Title :
Remote frequency measurement of TV 5 rubidium
Author :
Boehm, Doug ; Gross, Rachel
Author_Institution :
Space Applications, US Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA
Abstract :
This paper describes a method for remotely measuring oscillator frequency using an easily accessible carrier signal. The measurement was based on a system currently used onsite to compare time at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) versus USNO via a remotely accessible system. In our case, we are interested in characteristics of the remote system itself. The Washington DC Channel 5 TV station stabilizes the tenth frame of their color subcarrier frequency to a 1PPS signal from USNO with a rubidium oscillator. By performing a high accuracy phase comparison of the 2250 Hz TV5 signal to the 2250 Hz of our local house maser, we can determine the frequency drift of the TV5 rubidium oscillator in real time, to a few parts in 1010 to 1011. A Windows-compatible computer program was written to facilitate this process. Due to the measured drift, the oscillator will be physically adjusted according to our recommendation during a trip to the TV 5 station this summer.
Keywords :
frequency measurement; oscillators; rubidium; telemetry; television stations; 2.25 kHz; TV station; carrier signal; computer program; oscillator frequency; remote frequency measurement; remotely accessible system; rubidium oscillator; Clocks; Extraterrestrial measurements; Frequency measurement; Frequency synchronization; Laboratories; Masers; Oscillators; Signal synthesis; TV broadcasting; Time measurement;
Conference_Titel :
Frequency Control Symposium and Exposition, 2005. Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-9053-9
DOI :
10.1109/FREQ.2005.1574008