[time-nuts] Trimble SVeeSix -- was DATUM 9390-52054 Grief again...

Robert Atkinson robert8rpi at yahoo.co.uk
Sun Apr 7 14:53:57 EDT 2013


Hi  Nigel, 
Had a dig and did not find a placer (yet, I've a lot of stuff up there :-) Did find a small Nav-Guide 4700 that seems to be a VHF differential system with a Trimble ACE  GPS. Can't find any info on it.


Robert G8RPI.



________________________________
 From: "GandalfG8 at aol.com" <GandalfG8 at aol.com>
To: time-nuts at febo.com 
Sent: Sunday, 7 April 2013, 19:16
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Trimble SVeeSix -- was DATUM 9390-52054 Grief again...
 
Hi Robert

I'd certainly be interested to hear what you find as I've been after a  
couple of spare SVeeSixes or Eights for some time now, although the Placer 400  
itself doesn't seem to be very common these days either.

I've looked again at the comment stating it's not an SVeeSix and it does  
seem a bit odd as the startup message quoted certainly matches what I see  
from an SVeeSix in a Rapco 1804M, so I'm not sure what caused the  insistence 
that it isn't.

Regards

Nigel
GM8PZR


In a message dated 07/04/2013 18:51:22 GMT Daylight Time,  
robert8rpi at yahoo.co.uk writes:

Hi  Nigel,
I've had a couple of early Placers and am fairly sure it was a SVee6  but 
it was some time ago. I bought it surplus in the USA in 1998. I may still  
have one up in the attic. I'll go and dig.

Robert  G8RPI.




________________________________
From:  "GandalfG8 at aol.com" <GandalfG8 at aol.com>
To: time-nuts at febo.com  
Sent: Sunday, 7 April 2013, 18:37
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Trimble  SVeeSix -- was DATUM 9390-52054 Grief 
again...

Hi Robert,

You  need to be careful on this one.

I've never owned a Placer 400, so can't  be 100% sure, but whilst  I have 
seen it suggested that it contained  an SVeeSix I've have also  seen at 
least 
one quite emphatic comment,  from a not very happy  user, stating that it's 
definitely not an  SVeeSix, but that there was a  firmware upgrade 
available 
for the  Placer 400 at one time to  make it SVeeSix compatible, whatever 
that  
might imply.

What I can confirm is that the version that's more  generally available on  
Ebay, the Placer 450, consists of a single  board inside the housing that  
integrates a GPS receiver with the  control section.
I discovered this the hard way after I bought a couple,  and expecting  
them 
to contain one of the usual Trimble GPS modules  with  a separate PCB for 
the control section, silly  me:-)

Quite what the GPS section of that board might be derived from I  don't  
know, but it would seem very unlikely that it's going to be a  drop in  
replacement for a standard  module.

Nigel
GM8PZR



In a message dated 07/04/2013  17:47:40 GMT Daylight Time,  
robert8rpi at yahoo.co.uk  writes:

Hi,
IIRC the early Trimble Placer vehicle tracking GPS  receivers  used the 
SVee6 and SVee8. I think the Placer 400  used  the SVee6. These  units turn 
up on 
ebay etc at very low  cost.

Robert   G8RPI.




________________________________
From:   "GandalfG8 at aol.com" <GandalfG8 at aol.com>
To: time-nuts at febo.com  
Sent: Sunday, 7 April 2013, 8:53
Subject: [time-nuts] Trimble  SVeeSix  -- was DATUM 9390-52054 Grief 
again...

The Trimble TNL  22880-B was  indeed the original SV6, or SVeeSix as  
Trimble  
chose to call it, I  have just confirmed this from a photo I took  some  
time 
ago, and of  which I can supply a copy if  required.

The SVeeSix manual from 1992 is   here.....
http://rapidshare.com/files/446743737/Trimble_SveeSix.pdf

and   a much smaller, optimised version,   here......
http://rapidshare.com/files/446744995/Trimble_SveeSix_Optimised.pdf

Thanks   for these should be directed to Rob Kimberley on the list who  
provided the original printed copy.

