[time-nuts] Price of LTE Lite GPSDO vs Trimble Thunderbolt.

Bob Camp kb8tq at n1k.org
Sat Oct 18 09:07:20 EDT 2014


Hi

My intent was *not* to knock anybody’s input. Far from it. My only intent was to point out that we are heading off comparing very different apples to very different oranges.

Bob

> On Oct 17, 2014, at 10:49 PM, Pete Lancashire <pete at petelancashire.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm sorry for what I wrote
> 
> -pete bye …
> 
> On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Pete Lancashire <pete at petelancashire.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> No where did I mention comparing specifications.
>> 
>> It was a statement of an individual Joe being able to get a GPDSO for a
>> very reasonable amount.
>> 
>> 
>> Just a usable GPDSO nothing else.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 6:14 PM, Bob Camp <kb8tq at n1k.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi
>>> 
>>> The question on all of these setups is very much - what do you need?
>>> 
>>> The T-Bolt was designed to meet some very specific requirements. It’s got
>>> an OCXO onboard because of that.
>>> 
>>> A 48 hour battery backed Rb does something very different, it’s got
>>> different costs associated with it.
>>> 
>>> A modern / up to date TCXO based unit makes some compromises to trade off
>>> against power and size.
>>> 
>>> Depending on what your system needs are, each of the first two may
>>> uniquely fill a bill that the others will not and can not. If you need to
>>> run 120 days on battery, the third will win the contest easily. If you want
>>> to run on something other than GPS, number 3 is your choice.
>>> 
>>> Cost wise, it all depends on when you bought what. I have Rb’s that cost
>>> less than $40 and T-Bolts that cost less than $100. You can still get
>>> surplus T-Bolt like objects (OCXO based surplus GPSDO’s) for under $130. I
>>> also have some stuff I’ve bought on eBay (and other surplus outlets) over
>>> the years that turned out to be less than perfect. Depending on surplus
>>> gear in a commercial system would be silly compared to using newly
>>> manufactured parts. It all depends on what you need.
>>> 
>>> Bob
>>> 
>>>> On Oct 17, 2014, at 5:19 PM, paul swed <paulswedb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Don't want to hijack any discussion and am looking forward to the ebay
>>> site
>>>> and ordering. Whats amazing is the power spec in addition to other
>>> specs. I
>>>> rechecked the spec 1/16th watt at 3.3V. My RB in the basement draws 24
>>>> watts just idling along and keeping two hefty SLA batteries charged for
>>> a
>>>> 48 hour run time if needed.
>>>> 
>>>> I can clearly see the case of careful support system design such that a
>>>> battery set can be charged and even in a power failure run several days
>>> on
>>>> a small battery.
>>>> SLA 7 amp was something like 100 plus hours. Bert introduced me to some
>>> of
>>>> the Lithium battery technologies that can be had for reasonable cost and
>>>> are small and dense.
>>>> 
>>>> But that said really no need for a battery since restarts are fast...
>>>> Lots to think about. Like LEDs drawing more power then the system and
>>>> sloppy base power supplies wasting power.
>>>> Regards
>>>> Paul
>>>> WB8TSL
>>>> 
>>>> On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 4:53 PM, Pete Lancashire <
>>> pete at petelancashire.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Sorry to create any  misunderstanding
>>>>> 
>>>>> I was saying thanks to TVB/TAPR for all their effort, and Said/JLT for
>>>>> doing what they did for the group
>>>>> 
>>>>> I was in no way comparing the used Thunderbolts to the LTE Lite.
>>>>> 
>>>>> -pete
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 1:13 PM, Jim Sanford <wb4gcs at wb4gcs.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> And, somehow I expect that my LTE-LITE will actually work, which my
>>>>>> thunderbolt never did.  (Very noisy)  It continues to collect dust....
>>>>>> On 10/17/2014 3:49 PM, Pete Lancashire wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> First three cheers to LTE for making these available.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> It reminds me when Motorola made a developers kit for the then
>>>>>>> new 68HC11 MCU available for $68.11.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I know of one design win they got that more then made of their
>>> marketing
>>>>>>> costs.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Another that hit me is with inflation the LTE Lite is not much more
>>> then
>>>>>>> what many of us paid for our Thunderbolts.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> For those new to the list ...
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> https://www.febo.com/pipermail/time-nuts/2008-May/031100.html
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/tapr-tbolt/
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> In 2008, $124, the LTE Lite in 2014 $195.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> With 'real' inflation (not the 11% you get online) the $71
>>> difference is
>>>>>>> not much more.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> My two backup Thunderbolts cost me $145 each, just before they hit
>>> $200
>>>>>>> then became history.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Again thanks to Said and JLT !!!!
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> -pete
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>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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