Author Topic: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)  (Read 60495 times)

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Offline UglySteve

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #125 on: February 11, 2018, 05:06:33 pm »
Do you have pins 4-5 connected to allow serial data input?
Steve
 

Offline Ernie

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #126 on: February 11, 2018, 07:26:01 pm »
Thanks for the new tip.....Yes I have the correct " NULL-MODEM " cable.... works well with FURY GPSDO and other unit...... but I will try your tip only tomorrow.....pins 4-5 connected together....
Ernie
 

Offline Ernie

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #127 on: February 12, 2018, 02:56:15 pm »
Hi Steve,

chked out your tip ..... to enter the $PROCEED msg.... in between the $GETVER boot msg and finally I had success....!!!!
 the very same time the motherboard  small greeen LED was on and the current consumption was about a good 30mA higher....
total 270mA    @  +12Volt... also entered the $SURVEY command and the unit started to find  its position......
It is quite tricky the timing when you want to enter  a new command....!!!
The unit is doing the  SELFSURVEY for a good 8 hrs....right now ....... and  the  10MHz RF output seems to me  also OK compared to my Rubi GPSDO.  /  True-Time    XL-DC /  but need more time to chk the ADEV  plot.

What other input command is important to enter in order to obtain the max precision from this  little gadget
I want to use the unit only as a board  the same location and just starting from a PC via RS-232 port and let is run for the next 200 years... :).

Is it any chance to use a PIC to this unit and after power-up the PIC going to load the $PROCEED msg and then it,s going to work.....

Sorry about the to many question .......

Cheers, Ernie.
 

Offline UglySteve

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #128 on: February 12, 2018, 03:52:24 pm »
Ernie,
Here is a link to the Packrat page for this GPS.  I used this as a guide, along with this page, and used the software from the page. Look at the PDF file.

http://www.packratvhf.com/index.php/technical-articles/160-gps-receiver-project

Also, you should not have to try and type a command between data lines coming from the gpsdo. just type the command. The command can look broken up on your screen, the complete command still gets to the gpsdo.
Steve
 

Offline Ernie

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #129 on: February 12, 2018, 07:15:03 pm »
Steve,

Many thanks.....
Brgds Ernie.
 

Offline Squiddaddy

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #130 on: February 17, 2018, 10:18:04 pm »
I finally got an antenna and got it hooked up to mine. Mine was stuck in wait state 19 for the longest time. I finally typed in $SETPOS with coordinates I got while playing around with a NEO-7M, and got it into state 1, recovery. Then it locked in state 0. Running a $SURVEY now.
Man, the 10MHz on my Racal Dana 1992 says it's 10,000,000.009! That counter is very accurate for it's age, and I haven't touched it!  ;D
Can't wait until I get an accurate survey and get it settled in.
Now, like the rest of you, I need to get a case and a micro to control it.
 

Offline texaspyro

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #131 on: February 23, 2018, 03:59:58 am »
Lady Heather v6.0 Beta for Windows is here.  It talks TruePosition...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/lady-heather-v6-beta-for-windows-exe/msg1434005/#msg1434005
 
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Offline Squiddaddy

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #132 on: February 24, 2018, 04:51:56 am »
Has anyone else tried to use a USB-TTL adapter to talk to the trueposition??
I could not get it to accept the $PROCEED from the TTL port. I can see the TX led blink on the adapter.
Works fine from the RS232, but when I disconnect that and connect TTL to the 15 pin header, no luck.
Connected TX on the adapter to pin 3, GND to pin 5, and RX to pin 7. Just get the BOOT message.
In order to use an arduino, I guess it will need to be 3.3v also?? The board is probably not 5v tolerant.
I would like to control the board from an arduino and an lcd.
 

