[time-nuts] GPS for Nixie Clock

[jimlux]

On 7/15/16 10:04 PM, Chris Albertson wrote:
> Seriously, it does not matter how long it takes to turn a nixie tube
> on or off.  You measure it and then compensate.  Likely would need to
> continuously measure and adjust the compensation.    This is doable
> and is the only hard part of the problem as it is new while the rest
> has been done 1000 times.
>

It does matter, if it's not consistent.  That's the idea of preionizing: 
it makes the jitter in the "turnon" much lower. Otherwise your spark gap 
switches aren't well synchronized enough to create the desired 
converging pressure wave (at least in the most notorious application of 
preionized fast switches)

We also use a radioactive source when doing HV breakdown testing: you 
want to guarantee that there's a few electrons around in the gap, rather 
than hoping for a cosmic ray at the right time.