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 11:30 AM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: [time-nuts] Motorola GPS + 5 MHz oscillator ?
I have a friend who has two of the surplus (telephone Co. ?) timing
receivers. That use a Motorola
(A111219115) GPS receiver and a ovenized 5 MHz oscillator
It has external connectors for 5 MHz., 1 PPS, -48Volts, RS232, and the
Antenna.
He has the matching Antenna which is marked 5 Volt and looks like it has
a helix inside.
What I want to do is get one of them running so I need to find the
correct commands to set the
Lat and Long. and read the status messages.
Anyone recognize this equipment?
Bill K7NOM
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https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the instructions there.
randy warner wrote:
Bill,
This one of the old Motorola "Basic" receivers. Is it in a plastic box or an
aluminum one? Doesn't matter, just curious.
Many years ago I created a PDF version of the old VP command set which is
supported by the Basic. I think Jason Rabel has a copy on his website.
Jason, are you out there? Can't remember your URL.....
For instant gratification I would recommend you download TAC32 from Rick
Hambly's website:www.cnssystems.com (I think it is on the TAPR site too.
TAC32 will automatically go through all of the messages on power-up needed
to identify the receiver. Once you know that we can make a pretty good guess
on which commands it will support.
It's also a quick way to see if the receiver even functions.
Randy Warner
Correct URL is:
http://www.cnssys.com/
Bruce
Thanks Bruce,
I guess I have been away from the GPS timing sector for too long. I'm sure I
will hear from Rick.......
Randy
-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On
Behalf Of Bruce Griffiths
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 1:25 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Motorola GPS + 5 MHz oscillator ?
randy warner wrote:
Bill,
This one of the old Motorola "Basic" receivers. Is it in a plastic box or
an
aluminum one? Doesn't matter, just curious.
Many years ago I created a PDF version of the old VP command set which is
supported by the Basic. I think Jason Rabel has a copy on his website.
Jason, are you out there? Can't remember your URL.....
For instant gratification I would recommend you download TAC32 from Rick
Hambly's website:www.cnssystems.com (I think it is on the TAPR site too.
TAC32 will automatically go through all of the messages on power-up needed
to identify the receiver. Once you know that we can make a pretty good
guess
on which commands it will support.
It's also a quick way to see if the receiver even functions.
Randy Warner
Correct URL is:
http://www.cnssys.com/
Bruce
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Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter instead
of a passive one. I suppose I could use a passive splitter followed by two
LNA's (one to each receiver), but I would then have to add a lot of
attenuation to knock the signal back down. I suppose it would work, but the
noise factor sure wouldn't be optimum.
Does anyone out there know of a single/dual IC solution to this? Everything
I have found LNA wise is in the 10-30 dB range. Note that this will be a
board mounted circuit and I don't have to worry about connectors, etc. I'm
hoping to find a little solution that I can cover with one of Laird's
standard shield cans.
Thanks,
Randy Warner
randy warner wrote:
Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter instead
of a passive one. I suppose I could use a passive splitter followed by two
LNA's (one to each receiver), but I would then have to add a lot of
attenuation to knock the signal back down. I suppose it would work, but the
noise factor sure wouldn't be optimum.
Does anyone out there know of a single/dual IC solution to this? Everything
I have found LNA wise is in the 10-30 dB range. Note that this will be a
board mounted circuit and I don't have to worry about connectors, etc. I'm
hoping to find a little solution that I can cover with one of Laird's
standard shield cans.
Thanks,
Randy Warner
Randy
The only solution that springs to mind is to amplify split/attenuate
amplify attenuate.
If one uses low noise amplifiers and maintains a net gain before the
output attenuator then the noise figure can be kept reasonably low.
This requires an input amplifier followed by a splitter and possibly an
attenuator followed by an amplifier with an output attenuator for each
of the 2 splitter outputs.
The output attenuators will also increase the isolation by a few dB.
Bruce
randy warner wrote:
Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter instead
of a passive one.
Randy,
For a long time I used a passive splitter made from a swap meet $1 MCL
(minicircuits) 1 to 2 GHz splitter / combiner. Isolation of these is
good, around 30 dB, and the extra 3 dB loss will not be noticed in the
majority of cases. This one had SMAs all round and DC continuity
through from the A and B ports to the Common. I blocked one path to DC
with a 100 pF SM capacitor. If you need the Rx connected to the blocked
path to think it is feeding an antenna a series R and L combination with
a 220 Ohm R will fool the Rx in question.
I really would not think you will need any gain. For more than two
receivers though I would recommend the hp / symmetricom (?) 4 and 8 way
active splitters that can be found on eBay. If you did want gain there
are a lot of MMICs that will do the job.
I've given it away a while back so can't give you any further details,
but for two receivers this worked well for me. For my growing collection
of gps units here I now need more than two...
Dan
In message 47D5AFD9.5030206@xtra.co.nz, Bruce Griffiths writes:
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter instead
of a passive one.
I have no idea if it is feasible at GPS frequencies, but two common-gate
amplifiers both feeding of the input might be workable.
