[time-nuts] HP Z3805A com port and monitoring questions

John Ackermann N8UR jra at febo.com
Sun Oct 14 17:24:39 UTC 2012


Hi Edgardo --

I don't know a lot about the Z3805 variations other than what's on 
fluke.l's site, which can be a bit confusing.  All were made by (for) 
HP/Agilent/Symmetricom, but there were apparently at least two 
"official" variations.

Mine is the Samsung version, which has the same 10811A double oven as 
the Z3801, and a 16 channel Furuno GPS, 2 x 10 MHz and 2 x 1 PPS, and 
dual comm ports.  It's still aging in, but it seems to perform about the 
same as my older Z3801A, with stability below 1e12 from 1 second on out.

There's another telco model that has an MTI 260 oscillator, that I think 
was manufactured in Korea but does not have the Samsung logo on the 
front.  I don't know much about that one.

Then there's the one that's boxed up like a 58503A bench unit, which I 
think is not directly from HP/Agilent/Symmetricom, but is a telco unit 
repackaged by someone in China.  I'm not sure what's in there.  One of 
the ones on eBay right now says that it has a 6 channel receiver, and 
was "upgraded by us which the feature is the same as 58503A".  Good luck 
figuring out what's in that one...  (by the way, none of the current 
listings are from fluke.l)

John
----

Edgardo Molina said the following on 10/14/2012 12:29 PM:
> Dear John,
>
> Very interesting. I haven't had the time to compare the Samsung branded units with the typical HP units. Mine is the later. It only has one communications port, plus 2x10 MHz and 2x 1PPS. As soon as I am done with the late family breakfast I will do some testing and let you know what I find.
>
> How does the oscillators from the Samsung units compare to the HP units? Are the Samsung units superior in any sense? Both have the same GPS receiver/number of channels?
>
> Thank you for opening my curiosity regarding this GPSDO model.
>
> Best regards!
>
>
>
> Edgardo Molina
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> On Oct 14, 2012, at 8:23 AM, John Ackermann N8UR <jra at febo.com> wrote:
>
>> On the unit I bought from fluke.l, with a "Samsung" label, there are two serial ports.  The bottom one is the control port and is definitely RS-232.  The top port has only three wires (TXD, RXD, SG) and I think is used for some sort of monitoring.
>>
>> I've been using Ulrich's "z38xx" software to monitor it with good success.
>>
>> John
>> ----
>>
>> Edgardo Molina said the following on 10/13/2012 10:18 PM:
>>> Dear Group,
>>>
>>> Good evening. I bought two HP Z3805A units a few weeks ago. They were bare units without antenna or power supply. After struggling to find a suitable 24V 3A noise free power supply for each of them, I mounted a couple of Symmetricom antennas and just fired them up.
>>>
>>> After around 25 minutes, the GPS Lock light lighted up. As the manual for this particular model is unobtainable in several searches through the Internet, I found that the readily available manual for the Z3801A would cover much of the Z3905A operation. I also got a software for monitoring the operation from BD Systems Inc. In Colorado. Now that I am sure both are operating and locked only by looking at the front panel lights, I would like to ask a couple of questions regarding their communication to the PC.
>>>
>>> 1. Is the DB-25 serial port carrying RS-232 signals? I see the port of the Z380A1 is different: RS-422.
>>> 2. If the port is plain RS-232 is it possible to use a Serial to USB adapter? I have heard about the inconsistencies that such an adapter could cause when used with a TBolt. Should I assume this is the same case with the Z3805A?
>>> 3. There was once a project for building a TBolt state monitor on a 2 line LCD screen. I own three of those monitors and they are just great.  Is there an equivalent for these HP GPS units?
>>>
>>> Any suggestions for the operation of these units and your ever expert and kind advise is always welcome. You all have a nice weekend!
>>>
>>> Kindest regards,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Edgardo Molina
>>> Dirección IPTEL
>>>
>>> www.iptel.net.mx
>>>
>>> T : 55 55 55202444
>>> M : 04455 20501854
>>>
>>> Piensa en Bits SA de CV
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>>> NON-DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
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>>> This email is strictly confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient please immediately advise the sender by replying to this e-mail and then deleting the message and its attachments from your computer without keeping a copy. It is strictly forbidden to copy it or use it for any purpose or disclose its contents to any third party. Thank you.
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