This original SVeeSix was   approx 4 x 3.5 inches and was  eventually 
replaced by the  SVeeEight  of similar appearance and  again the same size.
The  SVeeSix Plus and  SVeeEight Plus were the same modules mounted  in  
metal 
boxes.
The  SVeeEight Plus manual from 2000 is available  on the Trimble ftp  
site.

I know of at least one application  where an SVeeEight PCB module  has been 

used as a drop in  replacement for an SVeeSix, the Rapco  1804M GPS 
frequency  
standard, albeit using the opposite serial port,  but don't know if  this 
was 
an "out of the box" drop in or whether the port  needed  to be configured  
first.

The smaller, 1.8 x 3.3 inches,   version of the SVeeSix is  the SVeeSix-CM3 
embedded module, and  the  1997 manual for that is also on  the Trimble ftp 
site in  the  manuals/CM3 folder.

It's possible that an SVeeSix-CM3 could  be  configured as an SVeeSix  
replacement but I've not  investigated this,  both the SVeeSix and 
SVeeEight 
came  
fitted with 1 or 2 standard  serial ports on DB9 connectors, the  
SVeeSix-CM3 
used  an 8 pin header  with I/O at TTL   levels.

Regards

Nigel
GM8PZR



In a  message  dated 06/04/2013 23:10:28 GMT Daylight Time, biwa at att.net  
writes:

(Note:  additional information about the  receiver  module has been  
added.)

Burt

Gang,

You will  remember several months  ago I  had some stranges that I 
thought were  related to a  defective Vectron  oscillator in one of my 
DATUM   9390-52054.  That turned out to be a  the internal switching  
power supply so I replaced it with an external  Cisco  unit.   I've done 
this in three units, two are mine and  one  belongs to Stu,  K6YAZ.

Well, I now have a different  grief in one of my   units.  It had been 
cooking along  swell with no problem ever since  I  replaced the power  
supply.  This morning I notice that one of  my  units had  the lock and 
tracking lights out.  The display  said that   the signal level was low 
and there were no usable  satellites.   The 10  MHz output is also about 
20 or more dB  low.  I  assumed the power  supply is all right because 
the  display was  working and it said it was  9-E9, not so good, but  
working -  sorta.  I swapped antennas and the  good Datum was  happy so  
I know the antenna is ok.  when I got inside  I checked   the power 
supply rails and they're within .05 Volts of where   they  should 
be.  There is 5 Volts on the GPS module and there  is  4.96  Volts on 
the antenna Type-N connector (measured with  the  antenna line  
disconnected.)  Power cycling the DATUM  did not  resolve the  problem.

Does anyone know if the  symptoms above will  occur if the 10  MHz 
oscillator is  defective?  I can understand  it not tracking or not  
locked, but could this cause the receiver to  not see or indicate  any  
satellites?  Since I only have two of  these units on  line, I'm very  
reluctant to start swapping modules  because I  would be without any  
working reference, so I need to keep  one  up and running.  Both of my  
units are on a UPS, and   according to the clocks in the kitchen, the  
bedroom, and the  old  VCR, we've not had a power interruption.

I do  not  recognize the  GPS receiver module, but it has the following 
number  on  it:   TNL 22880-B.  I have the schematics for the  overall 
DATUM   9390-25054, but the GPS module in just a  block.  By the way, 
the  GPS  block on the DATUM overall  schematic is marked, "SV6 /  
(TANS)".  I  suspect this  means something noteworthy.

Any  guidance would be   appreciated.

Thanks,

Burt

Burt I.  Weiner   Associates
Broadcast Technical Services
Glendale,   California   U.S.A.
biwa at att.net
www.biwa.cc
K6OQK  

_______________________________________________
time-nuts   mailing  list -- time-nuts at febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to  
https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and  follow  the  instructions   there.

_______________________________________________
time-nuts   mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to  
https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow  the  instructions   there.
_______________________________________________
time-nuts  mailing  list -- time-nuts at febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to  
https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow  the  instructions  there.
_______________________________________________
time-nuts mailing  list -- time-nuts at febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to  
https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the  instructions  there.
_______________________________________________
time-nuts mailing  list -- time-nuts at febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to  
https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the  instructions there.
_______________________________________________
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the instructions there.


More information about the time-nuts mailing list