OK,
Here I'll try to illustrate what I mean when I talk about keeping the counts in the lower region to get the best results at low TAU.
The noise contributed by the offset oscillator will only cancel out exactly when the DUT and REF are in phase. As the units drift and the counts depart from the lower region the noise from the offset oscillator will start to degrade the measurement!
First I'll show a plot showing the performance of 2 different offset oscillators.
One is an FTS 1200 and the other a Piezo clone of the 10811.
Then a set of plots showing the baseline plots for low/mid/and full-scale counts using the FTS 1200 and then the Piezo as the offset oscillator.
As you can see both oscillators perform well in the lower region and show worsening performance as the count region goes up.
The 1200 does give better results than the Piezo when the counts rise.
The Piezo looks a little better when in coincidence but I think I managed to get a better phase match for that particular plot.
Also includes a noise plot.
With care you can take a long measurement disregarding where you are in regards to scale and then take a shorter plot after getting the counts into the lower region.
On a long plot there may be wraps where the counts are in the lower region so just select those portions and then plot your AD.
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Well as usual when you try to teach something you end up learning yourself!
I never took the time over the many years to quantify the degradation versus distance from coincidence.
I knew it existed and always made the effort to minimize the effect.
Anyway I just finished another set of noise floors using the NBS 106B with its built in delay line to try and pin down where it starts hurting the results.
Here is a chart showing what I found.
% of full scale delay AD @1Sec
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0 1.30-13th
.01 1.57-13th
.1 6.58-13th
1 6.82-13th
2 6.78-13th
3 6.62-13th
4 6.85-13th
50 7.07-13th
100 8.75-13th
As you can see staying in the lower .1% will allow testing to low -13ths, as you go above that to 50% you can only test in the 7X10-13th range.

Cheers,
Corby