[Test-Equipment] 1 PPS visual

[mikea]

On Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 09:44:16AM -0600, Raimond wrote:
>  
>  Any suggestions on the simplest, semi inexpensive way, to be able to look
> at a one Pulse Per Second wave form? It's seems that most oscilloscopes will
> not let me look that low in frequency. Basically I want to know, and see if
> I have a pure, clean 1 PPS waveform.

Is there something about the waveform or your oscilloscope that
prevents you from setting the sweep mode to sweep-only-on-trigger,
triggering on the leading edge, and setting the sweep rate for an
appropriate speed per division to see as much as you want? For a very
short pulse (and correspondingly high sweep rate), you probably will
have to crank the intensity up fairly high to get a sufficiently
bright trace.

How long is the pulse? 1 millisecond? 1 microsecond? 1 nanosecond?
What is the pulse amplitude? What are you getting it from? A Trimble
or Ashtech GPS receiver, or from something else (please specify)?

Maybe I'm missing something; if so, please let me know what. 

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin