[time-nuts] Choosing an Oscillator...

[Tim Shoppa]

Robert Sexton <robert at kudra.com> wrote:
> Hi gang,
>
> I'm still headed towards getting a Stratum 1 NTP server up and going.
>
>  From what I've learned so far, higher quality PPS signals aren't going 
> to do a lot for me if my server has a wiggy clock.  That makes perfect 
> sense.  Now I just have to figure out how to get a good clock into my 
> server a la the soekris clock-block approach.
>
> So what do people recommend for somebody working on a small budget?
>
> It looks like Efratom Rubidium standards are available on ebay, but the 
> going rate looks like about $200, which is a bit much for me.

If your goal is a stratum 1 NTP server, then several microseconds
of uncertainty from a PPS-locked nanokernel is in the noise compared
to asymmetrical or random network latencies.

If your goal is being a "time-nut" like the rest of us, then sure,
the sky's the limit! I vote for more diversity than tying everything
back to GPS, and ways of getting that diversity include the shortwave
and longwave refclocks, and this can be done in the $50-$60 range or
even less depending on how much scrounging you want to do.

Now, I can just see everyone telling me that WWVB and WWV etc.
are now tied to GPS :-(.

Tim.