[time-nuts] Thunderbolt and USB to RS232 converters

Jeroen Bastemeijer J.Bastemeijer at TUDelft.nl
Tue Jun 24 10:56:45 EDT 2008


Dear All,

More and more people are starting to play with the Thunderbolts. I
already received mine :-)  Now playing around with them.

First I powered it up and connected it to the normal serial port of the
PC. The Thunderbolt behaved fine, self survey took some time, because
the antenna is inside a concrete building with very limited view to the sky.

However, next I did a test with the same Thunderbolt but now it was
connected to a USB to Serial converter (brand is Sweex). After
switchinhg it off and on, I expected the same behaviour as when it was
connected to the "real" serial port. But... it started to behave very
strange... instead of starting a normal survey, it started disciplining
after a couple of minutes (almanac was not even valid). The DAC-voltage
clipped to the power rail, and the SV and AMU-fields remained "?". 
Resetting (hot, cold, factory default) didn't make any difference.
When power cycling the unit and connecting it back to the normal serial 
port the normal behaviour returned. I assume it has something to do with 
the USB to serial converter. Is there anyone else with similar 
experience? Or who has used a USB to serial converter with succes?

Thank you, best regards,

Jeroen

-- 
Ing. Jeroen Bastemeijer

Delft University of Technology
Department of Electrical Engineering
Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory
Mekelweg 4, Room 13.090
2628 CD Delft
The Netherlands

Phone: +31.15.27.86542
Fax: +31.15.27.85755
E-mail: J.Bastemeijer at TUDelft.nl
GPS: Lat N52.00002 Lon E4.37157 Alt 46.2m





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