K3s BG7TBL 10 MHz reference with K3EXREF

[Gary Smith-2]

Today was a pleasant surprise, the BG7TBL GPS Disciplined Oscillator,
external reference arrived and much faster than I expected China Post
to provide. There is no software or tech manual that comes with it so
I didn't know what to expect. There are 3 LEDs an ALM, GPS Lock &
Run. No idea what to expect with these & a web search did not lead me
to a manual.

This one is listed with the 2015-09-17 date (Version) stamped on the
front. Ebay # 331800738725 - It contained the GPSDO, antenna and 12V
wall wart. The GPS is a U-blox NEO-6M-0-001 and the OXCO is a
Oscilloquartz 8663-XS dual oven. Reading the stats on the stability,
it's pretty amazing, search down for the 8663:

http://tinyurl.com/h4j58ea

There's some interesting and lengthy discussion about this series of
GPSDO on the eevblog site. Interestingly, the OXCO in this version of
the unit is different than listed on the master reference on the
first page:

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/bg7tbl-gpsdo-master-reference/

I did find the ALM LED remained on for 20 minutes or so and with a
GPS lock (maybe one minute) the LED came on and remains on. The Run
LED flashes around 3 times/second. Not sure what the flashing
represents.

I attached it to the K3EXREF and followed the directions to enable it
in REF-CAL, in configuration. The effect wasn't immediately obvious
but when I went to copy RTTY there was an apparent improvement to the
copy in MMTTY and after transmitting, it seems like the recovery to
copy is much faster than before. I'm looking forward to trying some
of the digital modes and am happy this reference is engaged and the
stability will be kept to the minimum needed.

One thing I am wondering is how often the K3s utilizes the 10 KHz
info being provided. I think I read every 4 seconds or so but I'm not
sure I have that right. Nifty little piece of equipment to work with
the K3/K3s

Hope some find this info useful.

73,

Gary
KA1J

 
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[OH9VD]

Hi Gary,

In my unit the ALM led is off, GPS LOCK lit continuosly and RUN led on/off
frequency is 1s.

Can you monitor the nmea messages from the serial port, is it tracking the
satellites?

73 de Jarmo, OH8KVA


2016-03-18 21:46 GMT+02:00 Gary Smith <[hidden email]>:

> Today was a pleasant surprise, the BG7TBL GPS Disciplined Oscillator,
> external reference arrived and much faster than I expected China Post
> to provide. There is no software or tech manual that comes with it so
> I didn't know what to expect. There are 3 LEDs an ALM, GPS Lock &
> Run. No idea what to expect with these & a web search did not lead me
> to a manual.
>
> This one is listed with the 2015-09-17 date (Version) stamped on the
> front. Ebay # 331800738725 - It contained the GPSDO, antenna and 12V
> wall wart. The GPS is a U-blox NEO-6M-0-001 and the OXCO is a
> Oscilloquartz 8663-XS dual oven. Reading the stats on the stability,
> it's pretty amazing, search down for the 8663:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/h4j58ea
>
> There's some interesting and lengthy discussion about this series of
> GPSDO on the eevblog site. Interestingly, the OXCO in this version of
> the unit is different than listed on the master reference on the
> first page:
>
> http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/bg7tbl-gpsdo-master-reference/
>
> I did find the ALM LED remained on for 20 minutes or so and with a
> GPS lock (maybe one minute) the LED came on and remains on. The Run
> LED flashes around 3 times/second. Not sure what the flashing
> represents.
>
> I attached it to the K3EXREF and followed the directions to enable it
> in REF-CAL, in configuration. The effect wasn't immediately obvious
> but when I went to copy RTTY there was an apparent improvement to the
> copy in MMTTY and after transmitting, it seems like the recovery to
> copy is much faster than before. I'm looking forward to trying some
> of the digital modes and am happy this reference is engaged and the
> stability will be kept to the minimum needed.
>
> One thing I am wondering is how often the K3s utilizes the 10 KHz
> info being provided. I think I read every 4 seconds or so but I'm not
> sure I have that right. Nifty little piece of equipment to work with
> the K3/K3s
>
> Hope some find this info useful.
>
> 73,
>
> Gary
> KA1J
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to [hidden email]
>

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