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Re: [time-nuts] GPS splitter

BC
Brooke Clarke
Wed, Jun 21, 2017 9:44 PM

Hi:

I just use a resistor.
http://www.prc68.com/I/DAGR.shtml#PS

and here is the Cable TV power divider were Type-F DC blocks are added to all but one of the output ports.
http://www.prc68.com/I/4GPS.shtml

--
Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke
http://www.PRC68.com
http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html

-------- Original Message --------

Hi

Hitting the inductance required is relatively easy. Doing so and not hitting self resonance is a bit more tricky.
Even a zero ohm reactance likely will work ok (in series with a 150 ohm resistor).  It’s tough to know
what you have done without a network analyzer. It is even possible that your resistor has enough stray C
to mess things up. Of course it might also have enough stray L to get you back in business.

A somewhat less critical approach is to use ferrite beads on both sides of the resistor. They generally are a
bit less critical (= more likely to do what the data sheet claims). The trick there is to find some that are set up
to work at L band …. they aren’t common in my junk box.

Bob

On Jun 21, 2017, at 4:16 PM, Attila Kinali attila@kinali.ch wrote:

On Wed, 21 Jun 2017 15:03:54 -0400
Bob kb8tq kb8tq@n1k.org wrote:

The typical answer is: The largest one I could that 1) Would handle the short circuit current expected and
2) was self resonant at or above 1.6 GHz.

I found out, by experiment, that any "large enough" inductance is ok.
A simple "a few dozen windings of AWG30, air core and a tiny bit of
epoxy to keep the windings apart, yet stable" does the trick quite well.
At least it does for the bias-T I used it in. As a rule of thumb,
at the frequency you are using it, the inductor should have an
impedance much larger then the 50Ohm. And for 1.5GHz you get there
pretty quickly. E.g. 20-30 windings on 3mm spread to a length of 20mm
give you something in the order of 150 to 350nH, which translates
to 1k5 to 3k5 impedance at 1.5GHz.

I recommend reading [1] and [2] for the design of bias-T's
(there are probably better sources, but these are those
that I stumbled upon, some time ago)

		Attila Kinali

[1] "Design of Bias Tees for a Pulsed-Bias, Pulsed-RF Test System
using Accurate Component Models", by Baylis, Dunleavy, Clausen, 2006
http://www.microwavejournal.com/articles/3912-design-of-bias-tees-for-a-pulsed-bias-pulsed-rf-test-system-using-accurate-component-models?v=preview

[2] "Wideband Bias Tee". by Johnson, 2008
http://wb9jps.com/Gary_Johnson/Bias_Tee_files/Bias_Tee_Design_V2R.pdf

--
You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common.
They don't alters their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to
fit the views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the
facts that needs altering.  -- The Doctor


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Hi: I just use a resistor. http://www.prc68.com/I/DAGR.shtml#PS and here is the Cable TV power divider were Type-F DC blocks are added to all but one of the output ports. http://www.prc68.com/I/4GPS.shtml -- Have Fun, Brooke Clarke http://www.PRC68.com http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html -------- Original Message -------- > Hi > > Hitting the inductance required is relatively easy. Doing so and not hitting self resonance is a bit more tricky. > Even a zero ohm reactance likely will work ok (in series with a 150 ohm resistor). It’s tough to know > what you have done without a network analyzer. It is even possible that your resistor has enough stray C > to mess things up. Of course it might also have enough stray L to get you back in business. > > A somewhat less critical approach is to use ferrite beads on both sides of the resistor. They generally are a > bit less critical (= more likely to do what the data sheet claims). The trick there is to find some that are set up > to work at L band …. they aren’t common in my junk box. > > Bob > >> On Jun 21, 2017, at 4:16 PM, Attila Kinali <attila@kinali.ch> wrote: >> >> On Wed, 21 Jun 2017 15:03:54 -0400 >> Bob kb8tq <kb8tq@n1k.org> wrote: >> >>> The typical answer is: The largest one I could that 1) Would handle the short circuit current expected and >>> 2) was self resonant at or above 1.6 GHz. >> I found out, by experiment, that any "large enough" inductance is ok. >> A simple "a few dozen windings of AWG30, air core and a tiny bit of >> epoxy to keep the windings apart, yet stable" does the trick quite well. >> At least it does for the bias-T I used it in. As a rule of thumb, >> at the frequency you are using it, the inductor should have an >> impedance much larger then the 50Ohm. And for 1.5GHz you get there >> pretty quickly. E.g. 20-30 windings on 3mm spread to a length of 20mm >> give you something in the order of 150 to 350nH, which translates >> to 1k5 to 3k5 impedance at 1.5GHz. >> >> I recommend reading [1] and [2] for the design of bias-T's >> (there are probably better sources, but these are those >> that I stumbled upon, some time ago) >> >> >> Attila Kinali >> >> >> [1] "Design of Bias Tees for a Pulsed-Bias, Pulsed-RF Test System >> using Accurate Component Models", by Baylis, Dunleavy, Clausen, 2006 >> http://www.microwavejournal.com/articles/3912-design-of-bias-tees-for-a-pulsed-bias-pulsed-rf-test-system-using-accurate-component-models?v=preview >> >> [2] "Wideband Bias Tee". by Johnson, 2008 >> http://wb9jps.com/Gary_Johnson/Bias_Tee_files/Bias_Tee_Design_V2R.pdf >> >> -- >> You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. >> They don't alters their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to >> fit the views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the >> facts that needs altering. -- The Doctor >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >> To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >> and follow the instructions there. > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. >
MD
Magnus Danielson
Fri, Jun 23, 2017 6:54 AM

