Performance

Performance - Phase Noise Measurement

I do not have a ultra low phase noise low frequency reference oscillator, but I have a Connor Winfield 10 MHz TCXO. Using the best I do have, the 10 MHz Connor Winfield TCXO, as the unit under test, this is the lowest phase noise I can measure. This agrees very closely with the measurement done on the same part with a $100k phase noise measuring system.

Performance - Allan Deviation Measurement

I do not have a Rubidium Oscillator, but I can measure the 8642a output frequency with the Perseus, referenced to the Bodnar GPSDO. I set the 8642a to 15.6 MHz, the same as my TCXO boards. The frequencies are very close to each other, within 0.04 Hz during a 5 hour test, as can be seen in the following chart.

This results in the following Allan Deviation Measurement.

I did previously measure WWV, but there is huge variability due to ionospheric effects.

To show how bad this can be, following is a spectrogram with narrow FFT bins. It can be seen that there is drift, noise and the carrier even splits into multiple carriers reflected by different parts of the Ionosphere.

At some points, there are two carriers, about equal to each other. This is really not comparable at all to the two references I have in the 8642a and Bodnar GPSDO.

Copyright Note:

All content Copyright (C) 2017, 2018 by Mark Goldberg.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Here are some of my other sites:

Modifications to my RV, including solar power and extra storage: https://sites.google.com/site/marksrvmods/

My Controleo2 based SMT Reflow Oven: https://sites.google.com/site/markscontroleo2build/

My TCXO Boards to replace the SO-3 in Kenwood TS-590 radios: https://sites.google.com/site/markstcxo/

An explanation of various TCXO Characteristics in Kenwood TS-590 Radios: https://sites.google.com/site/markstcxomeasurements/

How I use Spectrum Lab Software to do frequency measurements: https://sites.google.com/site/spectrumlabtesting/

Pictures I took of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse from Menan Butte, Idaho: https://sites.google.com/site/marks2017eclipsephotos/

Revised January 7, 2018