[ale] possibility of running an NTP server

[david w. millians]

On 1/11/2012 12:55 AM, Ron Frazier wrote:
> For some time, I've had an amateur interest the science of timekeeping.
> Haven't really pursued it.  I've been recently been doing research into
> time servers, and time signals, etc.  I used some Christmas money to get
> a solar atomic watch made by Casio and a couple of solar atomic wall
> <snip>
> synchronize my watch and one clock today and they just refused to
> receive the signal enough to work.  Hopefully, they'll pick it up in the
> middle of the night.

My casio always seems to pick up at night. There's only been one time in 
the past several years where it was off. Matter of fact, it's usually 
more accurate than my cell phone. It's a great watch, even if it's a bit 
too thick to fit under a buttoned shirt cuff. The newer ones are 
thinner. Consumer advisory: if it has the resin band, go ahead and order 
2 or 3 spares while they're available, i.e., now. My band is held 
together with duct tape, and the strapband is a piece of wire, because 
Casio no longer sells watchbands for this model. Sell a watch that'll 
last for years and not sell watchbands for it? Tacky.

Here's an interesting article:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/time_hackers?currentPage=all
(or google for "Amateur Time Hackers Play With Atomic Clocks at Home"

If you really want to get accurate time at home, the trick is to get it 
via GPS.
http://www.rjsystems.nl/en/2100-ntpd-garmin-gps-18-lvc-gpsd.php

For most regular folks, NTPD with drift checking is good enough. :)