[time-nuts] SE880 GPSDO

jimlux jimlux at earthlink.net
Mon Apr 25 17:08:17 EDT 2016


On 4/25/16 1:36 PM, Attila Kinali wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Apr 2016 21:41:57 +0200
> Ilia Platone <info at iliaplatone.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm trying to build a GPSDO with a FVXO-HC53BR-10 (Fox Electronics) VCXO
>
> Please note that the HC53 family is what is commonly called "programmable
> crystal oscillator". Which means it is a combination of a crystal oscillator
> with a VCO and a PLL. The crystal runs at an arbitrary frequency and is
> used to stabilize the VCO. The use of a standard crystal makes these devices
> very cheap, but their phase noise performance is rather bad.
>

No kidding.. we have one of those in a breadboard receiver and the phase 
noise makes acquiring a narrow band BPSK modulated signal virtually 
impossible.  We use it to verify that the circuit design is ok (e.g. we 
grab the right number of samples from the ADC in the right amount of 
time), but trying to get carrier lock is a dicey proposition.






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