[time-nuts] Very stable synthesizer, alternative to PTS(Programmed Test S...

EWKehren at aol.com EWKehren at aol.com
Thu Jul 11 09:52:30 EDT 2013


for years I have used a slightly modified Aeroflex FS 2000 for phase  noise 
measuring it is actually better than the 8662 except at the very low end.  
What I need is a lockable 800 MHz SAW and the low end will also be  better.
Bert Kehren
 
 
In a message dated 7/10/2013 7:31:42 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
shalimr9 at gmail.com writes:

Jim  said:

"It's like a HP 8663B (not the modern Agilent E8663).. very low  noise,"

The Agilent E8663 has similar SSB phase noise spec as the older  HP 8662A
(-144dBc/Hz @ 10 kHz with option UNY, versus -143 for the 8662).  You seem
to imply they are different. Can you elaborate?

Of course,  the Agilent has many more features and 0.001Hz resolution, and
the 8662  only goes to 990MHz (I think, I should know, I have two thanks  to
JohnM...), but are they that much different in pure phase noise or  ADEV?

Didier


On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 10:02 AM, Jim Lux  <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:

> On 7/8/13 7:55 AM, Ed Palmer  wrote:
>
>> In 2002, this document:
>>
>> THE  CRYSTAL OSCILLATOR CHARACTERIZATION FACILITY AT THE AEROSPACE
>>  CORPORATION
>>  
http://www.pttimeeting.org/**archivemeetings/2002papers/**paper32.pdf<http://www.pttimeeting.org/archivemeetings/2002papers/paper32.pdf>
>>
>>  stated:
>>
>> "The Programmed Test Sources, Inc. PTS model  #250M6NIGSX-51 low-noise
>> frequency synthesizer is
>> used  to offset the frequency reference to obtain the desired beat
>>  frequency. In our previous system, we
>> used a Fluke 6160B frequency  synthesizer, since the Fluke 6160B
>> frequency synthesizer had the  lowest
>> noise contribution of all the frequency synthesizers on the  market at
>> that time.  The reason for having the
>>  low-noise frequency synthesizer is the synthesizer  noise  contributions
>> to the system noise-floor.
>>  Unfortunately, Fluke has discontinued manufacturing and maintaining  
this
>> synthesizer. Therefore, we
>> looked at the new  synthesizers on the market and found that the PTS
>> synthesizer was  the closest to the
>> Fluke 6160B frequency synthesizer in terms of  noise floor. "
>>
>> Sounds like a working 6160B would be a  nice thing to have.
>> Unfortunately, it's too large for my already  overcrowded lab. :-(
>>
>>
>
> It's like a HP  8663B (not the modern Agilent E8663).. very low noise, not
> made any  more, I don't think Agilent will even repair them.  We've got  
lots
> of them sitting on the floor, partly dead, at work: they were the  
workhorse
> of the Deep Space Network systems.
>
> Fluke  does make a modern copy of the HP8663B with all the same
> peculiarities  (e.g. smooth sweep, modulation input, etc.) which the 
Agilent
> does not  do.
>
> (for instance, we feed the signal from a 3325 at around 10  MHz into the 
FM
> port on the 8663 and then filter to select just the  modulation sideband,
> which then gets multiplied up to the desired  frequency)
>
>
>
>
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