A number of Trimble Thunderbolt GPS Disciplined Oscillators (GPSDO) appeared on the surplus market in 2007. A select quantity of these are now available at low cost to Time-Nuts members through TAPR.
Here's what a Thunderbolt order looks like:
The box includes the following:
All you need is a:
The pieces to build the special DC power connector are included.
You can either (1) connect your own wires to the included crimp pins. In this example (following PC power color conventions) yellow is +12V, black is common, red is +5V, and blue is -12V.
Or, (2) you can connect the included power supply wires directly to the connector. The power supply uses non-standard colors: brown is case ground, red is +12V, white is common, green is +5V, and black is -12V. The power supply case ground (brown) can float or be connected to common (white, or the Thunderbolt case).
No host software is actually required for setup or operation, but if you're curious and want to control or monitor the Trimble receiver from your PC then connect the Thunderbolt to a serial port with a DB9 cable. The excellent software is freely available from the Trimble web site:
From: "Tom Van Baak" To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement" Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 2:55 AM Subject: [time-nuts] Thunderbolt Group Buy, part 1 BACKGROUND: About a year ago, when surplus Thunderbolt GPS receivers first appeared on eBay, several of us pursued the idea of a time-nuts group buy. We kept it fairly quiet at the time while we probed the source, verified actual performance, and negotiated quantity & pricing. Recall that the first Thunderbolts on eBay fetched prices on the order of $300 (I know, I bought the first one). Later the price floated down to the $200 level. Even this price seemed like a good deal for such a name-brand GPSDO. These almost new unused Thunderbolts are quite nice; with performance much better than shown on Trimble's web site. Last year about 50 of you put in "pre-orders" for a total of about 80 units. With that leverage we negotiated a deal with the original California supplier. THE DEAL: I'm very pleased to announce that TAPR is going to stock these Thunderbolts for us and handle ordering and payment issues. Note that TAPR is non-profit and our time-nuts list has a non-commercial, amateur and hobby focus. So you will get these Thunderbolts at cost. The group price is just $115 each. You get a Trimble Thunderbolt AND a nice universal AC input +5/+12/-12 volt DC power supply AND the mating 6-pin DC Molex power connector AND a BNC-F antenna adapter. I will advise you when the official TAPR.org Thunderbolt ordering web page is ready. For an example of what you will receive, see: http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/tapr-tbolt/ ORDERING: 1) Those of you who "pre-ordered" last year will get email this week with instructions on how to submit payment for the Thunderbolt(s) you previously said you would like to buy. 2) Those of you newcomers to Time-Nuts should expect to wait until the first batch has been shipped and TAPR is ready for you. There should be enough for everyone; so don't panic. Flat rate shipping will be about $9 (US), $23 (Canada), or $37 (international). Same shipping for 1, 2, or 3 units per box, I'm told. I hope you agree the wait was worth it. Whether it's your first Thunderbolt or not -- this is an amazing deal for any of us. A lot of work went into making it happen. /tvb |