I would put a scope on the TX line from the Z3801A and power cycle it. I'm pretty sure it prints out the version string on power up. Have you checked the power supplies? Or looked for old electrolytics? -- These are my opinions. I hate spam.

Hal- I took your suggestion and sure enough, I can see on the scope that it puts out a string on power up. I'm sure that's why SatStat gives me a "Communications established- please wait" then "Checking echo". But then it all seems to fall apart, because after that, it drops back to "Trying to establish communications" and "No response..." until I power down then back up, and it repeats the cycle. I don't have any real info on power supply voltages, so I don't know what they should be. On power up, it goes through the cycle of briefly lighting the LEDs on the main board red, ending with the green blinking one on the main board at the same time cycling through the front panel LEDs and ending with just the power LED lit. I can pull it apart and check for caps needing replacement if you think that might be a cause of this. Dave -----Original Message----- From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of Hal Murray Sent: Friday, November 04, 2016 6:56 PM To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Cc: hmurray@megapathdsl.net Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Newbie With a Z3801 Problem I would put a scope on the TX line from the Z3801A and power cycle it. I'm pretty sure it prints out the version string on power up. Have you checked the power supplies? Or looked for old electrolytics? -- These are my opinions. I hate spam. _______________________________________________ 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.

Have you tried a loop back connection, short pins 2 and 3 and a terminal program? You may have to disable hardware handshaking in hardware manager for that USB device or possibly a baud rate problem. Mike On Fri, Nov 04, 2016 at 08:23 PM, Dave Hallidy wrote: > Hal- > I took your suggestion and sure enough, I can see on the scope that it > puts > out a string on power up. I'm sure that's why SatStat gives me a > "Communications established- please wait" then "Checking echo". But > then it > all seems to fall apart, because after that, it drops back to "Trying > to > establish communications" and "No response..." until I power down then > back > up, and it repeats the cycle. > > I don't have any real info on power supply voltages, so I don't know > what > they should be. On power up, it goes through the cycle of briefly > lighting > the LEDs on the main board red, ending with the green blinking one on > the > main board at the same time cycling through the front panel LEDs and > ending > with just the power LED lit. I can pull it apart and check for caps > needing > replacement if you think that might be a cause of this. > > Dave > > -----Original Message----- > From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of Hal > Murray > Sent: Friday, November 04, 2016 6:56 PM > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement > Cc: hmurray@megapathdsl.net > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Newbie With a Z3801 Problem > > I would put a scope on the TX line from the Z3801A and power cycle it. > I'm pretty sure it prints out the version string on power up. > > Have you checked the power supplies? Or looked for old electrolytics? > > > -- > These are my opinions. I hate spam. > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. >

I guess what I heard so far sounds normal on start. Just the green power led. Then it warms up and takes a long time up to 48 hours to acquire the satellites if it has no battery backup and has been off a long time. Not sure when the messages go active. Regards Paul WB8TSL On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 9:02 PM, n2lym <n2lym@optonline.net> wrote: > Have you tried a loop back connection, short pins 2 and 3 and a terminal > program? You may have to disable hardware handshaking in hardware manager > for that USB device or possibly a baud rate problem. > > > Mike > > > > > > On Fri, Nov 04, 2016 at 08:23 PM, Dave Hallidy wrote: > > Hal- >> I took your suggestion and sure enough, I can see on the scope that it >> puts >> out a string on power up. I'm sure that's why SatStat gives me a >> "Communications established- please wait" then "Checking echo". But then >> it >> all seems to fall apart, because after that, it drops back to "Trying to >> establish communications" and "No response..." until I power down then >> back >> up, and it repeats the cycle. >> >> I don't have any real info on power supply voltages, so I don't know what >> they should be. On power up, it goes through the cycle of briefly >> lighting >> the LEDs on the main board red, ending with the green blinking one on the >> main board at the same time cycling through the front panel LEDs and >> ending >> with just the power LED lit. I can pull it apart and check for caps >> needing >> replacement if you think that might be a cause of this. >> >> Dave >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of Hal >> Murray >> Sent: Friday, November 04, 2016 6:56 PM >> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement >> Cc: hmurray@megapathdsl.net >> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Newbie With a Z3801 Problem >> >> I would put a scope on the TX line from the Z3801A and power cycle it. >> I'm pretty sure it prints out the version string on power up. >> >> Have you checked the power supplies? Or looked for old electrolytics? >> >> >> -- >> These are my opinions. I hate spam. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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/m >> ailman/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/m > ailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. >

Hi Dave, For power supply voltages, did you check here: http://www.realhamradio.com/GPS_Frequency_Standard.htm Scroll down the page a bit to get to the power supply info. Your problem is very odd. I retired my Z3801A a while back as it was seeing an occasional error. I should drag it back out and see what it does. Mike On 11/4/2016 8:23 PM, Dave Hallidy wrote: > Hal- > I took your suggestion and sure enough, I can see on the scope that it puts > out a string on power up. I'm sure that's why SatStat gives me a > "Communications established- please wait" then "Checking echo". But then it > all seems to fall apart, because after that, it drops back to "Trying to > establish communications" and "No response..." until I power down then back > up, and it repeats the cycle. > > I don't have any real info on power supply voltages, so I don't know what > they should be. On power up, it goes through the cycle of briefly lighting > the LEDs on the main board red, ending with the green blinking one on the > main board at the same time cycling through the front panel LEDs and ending > with just the power LED lit. I can pull it apart and check for caps needing > replacement if you think that might be a cause of this. > > Dave > > -----Original Message----- > From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of Hal Murray > Sent: Friday, November 04, 2016 6:56 PM > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement > Cc: hmurray@megapathdsl.net > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Newbie With a Z3801 Problem > > I would put a scope on the TX line from the Z3801A and power cycle it. I'm > pretty sure it prints out the version string on power up. > > Have you checked the power supplies? Or looked for old electrolytics? > > -- 73, Mike, N1JEZ "A closed mouth gathers no feet"