Hi,

I don't remember anymore. I just picked one somewhere in that range. I
got a inductor SMD set. The main point is that the time-constant of L*R
needs to be low enough not to cause any real harm to 1,57542 GHz, which
makes the value relatively flexible. Sure, I did not consider the stub
of the T-connector, but it seemed to work.

So, 68 nH could very well be it.

Cheers,
Magnus

On 06/21/2017 08:12 PM, David C. Partridge wrote:

Hi Magnus - what sort of inductor value did you use?  68nH or so?

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of Magnus Danielson
Sent: 17 June 2017 15:12
To: time-nuts@febo.com
Cc: magnus@rubidium.se
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] GPS splitter

Hi,

At one time I had to design a DC-load since the GPSDO did not experience enough antenna current due to a different antenna being used. So, a BNC-T was quickly converted with a SMD inductor and resistor to add 150 Ohm of more load, and that helped the telecom operator to get their GPS out of "no GPS antenna" warning and actually accept the GPS satellites it was already detecting fine.

Cheers,
Magnus

On 06/17/2017 02:40 PM, Bob kb8tq wrote:

Hi

The DC block requirement depends a lot on the design of the GPSDO’s
you are using. With some GPSDO’s a 50 ohm load on the eighth port of a
splitter will do a pretty good job of “antenna detect” signaling. In
the more general case of “I didn’t design this beast” dc blocks and dc shunts to ground is the best approach.
This fairly quickly gets you headed in the direction of the HP /
Symmetricom splitters.

Bob

On Jun 16, 2017, at 11:54 PM, Clay Autery cautery@montac.com wrote:

This brings up some interesting questions:

If sharing an active GPS antenna, do you have to DC block all but one
receiver port to prevent multiple receivers trying to supply current
to the antenna?

On say a 26dB antenna (ignoring line loss, power divider insertion
loss, et al), what is the effective gain to each receiver?  (Sorry,
having a senior moment)

Should ALL unused ports have 50 ohm +/- 0j terminators on them?  I
assume so...  Thus, it would be "better" to always use the divider
with the minimum required ports?

I am assuming since this is a receive only situation, it will follow
approximately the same rules of physics that dealing with satellite
antenna installations.

I would LIKE to share one PC-TEL 26dB GPS antenna mounted at the top
of my 38 foot horiz.loop mast right  at the shack entrance, using
LMR-400-DB from antenna to Narda 2-way and thence to my current
hacked Nortel GPSDO and my soon to be complete RPi 2/3 w/ Adafruit
Ultimate GPS Hat NTP Server.  On that mast, the antenna would have a
near 360 degree view of the sky completely unobstructed.
(Eventually, I expect both of those units to be replaced with commercial units).

I'm assuming that I DC block whichever unit is capable of providing
the LEAST current at 5VDC...  I suspect the Nortel unit can supply
more current than the RPi, but that's not a guarantee...  And I guess
I could block/turn off DC delivery on BOTH units and add a voltage
adjustable, current limiting DC injection unit into the line.

Thanks.

73,


Clay Autery, KY5G
MONTAC Enterprises
(318) 518-1389

On 6/16/2017 7:26 PM, Tim Lister wrote:

On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 4:40 PM, Gregory Beat w9gb@icloud.com wrote:

I have reached the point that I need a 4-port splitter for my GPS antenna (outdoor 5 volt).  Any recommendations of models (HP/Symmertricom/Microsemi) to acquire OR to avoid??

