Re: [time-nuts] HP 53132A ROM issue
Hi Colin,
All the 5313x counter basic oscillators are indeed extraordinarily poor,
and I've always assumed that their only purpose was to demonstrate that the
unit was basically functional.
A couple of years ago I upgraded a 53132A with serial prefix 3546 from
firmware version 3403 to 4613, just a straight replacement without any
problems so I would expect that your upgrade should have worked ok.
The devices I used were Motorola M29F010CF-90 and I've seen confirmation
from another user that 29F010-120ns should also work ok.
If it's any help I can send you a copy of the firmware files I used.
They came from EEVblog with comments that they were copied from HP
originals supplied in 2010.
Regards
Nigel
GM8PZR
I recently acquired an older HP 53132A frequency counter offeBay. It did
not come equipped with an option oscillator. The standaloneperformance of
the existing oscillator is extraordinarily poor although thecounter works
well running off my house standard. I decided to update theversion 3703
memory to version 4613 which I have installed on my newer Agilent 53132A.The
serial number prefix for the eBay counter is 3736A so I assumed that
theupgrade would work based on the HP assembly – level service guide that I have.
When I installed a freshlyprogrammed set of 4 ROM’s the counter would not
power up. The fan ran butnothing else. When I re-installed the 3703 chips
everything returned to normal.Is there a hardware difference between the older
and the newer HP/Agilent boards or am I missing something else?
Hi Nigel - could you post the files on KO4BB's manuals site? There is a version 3944 already there.
Go to:
http://www.ko4bb.com/getsimple/index.php?id=manuals
Click on "upload instructions" and/or search for 53132.
Regards, John K1AE
-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of GandalfG8--- via time-nuts
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2016 2:49 PM
To: time-nuts@febo.com
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] HP 53132A ROM issue
Hi Colin,
All the 5313x counter basic oscillators are indeed extraordinarily poor,
and I've always assumed that their only purpose was to demonstrate that the
unit was basically functional.
A couple of years ago I upgraded a 53132A with serial prefix 3546 from
firmware version 3403 to 4613, just a straight replacement without any
problems so I would expect that your upgrade should have worked ok.
The devices I used were Motorola M29F010CF-90 and I've seen confirmation
from another user that 29F010-120ns should also work ok.
If it's any help I can send you a copy of the firmware files I used.
They came from EEVblog with comments that they were copied from HP
originals supplied in 2010.
Regards
Nigel
GM8PZR
I recently acquired an older HP 53132A frequency counter offeBay. It did
not come equipped with an option oscillator. The standaloneperformance of
the existing oscillator is extraordinarily poor although thecounter works
well running off my house standard. I decided to update theversion 3703
memory to version 4613 which I have installed on my newer Agilent 53132A.The
serial number prefix for the eBay counter is 3736A so I assumed that
theupgrade would work based on the HP assembly – level service guide that I have.
When I installed a freshlyprogrammed set of 4 ROM’s the counter would not
power up. The fan ran butnothing else. When I re-installed the 3703 chips
everything returned to normal.Is there a hardware difference between the older
and the newer HP/Agilent boards or am I missing something else?
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On 12/27/2016 11:48 AM, GandalfG8--- via time-nuts wrote:
All the 5313x counter basic oscillators are indeed extraordinarily poor,
and I've always assumed that their only purpose was to demonstrate that the
unit was basically functional.
I don't know exactly what is in the 5313X counters, but it might be
like what was in the 5334A counter that I inherited when I was
project manager on the 5334B counter. Namely, it was an oscillator
utilizing an ECL line receiver as the active device. The same
design had been used at my previous employer (Zeta Labs). The
design is championed by engineers who know nothing about designing
crystal oscillators. Unlike designs using a transistor, the gate
oscillator requires no skill to design and will pretty much
oscillate without fail, and will never squegg. There is also no
need to convert a sine wave to a logic level signal.
What's not to like about that? A lot, it turns out. The temperature
stability and phase noise are horrible, you have no control over the
amount of drive to the crystal, and it burns a lot of current for no
good reason.
I think the usage model breaks down into 3 categories:
-
You are using the counter for some relatively crude measurement
for example of the frequency of a 555 oscillator, so even the Mickey
Mouse oscillator is good enough. -
You need real precision and should move right up to a 10811.
-
You have an external 10 MHz reference. For example, at HP,
we had a cesium standard that was distributed around the plant.
This was called the "house standard". At Zeta Labs we had
an HP105 for the house standard.
Rick N6RK