[time-nuts] Chronometer contest sponsored by IEEE Spectrum

[Hal Murray]

> The thing is watches rates are dependent on how you personally wear
> them. Some people's wrists are warmer than others, some people take
> the watch off at certain times of day, others don't...  If you wear
> the watch normally, and measure your personal offset, you can adjust
> the crystal to compensate for that change.  The watch won't be any
> more accurate at any given instant, but it will stay spot-on over the
> course of a week. 

What's the ballpark for a personal offset?


> If you don't have a reciprocal counter, such as a 5370B, you can also
> use a good fractional /N synthesizer, such as the 3666[a,b,c] and an
> oscilloscope. Put the 3666 on the horizontal axis, and the coil on the
> vertical axis.  Adjust the synthesizer until you get a good stable
> circle.

Would it be easier to see any drift if the phase was set to make a line 
rather than a circle?

A small shift in a circle just makes a not-round circle.  A small shift on a 
line makes a slight opening.

Or is the drift so huge that this question isn't interesting.  (just wait a 
bit and the picture will change)




-- 
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's.  I hate spam.