[hpsdr] Internet NTP useful for Ham freq measurement?

[John Ackermann N8UR]

On 10/15/2012 11:37 AM, Ken N9VV wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> Hi, Is the Internet NTP standard useful for Hams to use
> as a frequency reference in some way?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol
>
> thanks,
> 73 de Ken N9VV

Hi Ken --

That's a really interesting question.  I think, though, that the answer 
is "no" because NTP operates with a very long time constant (up to 
several hours) and in the short term you're relying on the PC's clock 
which is likely to be far worse than what's in your radio by default. 
And even with the long time constant, the NTP time can jump around quite 
a bit due to network outages or congestion.

You could set something up that uses a good quality OCXO locally that 
gets steered once a day or so to NTP, but I think you'd spend more and 
get worse performance than other options.

73,
John


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