[time-nuts] help

[jimlux]

On 5/1/16 1:26 PM, jimlux wrote:
> On 5/1/16 12:26 PM, Bill Baker via time-nuts wrote:
>> My problem:  I'd like some kind of off-the-shelf device that can take
>> the time code and switch on or impulse another circuit-- specifically
>> I'd like to trigger a 180 year-old fog bell (I'm a lighthouse nut as
>> well, www.henryisland.com) on the hour and maybe be able to impulse my
>> minute school clocks.  I'm not at this group's technical level, so
>> it's got to be pretty easy to program. So I need a box that I can
>> program with SMPTE time in and a timed switch impulse out.  Any ideas?
>>     Many thanks,
>>     W1BKR
>
> An Arduino or Teensy (http://www.pjrc.com) are both trivially easy to
> program and have easy interfaces (With a large number of off the shelf
> interface widgets like relays, optoisolators, etc.).  There's probably
> off the shelf code and hardware interfaces for decoding your SMPTE or
> other time codes.
>

In fact
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=8237.0

https://hackaday.io/project/7694-arduino-timecode-smpte-ltc-reader-generator-shield/log/27289-stripped-down-ltc-reader-code-for-arduino

references someone decoding SMPTE from an audio signal.



But are you sure you want SMPTE... Do you have a source already?


Seems to me you'd want something like a GPS receiver.. equally easy. 
I've got code the reads a Garmin GPS-18 on a teensy somewhere around, 
and I'm sure others have stuff for basically any GPS receiver made.

Lately, i've just been logging 1pps from various sources using the teensy.

After all, don't you want your fog bell to be accurate to fractions of a 
microsecond, because otherwise you're not really a time-nut <grin>.