As we recommended to me when I asked a similar question, the Narda
4372A-4 was a brand I had not heard of before and didn't come up in
'gps splitter' searches. I got one on ebay for $24 plus a bit extra
for DC blocks on the n-1 other ports and it seems to work well and
it was handy to have an SMA-based solution as most of the gps
receivers and the antenna pucks seem to use SMA. This meant I only
needed 1 N to SMA converter cable for an external antenna (which has
yet to be externalized...). I found it smaller in real life  than it
looks in a lot of the pictures, about the size of a modern
smartphone but about double or more the thickness (the connectors are on the ends).

greg

Cheers,
Tim


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Hi, I don't remember anymore. I just picked one somewhere in that range. I got a inductor SMD set. The main point is that the time-constant of L*R needs to be low enough not to cause any real harm to 1,57542 GHz, which makes the value relatively flexible. Sure, I did not consider the stub of the T-connector, but it seemed to work. So, 68 nH could very well be it. Cheers, Magnus On 06/21/2017 08:12 PM, David C. Partridge wrote: > Hi Magnus - what sort of inductor value did you use? 68nH or so? > > Dave > > -----Original Message----- > From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of Magnus Danielson > Sent: 17 June 2017 15:12 > To: time-nuts@febo.com > Cc: magnus@rubidium.se > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] GPS splitter > > Hi, > > At one time I had to design a DC-load since the GPSDO did not experience enough antenna current due to a different antenna being used. So, a BNC-T was quickly converted with a SMD inductor and resistor to add 150 Ohm of more load, and that helped the telecom operator to get their GPS out of "no GPS antenna" warning and actually accept the GPS satellites it was already detecting fine. > > Cheers, > Magnus > > On 06/17/2017 02:40 PM, Bob kb8tq wrote: >> Hi >> >> The DC block requirement depends a lot on the design of the GPSDO’s >> you are using. With some GPSDO’s a 50 ohm load on the eighth port of a >> splitter will do a pretty good job of “antenna detect” signaling. In >> the more general case of “I didn’t design this beast” dc blocks and dc shunts to ground is the best approach. >> This fairly quickly gets you headed in the direction of the HP / >> Symmetricom splitters. >> >> Bob >> >> >> >>> On Jun 16, 2017, at 11:54 PM, Clay Autery <cautery@montac.com> wrote: >>> >>> This brings up some interesting questions: >>> >>> If sharing an active GPS antenna, do you have to DC block all but one >>> receiver port to prevent multiple receivers trying to supply current >>> to the antenna? >>> >>> On say a 26dB antenna (ignoring line loss, power divider insertion >>> loss, et al), what is the effective gain to each receiver? (Sorry, >>> having a senior moment) >>> >>> Should ALL unused ports have 50 ohm +/- 0j terminators on them? I >>> assume so... Thus, it would be "better" to always use the divider >>> with the minimum required ports? >>> >>> I am assuming since this is a receive only situation, it will follow >>> approximately the same rules of physics that dealing with satellite >>> antenna installations. >>> >>> I would LIKE to share one PC-TEL 26dB GPS antenna mounted at the top >>> of my 38 foot horiz.loop mast right at the shack entrance, using >>> LMR-400-DB from antenna to Narda 2-way and thence to my current >>> hacked Nortel GPSDO and my soon to be complete RPi 2/3 w/ Adafruit >>> Ultimate GPS Hat NTP Server. On that mast, the antenna would have a >>> near 360 degree view of the sky completely unobstructed. >>> (Eventually, I expect both of those units to be replaced with commercial units). >>> >>> I'm assuming that I DC block whichever unit is capable of providing >>> the LEAST current at 5VDC... I suspect the Nortel unit can supply >>> more current than the RPi, but that's not a guarantee... And I guess >>> I could block/turn off DC delivery on BOTH units and add a voltage >>> adjustable, current limiting DC injection unit into the line. >>> >>> Thanks. >>> >>> 73, >>> >>> ______________________ >>> Clay Autery, KY5G >>> MONTAC Enterprises >>> (318) 518-1389 >>> >>> On 6/16/2017 7:26 PM, Tim Lister wrote: >>>> On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 4:40 PM, Gregory Beat <w9gb@icloud.com> wrote: >>>>> I have reached the point that I need a 4-port splitter for my GPS antenna (outdoor 5 volt). Any recommendations of models (HP/Symmertricom/Microsemi) to acquire OR to avoid?? >>>> As we recommended to me when I asked a similar question, the Narda >>>> 4372A-4 was a brand I had not heard of before and didn't come up in >>>> 'gps splitter' searches. I got one on ebay for $24 plus a bit extra >>>> for DC blocks on the n-1 other ports and it seems to work well and >>>> it was handy to have an SMA-based solution as most of the gps >>>> receivers and the antenna pucks seem to use SMA. This meant I only >>>> needed 1 N to SMA converter cable for an external antenna (which has >>>> yet to be externalized...). I found it smaller in real life than it >>>> looks in a lot of the pictures, about the size of a modern >>>> smartphone but about double or more the thickness (the connectors are on the ends). >>>> >>>>> greg >>>>> --- >>>> Cheers, >>>> Tim >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to >>>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>>> and follow the instructions there. >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to >>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>> and follow the instructions there. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to >> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >> and follow the instructions there. >> > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. >