[TriLUG] Best NTP Client for Linux

[al johson]

Sorry, Jeremy, but I was using Windoze 98 when I received your message, and
worse of all I was also using Outlook Express to retrieve my mail. There is
a part of your email that doesn't decode properly on Outlook, so although I
could read your response I had to do so outside my email program by saving
it as an appended file.
   Now if you're interested in whether or not you would be able to receive
WWV from a particular location, the best way to find out is to TRY!! You can
go to Target for example and looking in housing section where household
appliances (such as clocks!) are found you will be able to purchase some
very nice atomic clocks which you could install in various locations to find
out if  WWV can be easily received. Incidentally, the reason why WWV is on
so many different frequencies (2.5, 5.0, 10.00, 15.00, and 20.00 MHZ) is
because in different locations around the country you can receive WWV on one
of these frequencies better than the other. The other reason is that WWV
also has other standards encoded. For example there is a very precise tone
used which can be used to calibrate tone generators. But by placing each of
WWV's frequencies where they are, hams and other radio technicians can
calibrate their equipment to make sure that their frequency readings are
precise.

I can tell you right now, however, that if you are planning to put a WWV
receiver close to a computer that you better be sure that the computer in
question doesn't RADIATE TOO MUCH INTERFERENCE due to a cheap case, or cheap
cables, keyboards, printers, etc., etc. The cheapest way to check this out
is to just go to Radio Shack and look in their catalogue for their WWV cube
radio. It is very cheap and small (I'm assuming that they still sell it--if
not you can find similar units in other catalogues on the web) , which would
allow you to figure out which frequency would be the best for your location,
and would also allow you to easily move the receiver around until you figure
out where it should be placed in the room.

For example, Hams constantly have problems trying to use their radio
receivers in the same rooms as their computers. But these problems are
usually due to the fact that their PC's are not in well-shielded boxes and
the connecting cables are not well-shielded to prevent spurious radiation.
Actually computers make excellent transmitters, and even some of the older
CPU's could transmit RF signals in the short-wave bands. There are naturally
tools to measure and detect these frequencies and possible sources of the RF
leakage from computers. For example, one of the reasons that Wi-Fi is done
on such a very high frequency is because computers don't radiate that much
RF energy at those frequencies.
    In short you just need to try an inexpensive receiver in the place you
want to put it to find out if you can make it work. I can even loan you my
little clock for a few days, as long as you promise to take very good care
of it. ---73, Al Johnson.

P.S. The reason why there is virtually no "time delay" in a radio
transmission vs. contacting a web-site is that when data is going through
the internet there are delays as your information winds its way through an
unbelievably large number of servers (some of which may be extremely slow
machines) until your request is received and your data returned. This is why
most time programs for your PC usually have a delay compensation software
mechanism which somehow measures this delay and compensates for it by
altering the time report you actually receive. This is not necessary for a
radio signal because, relatively speaking in radio terms Colorado is not
that far away from North Carolina. If I'm talking to a ham in Colorado, it
seems as if I'm talking to him on the telephone. When the internet is used
on a ham repeater, there is a very noticeable delay because of all the
computer circuits necessary to contact parties on the other end and often
you can actually HEAR the difference!!  In other words, you have to wait
longer than normal for a person to respond to a question, etc. Hope this
information helps. Tanner is a licensed ham and is probably even more
knowledgeable about WWV than myself. Interestingly enough, in the past
almost every radio station used to use WWV which would broadcast (as it
still does today), "At the tone the time will be 5:00 GMT". Greenwich
Meantime time is the world-standard time. That means you have the time in
Greenwich, England, which means you have to add or subtract hours to get the
time zone you need. My little clock, however, allows you to select the
particular time zone you need and displays that time as Pacific Standard, or
Eastern Standard, etc., etc. automatically.
Bon Appetit.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremy Portzer" <jeremyp at pobox.com>
To: "TriLUG List" <trilug at trilug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Best NTP Client for Linux