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Re: [time-nuts] Brand new OCXO/TCXO reccomenations

HM
Hal Murray
Thu, Sep 24, 2020 10:32 AM

I'm starting to play with a short-term 1PPS holdover application, mainly to
cover up brief GPS signal loss events (a few minutes at most).

I'm probably looking for an OCXO instead of a TCXO, although it looks like
some of the best TCXO's out there are in the range which will work in most
cases (50ppb over temperature (or better)).

How much can the temperature change in a few minutes?

I suspect I'm going to handle the holdover in a FPGA.  As such, I don't think
I'm going to bother trying to voltage control the oscillator

How much could you improve the holdover if you monitored the temperature?

--
These are my opinions.  I hate spam.

> I'm starting to play with a short-term 1PPS holdover application, mainly to > cover up brief GPS signal loss events (a few minutes at most). > I'm probably looking for an OCXO instead of a TCXO, although it looks like > some of the best TCXO's out there are in the range which will work in most > cases (50ppb over temperature (or better)). How much can the temperature change in a few minutes? > I suspect I'm going to handle the holdover in a FPGA. As such, I don't think > I'm going to bother trying to voltage control the oscillator How much could you improve the holdover if you monitored the temperature? -- These are my opinions. I hate spam.
BK
Bob kb8tq
Thu, Sep 24, 2020 2:21 PM

Hi

On Sep 24, 2020, at 6:32 AM, Hal Murray hmurray@megapathdsl.net wrote:

I'm starting to play with a short-term 1PPS holdover application, mainly to
cover up brief GPS signal loss events (a few minutes at most).

I'm probably looking for an OCXO instead of a TCXO, although it looks like
some of the best TCXO's out there are in the range which will work in most
cases (50ppb over temperature (or better)).

How much can the temperature change in a few minutes?

In a normal building with “typical” HVAC, a 2C change over 45 to 90 minutes
is a reasonable guess. It could be 2X that. It could be half that in terms of the
number of degrees. Faster than 30 minutes is rare.

Picking your gizmo up off the nice warm table and heading into a stiff winter
breeze ( in the arctic …) can be > 40 C in < 5 minutes. This is an issue for
things like portable radios ….

I suspect I'm going to handle the holdover in a FPGA.  As such, I don't think
I'm going to bother trying to voltage control the oscillator

How much could you improve the holdover if you monitored the temperature?

How many months do you want to spend taking data? How complex an algorithm
do you want to implement. How well are you controlling air flow direction (and a
bunch of other stuff?)

2X is doing pretty well. Anything over 5X is going to be difficult to repeat the
next time you look.

Bob

--
These are my opinions.  I hate spam.


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Hi > On Sep 24, 2020, at 6:32 AM, Hal Murray <hmurray@megapathdsl.net> wrote: > > >> I'm starting to play with a short-term 1PPS holdover application, mainly to >> cover up brief GPS signal loss events (a few minutes at most). > >> I'm probably looking for an OCXO instead of a TCXO, although it looks like >> some of the best TCXO's out there are in the range which will work in most >> cases (50ppb over temperature (or better)). > > How much can the temperature change in a few minutes? In a normal building with “typical” HVAC, a 2C change over 45 to 90 minutes is a reasonable guess. It could be 2X that. It could be half that in terms of the number of degrees. Faster than 30 minutes is rare. Picking your gizmo up off the nice warm table and heading into a stiff winter breeze ( in the arctic …) can be > 40 C in < 5 minutes. This is an issue for things like portable radios …. > >> I suspect I'm going to handle the holdover in a FPGA. As such, I don't think >> I'm going to bother trying to voltage control the oscillator > > How much could you improve the holdover if you monitored the temperature? How many months do you want to spend taking data? How complex an algorithm do you want to implement. How well are you controlling air flow direction (and a bunch of other stuff?) 2X is doing pretty well. Anything over 5X is going to be difficult to repeat the next time you look. Bob > > > -- > These are my opinions. I hate spam. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > and follow the instructions there.