Offline LazyJack

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #133 on: March 27, 2018, 04:01:51 pm »
Yeah, I just tested my new TruePosition with my Racal Dana 1992, amazing performance from that counter. Mine has the highest precision oven oscillator option, and it was off by 0.23Hz. God knows when it was last calibrated and what happened to it until i got it on ebay.
The GPSDO works a treat, I simply used a TTL-USB serial adapter to talk to it and a $2 GPS antenna on my window sill. However, not the most sensitive GPS receiver it has. Needs some time to lock. I will need to find a better view to the sky.
 

Offline BravoV

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #134 on: April 17, 2018, 01:58:35 am »
What is the antenna supply voltage for this board ? I assume its the standard 5 Volts ?

Offline bingo600

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #135 on: April 22, 2018, 07:13:48 am »
I just got one of the "Old" boards , Bliley osc.

Wanting to add NTP to it , i need to find 1-PPS to route to my Linux board for NTP 1-PPS.

I'd prefer to get it before the conversion  adaptation to 50Ohm on the coax out.

Anyone having some info about that   ....  Before i start to poke around.

/Bingo
 

Offline cdevTopic starter

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #136 on: April 29, 2018, 03:22:10 am »
LazyJack, you need to get one training session (at its final location)  with a really good sky view and then it seems to improve after that. First time attempting to train it as you can see from the beginning of this thread, I thought it was broken. Other GPSs often act that way too. Now, post training, mine works fine with an indoor antenna on my window sill.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2018, 04:56:32 pm by cdev »
"What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away."
 

Offline BravoV

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #137 on: April 29, 2018, 09:05:22 am »
The system these were pulled out of run it at 12V... not 13V... not 15V... but 12V  Ignore what the Packrat docs say.

Just noticed this note, so this one should be fine at 12Volt instead of 15Volt mentioned by Packrat's documentation ? As it mentioned there are two board types, 12Volt and 15Volt.

« Last Edit: April 29, 2018, 09:07:06 am by BravoV »
 

Offline CJay

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #138 on: May 03, 2018, 08:28:51 pm »
Lady Heather v6.0 Beta for Windows is here.  It talks TruePosition...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/lady-heather-v6-beta-for-windows-exe/msg1434005/#msg1434005

Just wanted to say thanks John, it's working really nicely here with my Trueposition but wow, what a lot of information it provides, time to sit down in a quiet corner and do some reading...
 

Offline JamesWillis

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #139 on: May 04, 2018, 05:10:58 pm »
I have two of the Trimble boards, one each of the two boards on the pakrat blog.  Both have been working  using the Arduino software with the display option.  Two problems however. 1. I cannot seem to command a survey, thru either the arduino TTL hookup or the RS 232 port and 2.  While the longitude is output correctly when the GPS is running, the latitude is not correct, being off by .6  (90.6 vs actual 90.0). 

Any help would be appreciated.
 

Offline BravoV

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #140 on: May 04, 2018, 05:21:21 pm »
I have two of the Trimble boards, one each of the two boards on the pakrat blog.  Both have been working  using the Arduino software with the display option.  Two problems however. 1. I cannot seem to command a survey, thru either the arduino TTL hookup or the RS 232 port and 2.  While the longitude is output correctly when the GPS is running, the latitude is not correct, being off by .6  (90.6 vs actual 90.0). 

Any help would be appreciated.

JamesWillis, sorry, I can not offer any help.

Its just you said you have both types, what voltage do you use to power them both ?
Is it 15V for older and 12V for newer one as Packrat document stated ? or both at 12V ?

Offline texaspyro

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #141 on: May 04, 2018, 05:29:50 pm »
Is it 15V for older and 12V for newer one as Packrat document stated ? or both at 12V ?

As far as I know they are all 12V boards,  not 15V.   This has been measured in the original equipment the devices were pulled from.  I have 3 different versions of the board and they all run on 12V.   Where did this 15V value come from?   :-//  I suspect it was pulled out of a flying monkey's butt.   :-DD
 
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Offline BravoV

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #142 on: May 04, 2018, 05:48:03 pm »
Is it 15V for older and 12V for newer one as Packrat document stated ? or both at 12V ?

