EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff => Topic started by: sahko123 on April 23, 2021, 12:37:20 am
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This is probably a strange post but is there anyone in Ireland (preferably Kildare or Dublin area) with either a calibrated frequency counter or a 10Mhz reference? I want to calibrate my Agilent 53131a which I got for free and repaired the high stability timebase option on. My only "reference" is a Rigol DG812 with a questionable reference in it and even more questionable calibration.
My goal is to ultimately use the 53131a as my primary reference (since I don't need ultra high precision) and use it to calibrate other counters and function gens.
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Ublox Neo-6/7/8 GPS receiver
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Sorry, I'm too far away to help, but I'm guessing that you will eventually want to get a GPS Disciplined Oscillator to maintain your calibration. Here's an inexpensive one that I use: http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=107&products_id=301 (http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=107&products_id=301)
Or, get a cheap GPS unit that has a one-second pulse output (pps), and count that, tweaking your 53131 clock adjustment as needed:
https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-18x-LVC-Navigator-Unit/dp/B0016O3T7A (https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-18x-LVC-Navigator-Unit/dp/B0016O3T7A)
https://www.amazon.com/Oak-Pine-Navigation-Microcontroller-Compatible-microcontroller/dp/B07RPVYSG5 (https://www.amazon.com/Oak-Pine-Navigation-Microcontroller-Compatible-microcontroller/dp/B07RPVYSG5)
These GPS pps units won't be lab-grade solutions, but can be pretty good.
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Can you receive WWV? They operate 24/7 on several frequencies so you may be able to receive at least one.
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The NSAI NML maintains a caesium beam tube atomic frequency/time standard along with various GPS-disciplined and free-running rubidium oscillators ensuring that calibrations performed by the NSAI NML have direct traceability to the SI second.
Steve
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Even if the WWV signals reached us i probably wont even be able to pick them up. But in terms of the GPS route i might go that way since i found some modules that even for 3 or 4 euros can do 1pps with 1ns accuracy so (i my lack of ability in maths is to be trusted) it may be able to do 10MHz down to 0.1Hz which is good enough for me if not ill just look at some other GPS solutions.
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I am looking to get this done as cheaply as possible so going straight to NSAI (National Standards Authority of Ireland for context) would probably be too expensive and quite overkill seeing as how im getting that close to the SI unit
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You never know. The timing supervisor has a direct phone line. Your a hobbyist right? Tea time makes friends . Google says they take theirs from 13:00 to 14:00.
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You might try to find amateur radio guys in your area. One of them might have a frequency standard?
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this is basically my way of finding them :-+
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There's an amateur radio club of Dublin, which is near you.