Remote Frequency Measurement of TV 5 Rubidium

Doug Boehm, Rachel Gross

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 sub carrier 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.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 37th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting August 29 - 31, 2005 Vancouver, Canada
Pages:	636 - 638
Cite this article:	Boehm, Doug, Gross, Rachel, "Remote Frequency Measurement of TV 5 Rubidium," Proceedings of the 37th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, August 2005, pp. 636-638.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In