--
Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
phk@FreeBSD.ORG | TCP/IP since RFC 956
FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Hi Randy:
Do you know that one of the receivers causes a problem for the other one?
It may be that a passive splitter is all you need, like:
http://www.prc68.com/I/4GPS.shtml
To get more isolation you could pad between the splitter and receivers since
most receivers operate over a large dynamic range.
If you think you will want to run a number of receivers you might consider a
repeater. It consists of a high gain amp (about 30 to 50 dB) followed by a
passive antenna mounted on the ceiling pointing down. I found that setting the
receivers side by side where they were toughing each other caused problems, but
6 inches of separation was all that was needed for isolation.
Have Fun,
Brooke Clarke
http://www.prc68.com/P/Prod.html Products I make and sell
http://www.prc68.com/Alpha.shtml All my web pages listed based on html name
http://www.PRC68.com
http://www.precisionclock.com
http://www.prc68.com/I/WebCam2.shtml 24/7 Sky-Weather-Astronomy Web Cam
randy warner wrote:
Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter instead
of a passive one. I suppose I could use a passive splitter followed by two
LNA's (one to each receiver), but I would then have to add a lot of
attenuation to knock the signal back down. I suppose it would work, but the
noise factor sure wouldn't be optimum.
Does anyone out there know of a single/dual IC solution to this? Everything
I have found LNA wise is in the 10-30 dB range. Note that this will be a
board mounted circuit and I don't have to worry about connectors, etc. I'm
hoping to find a little solution that I can cover with one of Laird's
standard shield cans.
Thanks,
Randy Warner
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and follow the instructions there.
Bruce,
I'm afraid I have to agree. I just can't seem to find an "easy" way to do
this. I suppose I could cut one of my HP splitters apart, but that would be
rather ugly and costly. ;-)
Randy
-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On
Behalf Of Bruce Griffiths
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 3:02 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Component level 1:2 splitter
randy warner wrote:
Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter
instead
of a passive one. I suppose I could use a passive splitter followed by two
LNA's (one to each receiver), but I would then have to add a lot of
attenuation to knock the signal back down. I suppose it would work, but
the
noise factor sure wouldn't be optimum.
Does anyone out there know of a single/dual IC solution to this?
Everything
I have found LNA wise is in the 10-30 dB range. Note that this will be a
board mounted circuit and I don't have to worry about connectors, etc. I'm
hoping to find a little solution that I can cover with one of Laird's
standard shield cans.
Thanks,
Randy Warner
Randy
The only solution that springs to mind is to amplify split/attenuate
amplify attenuate.
If one uses low noise amplifiers and maintains a net gain before the
output attenuator then the noise figure can be kept reasonably low.
This requires an input amplifier followed by a splitter and possibly an
attenuator followed by an amplifier with an output attenuator for each
of the 2 splitter outputs.
The output attenuators will also increase the isolation by a few dB.
Bruce
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Hello Randy,
You may find that you have excess gain from the existing LNA/Antenna to
the GPS RX.
Using a passive splitter, 1/2 to both outputs, will not degrade performance.
If you do not have excess gain, a cost effective approach is a ebay
splitter by Symmetricom.
Last one I got was 30$
Stan, W1LE FN41sr Cape Cod
randy warner wrote:
Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter instead
of a passive one. I suppose I could use a passive splitter followed by two
LNA's (one to each receiver), but I would then have to add a lot of
attenuation to knock the signal back down. I suppose it would work, but the
noise factor sure wouldn't be optimum.
Does anyone out there know of a single/dual IC solution to this? Everything
I have found LNA wise is in the 10-30 dB range. Note that this will be a
board mounted circuit and I don't have to worry about connectors, etc. I'm
hoping to find a little solution that I can cover with one of Laird's
standard shield cans.
Thanks,
Randy Warner
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and follow the instructions there.
Dan,
Thanks for the info. It looks like Mini-Circuits little BP2G IC should work
well enough. 3dB of loss SHOULDN'T bother anything, the Novatel L1 CP
receivers we use here are almost deaf....... So long as the isolation stays
up in the high 20's and I put buffers on all ports I should be OK.
Randy
-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On
Behalf Of Dan Rae
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 3:23 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Component level 1:2 splitter
randy warner wrote:
Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter
instead
of a passive one.
Randy,
For a long time I used a passive splitter made from a swap meet $1 MCL
(minicircuits) 1 to 2 GHz splitter / combiner. Isolation of these is
good, around 30 dB, and the extra 3 dB loss will not be noticed in the
majority of cases. This one had SMAs all round and DC continuity
through from the A and B ports to the Common. I blocked one path to DC
with a 100 pF SM capacitor. If you need the Rx connected to the blocked
path to think it is feeding an antenna a series R and L combination with
a 220 Ohm R will fool the Rx in question.
I really would not think you will need any gain. For more than two
receivers though I would recommend the hp / symmetricom (?) 4 and 8 way
active splitters that can be found on eBay. If you did want gain there
are a lot of MMICs that will do the job.
