[time-nuts] HP 53310A modulation domain analyzer

[Henk ten Pierick]

Hi,

The 53310A is a very nice instrument for frequency and time interval measurements. The displayed time on the screen in divided in slots, 225 or 450, depending on measurement mode.  In a slot every edge is counted but the first edge is timed by interpolation.  In the 53310A I have and the others I have used this interpolation has a jitter of 55ps per edge, so 80ps per TI. My Wavecrest 2070 gives 2.4ps per TI. The 5372A has quantizes with 100ps  an has no interpolation. A study of the manual is worth the time.
Histograms and ste dev is very useful as well. Be aware that the data in frequency mode is low pass filtered before it is displayed. That make e.g. st dev dependent on the time/div setting.
The fast histogram mode is another useful feature. 
In all modes the picture can be averaged.

Indeed a nice instrument, I really like it.

Henk


The 53305A windows program is very useful and now free down loadable.
Op 27 jul 2011, om 23:05 heeft Grant Hodgson het volgende geschreven:

> Jose
> 
> As with most things, it depends.  The 53310A was designed and marketed at the
> RF design community where there was a need to be able to display parameters
> such as settling time of PLLs and to display frequency-based modulation modes
> in the time domain.  To this end, the 53310A is a superb instrument.  It
> performs these functions by acting as a time interval counter, but has the
> rather interesting feature of a very large display, combined with X and Y markers.
> 
> It can be used as a stand-alone TIC - I'm not sure how it performs against
> other, more popular TICs, such as the SR620, HP5370, CNT-90 etc. etc.  From
> memory the single-shot resolution is about an order of magnitude worse than
> the 5370 - that may, or may not, be relevant to you.
> 
> The 53310A is not generally regarded as an easy instrument to use, certainly
> by RF engineers familiar with 'classic' user interfaces such as on HP spectrum
> and network analysers.  However, the 53310A has a very useful Auto Scale
> feature, which for repetitive waveforms tends to work very well IMHO - simply
> connect the signal to be analysed, and the 53310A works out X and Y scaling
> factors and DC offset/trigger levels.  From that point it is easy to apply
> markers and zoom functions, and otherwise tweak the parameters that were auto-set.
> 
> The one thing that the 53310A won't do as-is, is display ADEV or related
> parameters - to do this you would need to download measured data and
> post-process using a PC, just as with most other TICs.
> 
> I've never had to use histograms, std dev etc., but my use has been primarily
> for PLL measurements.
> 
> Option 31 is highly desirable and well worth paying a bit extra for.
> 
> Nice instrument, bit quirky to use.
> 
> regards
> 
> Grant
> 
> 
> 
>> 
>> Does anyone use an HP 53310A modulation domain analyzer (it is like 
>> an oscilloscope for frequency - displays frequency in Y and time in 
>> X, also does histograms, stdev, etc.)
>> 
>> What are gotchas, drawbacks and advantages using it as a counter, stability
>> measurements instead of a simple counter?  It certainly is a nice 
>> tool for rf debug of sweepers, plls, etc.
>> 
>> Ebay has a nice one, with 2.5GHz option 031 for 750 or best offer.
>> 
>> ------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> 
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