• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

TIME SYNC, NTP OR GPS?

C

ChiefOperator

Most of my stations use NTP (actually SNTP) for automation time sync. It works well for my FM's. However, one of my AM's carries a considerable amount of network programming, so the time syncs need to be precise. The station had a WWV receiver that worked very well, but it has failed beyond repair.

I need a new time source so that all switching among sources is smooth. I'm leaning toward a GPS unit, but I'm wondering whether those of you with stations that rely on network programming are successfully using NTP? I know NTP presents itself as accurate +/- 100ms (even over the public Internet) but are those numbers truly accurate? What's your flavor: NTP, GPS, or even WWV?
 
I hacked the registry on a computer to have it update the time every 1800 seconds and never missed a cue.... wwmv
 
Try this out first, http://www.ravib.com/timesync/

It's free and you can set the interval that it checks the NTP server of your choice.

GPS is the best down to the microsecond, but using this I haven't had a problem with switching and hard satellite breaks at multiple stations.
 
I forgot about TARDIS!! That's nice because it can broadcast NTP to other machines too.

I'm surprised the 'Beeb lets him get away with "TARDIS". I'd think they would have that copyrighted, trademarked etc.
 
Today, I played around with some NTP software. Syncing to different stratum-1 NTP servers, I noticed varying accuracies of +/- 500ms (even 700ms).
 
I have a bigger problem with clock drift in the automation machines than with getting an accurate time fix. 500 ms off at sync time is nothing when the clock drifts 200 ms per minute.
 
Has anyone ever wondered why a $5.00 watch purchased at the check-out counter of your local grocery store keeps great time, but a $600.00 computer is off several seconds every hour? Is Bill Gates just screwing with us???
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
I have a bigger problem with clock drift in the automation machines than with getting an accurate time fix. 500 ms off at sync time is nothing when the clock drifts 200 ms per minute.
Click to expand...

If you want to solve the problem of clock drift, here is a very cool utility that will do so: ClockMon. At defined periods, it compares the RTC (BIOS) clock to the operating system clock and adjusts the OS clock properly. This program--which is free--has completely solved the clock drift problems in my office machines.

http://www.softdevlabs.com/ClockMon/ClockMon.html

I found the program after reading rave reviews over on a NTP forum.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom