[time-nuts] Time from power lines

Hal Murray hmurray at megapathdsl.net
Sun Oct 5 21:08:08 UTC 2008


(I forgot what the subject of this thread was, but it's not time-nuts Digest)


> The suggestion of using the mains frequency as a reference is not
> practical. There will be no certainty, even after counting for a week
> that the mains frequency will give you a reliable reference. You said
> it yourself - "the instantaneous frequency of the mains is not always
> spot on". 

That doesn't sound quite right.  I think there are several parameters, and 
some combinations might be interesting.

Here are the ones I can think of:
  How stable is the clock you are trying to measure?
  How accurately are you trying to measure it?
  How long are you willing to wait?


> If you want a cheap and cheerful 50Hz reference in NZ, use the frame
> frequency of TVNZ's TV1 or TV2 transmissions.

Is that exactly 50 Hz?  US TV is slightly off 60 Hz.

  

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







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