[time-nuts] HP 5372A vs. 5370A

[Magnus Danielson]

Hi Bert,

On 09/02/11 19:56, Bert, VE2ZAZ wrote:
> Hi everyone.
>
> I own an HP 5370A. I do GPIB and Labview, KE5FX Utilities, DF6JB's Plotter,
> spreadsheets etc. Always looking to improve my setup...
>
> Here is a simple question: Why should I try to get an HP 5372A (or 5371A)? What
> are the benefits over the 5370A? Worth spending?

The HP5371A and HP5372A has not as great single-shot resolution (200 ps) 
vs the HP5370A/B (20 ps) but they outshines in high speed measurement 
bursts, more elaborate trigger programming and higher histogram speeds, 
especially the HP5372A which has hardware accelerated histogram which 
the HP5371A doesn't have. The trigger rate can be as high as 10 MHz (100 
ns between two time-stamps) with full data and 13,33 MHz (75 ns between 
two time-stamps). They have built-in display functionality with a 
variety of measures which can be very nice to work with. The user 
interface has a few warts, but like any dinosaur it takes a bit of work 
to "get into" it.

For me they are different animals, so I have both.

The HP5370A/B, HP5335A, HP5372A, SR-620, DTS-2070C and CNT-90 has 
components of functionality which if combined and extended in the right 
direction would provide a great counter.

Cheers,
Magnus