[ntp:questions] NTP - best practice if there is a local stratum 2 server

erik magnuson mekire at easyspeak.net
Tue Jun 30 03:53:14 UTC 2009


Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> It's easier to get and keep close synchronization if you have have some 
> sort of a "hardware reference clock" such as a GPS timing receiver, a 
> WWV receiver, etc.  GPS timing receivers are available from $100 US and 
> up.  The bottom of the scale is a bare circuit board.  Moving upscale 
> you can get PCI cards, stylish tabletop devices, rack-mount equipment, etc.
> 
> For about $1200 US you can get a clock on a PCI card that will plug into 
> your computer.  It will have an oven controlled crystal oscillator and 
> provision for a GPS input.  Talk to Symmetricomm and/or Meinberg 
> Funkurhren; both have such hardware available.

Even lower on the scale is Analog Devices GPS referenced clock chip that 
sync's on the 1PPS signal provided by many GPS receivers. This would be 
a cool project for a hobbyist, but people with work to do would be 
better off with a commercial GPS based NTP box.

- Erik




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