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Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement

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Re: Power line timing -- setting a clock

HM
Hal Murray
Sun, Mar 24, 2024 7:04 PM

[An experiment to reduce clutter.  With my moderator hat on, I'm dropping a
couple of messages after quoting the full payload here.]

Andy Talbot said:

I would imagine there is a human in the control loop.

Why?  If the decision process gets complicated, I'd expect computers would be
more reliable than a human.  The chief engineer will have to explain to the
operator what to do.  Turn that into software.  (You might try "Wait for the
chief to come in tomorrow morning", but you have to handle the case where he
goes on vacation or gets hit by a bus.)

Adrian Godwin said:

Isn't the point of the power line clock that it matches what you've got (from
the same power line) so they can push it towards standardised time ? So your
copy of it is on your mains-powered wall clock.

Yes.  The catch is that the power companies are not doing a good job of
keeping their clock in alignment with UTC.

Gerhard Hoffmann said:

For uwave frequency setting it is useless in my opinion. Just imagine  the
phase noise multiplying up from 50/60 Hz to 10 GHz or so. It would be a mole
hill in X-band.

Suppose you are trying to talk to somebody else who is on the same power grid.
Assume his setup is identical to yours.  Would it work if you had a long
enough time constant on the PLL filter?

--
These are my opinions.  I hate spam.

[An experiment to reduce clutter. With my moderator hat on, I'm dropping a couple of messages after quoting the full payload here.] Andy Talbot said: > I would imagine there is a human in the control loop. Why? If the decision process gets complicated, I'd expect computers would be more reliable than a human. The chief engineer will have to explain to the operator what to do. Turn that into software. (You might try "Wait for the chief to come in tomorrow morning", but you have to handle the case where he goes on vacation or gets hit by a bus.) Adrian Godwin said: > Isn't the point of the power line clock that it matches what you've got (from > the same power line) so they can push it towards standardised time ? So your > copy of it is on your mains-powered wall clock. Yes. The catch is that the power companies are not doing a good job of keeping their clock in alignment with UTC. Gerhard Hoffmann said: > For uwave frequency setting it is useless in my opinion. Just imagine the > phase noise multiplying up from 50/60 Hz to 10 GHz or so. It would be a mole > hill in X-band. Suppose you are trying to talk to somebody else who is on the same power grid. Assume his setup is identical to yours. Would it work if you had a long enough time constant on the PLL filter? -- These are my opinions. I hate spam.