[time-nuts] Followup (still want a GPS-type NTP refclock)

Magnus Danielson magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org
Sun Oct 21 16:02:40 UTC 2012


Sarah, Jim,

On 10/18/2012 02:26 AM, Jim Lux wrote:
> On 10/17/12 4:48 PM, Sarah White wrote:
>> ... Basically, this way I won't have to consider any waterproofing for
>> the antenna, and just hope that if lightning strikes it goes for the
>> exhaust vent dome thingy instead... Ah well whatever. My plan remains
>> unchanged in this regard --- it is going to be in one of the
>> south-facing (roof is angled) skylight windows.
>>
>>
>> And that's with a $6 navigation GPS thingy (USB puck-type NMEA-only)
>>
>> That's navigation... Timing mode only needs "1 satellite lock" after
>> all, and I suspect I will at minimum be able to get needed "1
>> satellite lock" with nearly any active GPS antenna.
>>
>
>
> Ah, but this is Time-Nuts.. are you sure you don't need 1E-13
> performance? You may not think you do today, but inevitably, the
> horrible uncertainty in your time stamps will gnaw at your innermost
> soul, and pretty soon, you'll be building choke rings, wrapping your $6
> receiver in an oven, cobbling together some weird combination of surplus
> parts.

Hear! Hear!

As time-nuts, we try to get the best possible performance for least 
possible cost. Then again, we oldies should recall that new-comers still 
need to get started. We should give them advice that gives them a good 
start while not spending too much money on a solution which isn't 
sufficiently expandable into the future.

We should have a wiki for FAQ and references.

Cheers,
Magnus



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