[time-nuts] What's the best Windows 10 ntp client?

Cube Central cubecentral at gmail.com
Fri Sep 2 14:29:15 UTC 2016


I would like to retract my previous statement.  If you are only using the Windows system a couple hours a week, that may not be enough time for you to see any benefit from using NTP.

NTP needs more time than that to "discuss" the local system time with the other configured NTP servers out there on the Internet.  (and you would want more than a single server in the configuration file)

I don't see why the built-in Windows Time service wouldn't work in this instance.  It should be able to reach out to a (single, pre-configured) source and set the time within a couple of seconds.

Is the PC powering on with the incorrect time consistently?  If this is the case, then it may require a new CMOS battery.  (A small, coin battery that helps the computer keep its configuration and time while off)

Additionally, it sounds as if Internet access is a precious commodity for you, so every little bit of data sent or received is precious.  The built-in Windows Time service would use less data to simply set the system time than NTP does.  Also, I believe, it is configured not to trigger a "dial on demand" request that would connect to the Internet on its own.  I am not sure this is the case with the NTP solution.

It is hard to say which implementation is the ideal one for you, as you didn't state how important the correct time is to you or your club.  If you need the correct time "good enough" then use the built-in Windows Time service that uses SNTP.  If you need more exact time than that, well perhaps some other clock would be better used.  Such as this:  https://www.tindie.com/products/ptudor/jemma-clock/  ... or any number of other variants.  The combination of GPS and a clock or display is very powerful indeed and very easy to set up and use.

I hope that some of this helps.

	-Randal
		(at CubeCentral)


-----Original Message-----
From: Cube Central [mailto:cubecentral at gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, 02 September, 2016 08:04
To: 'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement' <time-nuts at febo.com>
Subject: RE: [time-nuts] What's the best Windows 10 ntp client?

I would also suggest using NTP.  I have set it up and configured it using the directions here (  http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/setup.html ) and it works very well.  

One thing to note is that Windows 10 does have the built in capability to set the time for itself, using a variant of SNTP.   So I would be sure to turn this off by disabling the "Windows Time" Service.

Also, be aware that using NTP on a system that isn't on all the time, or has what I would describe as "asymmetric internet access" might cause NTP to be slow in correcting the time, or only be somewhat effective.  If you are only looking to have it accurate to the right minute, then don't worry.  But this is better addressed elsewhere.

	-Randal
		(at CubeCentral)

-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On Behalf Of Dr. David Kirkby
Sent: Friday, 02 September, 2016 00:30
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement <time-nuts at febo.com>
Subject: [time-nuts] What's the best Windows 10 ntp client?

At my amateur radio club we have Internet access via a WiFi dongle with a Pay As You Go card. A Windows 10 PC is only powered up while we are there, so on around 2-4 hours per week. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on what might be the most suitable software to run on our Windows 10 PC to set the time correct? 

Someone installed "Dimension 4" 

http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/

As far as I can see, this takes the time from one single NTP server, which I believe is not a good idea.  However,  given we only run the PC on 2-4 hours per week,  maybe no ntp client will work well,  but I would have thought using multiple servers being better than one. 

I am wondering if anyone has any better suggestions for software. .

Dave.
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