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The fmset program can be used to confirm that the Field system time agrees with the station time. Open a terminal on pcfs[hb|ke|yg], and type
fmset
The Field System and Computer times should agree. Press the <esc> key to exit fmset.
If fmset if not successful (persistent clock differences), it might be wirth to (a) reboot the Mk5, (b) check the DBBC and/or © reconfigure/reboot the DBBC.
Now check the maser-GPS and delay through the DBBC and Mark5 (Formatter minus GPS) with the
maserdelay
and
clkoff
commands respectively which read the Agilent counters. Log these values in the checklist. They should bethe same to within 0.5 microsec. The Log Monitor should report the difference whuch should be less than +/- 0.5 us.
Issue the maserdelay
and clkoff
commands a few times to check that they aren't drifting. A drift in the formatter-GPS time is usually an indication of a DBBC problem, usually requiring a reconfig to fix.
If one or both counters are not responding to these commands, you will see an error message like this
ERROR sp -4 GPIB Device time-out on response c2
To fix this, try re-setting the counters. In the Operator Input window, type
counter
and try the maserdelay
and clkoff
commands again.
If the GPIB has been restarted (via the PDU internet power switch, or a power outage) a field system restart is probably required to re-establish communications with the counters connected to the GPIB. Symptomatic is fmset
working OK, sync_error=0, but counter
, clkoff
, maserdelay
commands not working; the ddiff counter showing random large offsets and/or changing rapidly. Restarting the field system should bring the ddiff counter back to a steady several microseconds and enable GPIB comms.