My ocxo purchase

[Deathwish]

This thing has been posted before I think, I just cant find the posts, anyway mine came today and I sat here wondering what to power it up with. I found an old 12v 1A netgear wifi router psu and shoved it on, plugged it into my cheap frequency counter and waited, initially it started at about 9.998Mhz and then within about 40 seconds it hit the 10Mhz mark and has sat there solid for over an hour now.

I am not sure if i should be happy that it actually runs at 10Mhz or my counter seems to be spot on if the ocxo is right.

The seller was.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251964117536?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

No customs hit either.

[DimitriP]

Welcome to the world of "I need more digits in my frequency counter".
Ok...here it goes.
10.000 is good, but that's chump change for an OCXO
Getting from 10.000 to 10.000,000 or 10.000,000000 MHZ and keeping that last 0 steady...that's a whole different story.

Sometimes in order to look into the abbyss, you need more digits.
I see an 11 or 12 digit counter in your future

[Deathwish]

Already on my want list 

I am also buying a 1pps gpsdo this week

[DimitriP]

You are about to have a lot of fun if you are into that sort of thing ...

[Deathwish]

one more down. just bought this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251785217093?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

One day I want a HP 53131A /53181A, anything else in the UK is like getting hold of unicorn horns, I realy only want them to adjust my own kit.

[TheSteve]

It will never end. I just bought one of these to play with - http://www.ebay.com/itm/141734507722

[Deathwish]

It will, it has too, I don't look good eating my socks from starvation 

[AlfBaz]

One day I want a HP 53131A /53181A, anything else in the UK is like getting hold of unicorn horns, I realy only want them to adjust my own kit.

Like that here in oz as well. However, I was lucky enough to score a HP 53131A locally (pickup only) for $400AUS (290US or 180 GBP)
Hope to pick it up sometime this week

[Deathwish]

Maybe someone rich will give me a tektronix FCA3003 but I bet hell will freeze over first ...... just going to go look on eharmony.com for a rich widow, be back soon.

[TSL]

One day I want a HP 53131A /53181A, anything else in the UK is like getting hold of unicorn horns, I realy only want them to adjust my own kit.

Like that here in oz as well. However, I was lucky enough to score a HP 53131A locally (pickup only) for $400AUS (290US or 180 GBP)
Hope to pick it up sometime this week

Aha! - so you were the one that outbid me Goodonya - you'll love that device.

Me... I'll just have to wait for the next one I'm in no hurry, I have a 181, just wanted the 131 for the dual channels and math

[AlfBaz]

Aha! - so you were the one that outbid me Goodonya - you'll love that device.

LOL, small world. I'd been looking to buy one for some time and resided to the fact that it was going to cost me in excess of a grand so I bid accordingly. Extremely lucky it stopped where it did

I was tempted to get a broken (didn't power up) 53132A just prior to this one but thought it was too much of a gamble. It ended up going for 350AUS + 110 postage

[AlfBaz]

Speaking of the 53132A, I've yet to come across a discussion comparing the 2 and they're not that much more expensive considering the extra 2 digits and 150ps compared to 500ps resolution

[smgvbest]

Aha! - so you were the one that outbid me Goodonya - you'll love that device.

LOL, small world. I'd been looking to buy one for some time and resided to the fact that it was going to cost me in excess of a grand so I bid accordingly. Extremely lucky it stopped where it did

I was tempted to get a broken (didn't power up) 53132A just prior to this one but thought it was too much of a gamble. It ended up going for 350AUS + 110 postage

I picked up a 53131A of eBay for $100, sold as non functional, major case damage.  ended up the case damage was the only thing wrong plus it already had Opt 03 installed and a rear connector set.  I repaired the case and have  fully functional counter.  I got lucky on it for sure.

I've been comparing the 53131A to the 53132A and see the major differences are u59, u60-A and U61-A seem to be the major differences according the the schematics. U59 is a and U60/61 are AD7580JP high resolution ADCs but U59 is a XC3042A-7PC84C fpga.  if it get programmed from the main processor then I wonder is adding those components and any supporting components will hardware wise make is a 53132A.  just would need the firmware maybe???

[Deathwish]

I read your post on that one Sandra and thought " nice job" , sadly i dont seem to find such items here in the Uk, there is one seller trying to get over £400 for one that is a mess on ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-HP-53131A-225-MHz-2-Channel-Universal-Frequency-Counter-/201398982556?hash=item2ee450979c

[smgvbest]

I did get extremely lucky on that purchase.  I have Gerry's OCXO Opt 10 board coming.  While I do have a Rb/GPSDO that's at the bench so adding Gerry's board and I'll use my GPSDO to turn it once installed.

I do have 2 5316B's on eBay now one with Opts 03/04 and one with no options if you're interested?  I didn't list for international but I would for a EEVBloger if you're interested.  if so I can change the listing for international shipping.  PM me if you are.  I'd love for someone to get it who can really use one.

[DimitriP]

I read your post on that one Sandra and thought " nice job" , sadly i dont seem to find such items here in the Uk, there is one seller trying to get over £400 for one that is a mess on ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Agilent-HP-53131A-225-MHz-2-Channel-Universal-Frequency-Counter-/201398982556?hash=item2ee450979c

You just have be very patient a a little bit lucky... Your Victor can't be all that bad now that you will have a more accurate source to calibrate it. Will it take an external timebase input ?

[Deathwish]

Thank you for the offer but I can't afford one right now Sandra, it's merely a nice thought on my part to have one with quality on my bench.

Right now I have a GPSDO coming and I want to put that with my ocxo in a case with a psu and a back up battery for it all in case of the power going out.

[DimitriP]

I did get extremely lucky on that purchase.  I have Gerry's OCXO Opt 10 board coming.  While I do have a Rb/GPSDO that's at the bench so adding Gerry's board and I'll use my GPSDO to turn it once installed.

I do have 2 5316B's on eBay now one with Opts 03/04 and one with no options if you're interested?  I didn't list for international but I would for a EEVBloger if you're interested.  if so I can change the listing for international shipping.  PM me if you are.  I'd love for someone to get it who can really use one.

...not enough digits....

[Deathwish]

DimitriP . plain answer is no not on the case, long answer, who knows what can be hacked onto it when it is opened, but i would want a working unit to use whilst I did that tinkering.

[DimitriP]

It already has a TCXO in it, so it's should already be more stable than your average crystal. Since you already have the ocxo, set the gate time to the longest time available (10s I believe in your case) and see what kind of readings you get.