Hi

Once you get into used gear that is many decades old, the actual performance of your counter
is likely to be different than the performance of mine. If you are willing to go through all of the
detailed alignment steps (and possibly replace parts) yours will work better than mine. How much
better will be a “that depends” sort of thing. Best guess is quite a bit better.

Even in sparkling new condition with everything working, you still have a very basic “are you
after frequency or after time?” question. The newer counters (I would toss the CNT-90 into the
batch) have various tricks in them to improve frequency estimation. The older stuff simply did
not have the horsepower to do some of this. Time wise some of the older counters did pretty well.

So, is a 53132 worth more than a 5335? Sure it is. Is a 53230 worth more than a 53132? Yes.
Are they worth the delta that people charge? That depends a lot on how much cash you have
lying around. If you have a $200K lab already and your yearly spend on gear is $50K that is very
different than a yearly spend of < $1,000. If you can afford the newer stuff, it comes with nice things
like replacement parts / factory repair. On the older gear, purchase of a “parts donor” unit may
be the only way to do a repair.

On the new stuff (as you have already noted) the auction sites may not be your best source. The
price Keysight charges for a demo unit may be your best deal. A local (= in country) equipment
rental guy might also be a better source. Neither one are likely to give you a great deal today. In
both cases it’s a “let them know” sort of thing. You might or might not get a call back in the next
couple of months.

Lots of issues and not much clarity in terms of do this or do that — sorry !

Bob

I had a 53230 the last few years I worked for Agilent.
The oven oscillator in it is inferior to a 10811.
Its only claim to fame IMHO is that it can measure
Allan Deviation.  Turns out that we really needed
Hadamard, but it doesn't do that.  It is very expensive.
The old Santa Clara Division with the counter expertise
has now been gone nearly 20 years.  The counter line
has been offshored.  The expertise over there is
a complete unknown.

Rick

On 11/19/2016 5:55 PM, Dr. David Kirkby wrote:

Hi

With both counters running on the same external standard (and no internal OCXO), the 53230
beats the 53132 both on frequency and time. It also has slightly better isolation of the 10 MHz
internals so the “dead zone” at 10 MHz is not quite as bad. I have no idea how either one
works with the OCXO option … I’ve never seen either one with an OCXO.

Bob

On 11/21/2016 1:10 PM, Bob Camp wrote:

I remember when the 10 MHz section of the 53132 was designed.
The designers had little knowledge of how to do that correctly.
It wasn't their fault; it was the fault of the manager who
assigned the task to them.

Rick

On 21 November 2016 at 21:10, Bob Camp kb8tq@n1k.org wrote:

This sort of information is useful. Perhaps a Wiki is the best document,
where people can put comments like this. I don't have a Wiki set up myself,
but I'd guess the sort of information one would want would be:

• Description
  Described what a TI counter is

• Uses
  No doubt with an emphasis on time nuts uses, but I don't see any need to
  restrict it just to that. (I did consider using one of mine to record the
  speed of the traffic near my house!)

• Understanding the specifications and their importance.
  Lots of them.

• Items to be considered when purchasing new vs used.

• Description of model X
  Include any options that are available for model X.
  Also any known issues - e.g. for both the SR620 and 8970B, they do in my
  experience run quite warm.

• Description of model Y

• Description of model Z

Table comparing specifications between all models

• Models worth considering if your budget is < $250

• Models worth considering if your budget is < $500

• Models worth considering if your budget is < $1000

• Models worth considering if your budget is < $2000

• Models worth considering if you budget is unlimited.

• Conclusions.

Dave

Hi

In a market that only has two competitors doing new gear and each only has a single high end
counter …. there’s not a lot to talk about. At this point it’s not really clear if the Pendulum designs
have a future at all. That would get you down to one still doing new designs.

Sorting out surplus will always be a matter of “the new one is better” (as long as it’s higher priced).

Bob