As far as I know they are all 12V boards,  not 15V.   This has been measured in the original equipment the devices were pulled from.  I have 3 different versions of the board and they all run on 12V.   Where did this 15V value come from?   :-//  I suspect it was pulled out of a flying monkey's butt.   :-DD

Ah ... thank you.  :-+

More like rat's butt I guess  :-DD, as its came from the popular Packrat document  :(

This photo is from this Packrat PDF doc -> http://www.packratvhf.com/attachments/article/160/A-Packrat-GPS-Receiver-Project.pdf  :-//


Offline texaspyro

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #143 on: May 04, 2018, 05:56:40 pm »
I do know that 20V will kill the thing...   >:D  I had a 12V power supply crap out in the middle of a run and start shoving 20V into the beastie.   Pop, fizz, magic smoke.
 

Offline BravoV

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #144 on: May 04, 2018, 06:02:18 pm »
I do know that 20V will kill the thing...   >:D  I had a 12V power supply crap out in the middle of a run and start shoving 20V into the beastie.   Pop, fizz, magic smoke.

Ok, good to know.

All this time I've been running it at 12V, its just I'm curious as why they put that 15V for the older version while 12V for newer one , typo maybe ?  :-//

Btw, you said you have 3 versions, how much different on the board and components among them ?

My board according to Packrat is older one (my board photo attached few post counts back), but has 2016 date code at few ICs.  :-//

Offline texaspyro

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #145 on: May 04, 2018, 06:05:43 pm »
I didn't look at the parts on the odd-ball board in detail, but the power connector was a different style.
 

Offline JamesWillis

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #146 on: May 04, 2018, 08:18:23 pm »
Both boards have been on 12V.  Could someone please describe what I should be seeing on the LCD packrat Ardunio display when I ground the #3 input on the arduino to command a survey?  I do not see anything happen when I do this.  Grounding the #3 input toggles the display between several different pages.  Both boards also give the same incorrect latitude 39.68 N when my other devices (iphone, Garmin) give the same correct 39.00 N.  Do not know if this is an error in the Packrat Arduino firmware or if it is a "feature" of the Trimble GPS board.  One other issue is related to the RS232 input/output port.  I tried using a USB to RS232 dongle and the computer, using a terminal program, could read the output from the GPS board, but I could not get the RS232 output to command the GPS.  When checked with a scope, the dongle was outputting the correct levels and serial data, but these were damped way down when the RS232 output was connected to the GPS RS232 input pin #3.  Yes pins 4 and 5 were jumped at the time.  Any ideas would be appreciated.
 

Offline BravoV

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #147 on: May 05, 2018, 06:29:00 am »
Mine works straight away without problem once I hook up with RS232 from my PC, although I used PCIE serial port card, not thru USB.

Are both boards behave like that ?

Btw, did I miss anything as you keep mention Trimble GPS board instead TruePosition, I thought they're different products ? CMIIW
« Last Edit: May 05, 2018, 06:35:04 am by BravoV »
 

Offline mark03

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #148 on: May 19, 2018, 12:37:38 am »
Does anyone know offhand what the 12V power consumption is on these boards?  I have one I'd like to mount inside an Extron 6 300MX, and I'm wondering if I can piggyback onto the existing power supply (with a linear regulator for 17->12 volts).

EDIT:  Answering my own question, about 0.5A at cold start, and 0.25A after OCXO warm-up.  This is with nothing connected to the board except power.  I have the older (Bliley) design.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2018, 10:34:38 pm by mark03 »
 

Offline Squiddaddy

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Re: ($40 GPSDO working well now, my mistake)
« Reply #149 on: May 23, 2018, 12:38:39 am »
Yes, mine draws .5 at startup, and about .190 all warmed up.
 


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