I've given it away a while back so can't give you any further details,
but for two receivers this worked well for me. For my growing collection
of gps units here I now need more than two...
Dan
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https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the instructions there.
Randy,
a splitter for two GPS receivers is a bit different from a normal power
splitter in that both receivers should "see" 50 Ohms impedance @ RF but
abt. some hundred Ohms @ dc. That is because each receiver will try to
measure the (active) antenna's dc current to find out whether the
attached antenna is working or not. They will react to either a to low
or a too high dc impedance with an "short circuit" or an "open loop"
condition that may inhibit them from work.
If you supply your mail address I can send you a photograph of a diy
passive splitter for two GPS receivers that works pretty well despite
the fact that it looks not really like rf equipment. It is easy to make
from parts out of the junk box.
Best regards
Ulrich Bangert, DF6JB
-----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
Von: time-nuts-bounces@febo.com
[mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] Im Auftrag von randy warner
Gesendet: Montag, 10. Marz 2008 22:03
An: 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'
Betreff: [time-nuts] Component level 1:2 splitter
Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1
antenna into 2 GPS receivers. To keep the isolation up I want
to use an active splitter instead of a passive one. I suppose
I could use a passive splitter followed by two LNA's (one to
each receiver), but I would then have to add a lot of
attenuation to knock the signal back down. I suppose it would
work, but the noise factor sure wouldn't be optimum.
Does anyone out there know of a single/dual IC solution to
this? Everything I have found LNA wise is in the 10-30 dB
range. Note that this will be a board mounted circuit and I
don't have to worry about connectors, etc. I'm hoping to find
a little solution that I can cover with one of Laird's
standard shield cans.
Thanks,
Randy Warner
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to
https://www.febo.com/cgi-> bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and
follow the instructions there.
Whatever route you go down, remember you need to get DC to the antenna from
one of the receivers, and block DC to the other.
Rob K
-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On
Behalf Of randy warner
Sent: 10 March 2008 21:03
To: 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'
Subject: [time-nuts] Component level 1:2 splitter
Guys,
I need to come up with a 0db little splitter to route 1 antenna into 2 GPS
receivers. To keep the isolation up I want to use an active splitter instead
of a passive one. I suppose I could use a passive splitter followed by two
LNA's (one to each receiver), but I would then have to add a lot of
attenuation to knock the signal back down. I suppose it would work, but the
noise factor sure wouldn't be optimum.
Does anyone out there know of a single/dual IC solution to this? Everything
I have found LNA wise is in the 10-30 dB range. Note that this will be a
board mounted circuit and I don't have to worry about connectors, etc. I'm
hoping to find a little solution that I can cover with one of Laird's
standard shield cans.
Thanks,
Randy Warner
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com
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and follow the instructions there.
I was trying to get TAC32 to talk to my Z3801A, and no luck. I have
HP SATSTAT working OK but not TAC32 (or SynTac). SATSTAT uses COM 1, at
19200,7 bits and odd parity. Incidentally I modified the Z3801A to be
RS232, if that makes a difference
How do I convince TAC32 to connect to my Z3801A
Any help appreciated
Bill K7NOM
The Z3801A doesn't talk native Motorola -- it has its own set of
commands based on the SCPI protocol. So I don't think you'll have any
luck using the Motorola-based programs to talk to it.
John
Bill Janssen wrote:
I was trying to get TAC32 to talk to my Z3801A, and no luck. I have
HP SATSTAT working OK but not TAC32 (or SynTac). SATSTAT uses COM 1, at
19200,7 bits and odd parity. Incidentally I modified the Z3801A to be
RS232, if that makes a difference
How do I convince TAC32 to connect to my Z3801A
Any help appreciated
Bill K7NOM
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and follow the instructions there.
From: John Ackermann N8UR jra@febo.com
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] TAC32 & Z3801A
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:02:40 -0400
Message-ID: 47F65F30.4010008@febo.com
The Z3801A doesn't talk native Motorola -- it has its own set of
commands based on the SCPI protocol. So I don't think you'll have any
luck using the Motorola-based programs to talk to it.
There is a receive only hack, which listens to the Tx of the reciever.
The Z3801A commands is very different from that of the Motorola receivers.
Cheers,
Magnus
John,
If I had a Z3801A I might be inclined to add support for it to Tac32 but I
do not have one.
Rick
W2GPS
AMSAT LM2232
-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On
Behalf Of John Ackermann N8UR
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 1:03 PM
To: billj@ieee.org; Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] TAC32 & Z3801A
The Z3801A doesn't talk native Motorola -- it has its own set of
commands based on the SCPI protocol. So I don't think you'll have any
luck using the Motorola-based programs to talk to it.
John
Bill Janssen wrote:
I was trying to get TAC32 to talk to my Z3801A, and no luck. I have
HP SATSTAT working OK but not TAC32 (or SynTac). SATSTAT uses COM 1, at
19200,7 bits and odd parity. Incidentally I modified the Z3801A to be
RS232, if that makes a difference
How do I convince TAC32 to connect to my Z3801A
Any help appreciated
Bill K7NOM
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to
and follow the instructions there.
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