Cost effective time servers

Thu Jun 20 15:47:58 UTC 2019

On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 11:42 AM Mel Beckman <mel at beckman.org> wrote:
>
> Warren,
>
> I like the cheap price of the LeoNTP. The only reason I prefer the Tm1000a is that it has an embedded web server, which lets me monitor the satellite constellation visibility. Otherwise, except for oven-controller time clocks, it seems obvious that the $2000+ GPS NTP servers are overpriced overkill :)

Yup, that is a very good point -- the LeoNTP has a small LED interface
and a rotary encoder for configuration and monitoring, but it doesn't
have a web UI.
>From the FAQ:
"Q/ Can I configure it via HTTP/Telnet ?
A/ No. Running a web server on this device although entirely possible
would reduce the performance of the unit. Therefore we took the
decision to just do configuration via the front panel."

This is indeed a really annoying limitation - in the past I've ended
up pointing a webcam at the LCD, but that is (obviously) suboptimal.
I also forgot to mention that it doesn't (yet) do v6, but that might
be added in future firmware versions...

W

>
> -mel via cell
>
> > On Jun 20, 2019, at 8:31 AM, Warren Kumari <warren at kumari.net> wrote:
> >
> >> On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 11:00 AM Mel Beckman <mel at beckman.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> I use the $300 GPS-based TM1000A from TimeMachinesCorp.com. Gets Stratum-1 time from GPS satellites and distributes it. Usually I relay this through a handful of local time servers to spread out the load, but it can handle hundreds of queries per minute, so it’s reasonable to use as a primary source even in moderate-sized data centers.
> >>
> >> I’ve put in a ton of them, and in most installations I buy two for redundancy. The GPS antenna works from a window in most instances .
> >
> > I recently fell down the high precision time rabbithole, and now have
> > 3 GPS units (a Truetime, a Symmetricom S250 and a LeoNTP), 3 Cesuim
> > Primary Reference sources (an FTS4060, and 2 PRS-50s), and an
> > assortment rubidium units.
> >
> > One of the "standard" solutions is one of the Microsemi (Symmetricom)
> > SyncServer's, but these can be expensive -- I've been much happies
> > with the LeoNTP (
> > http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=272
> > ) -- they are small, they are cheap, and they fast, they are "accurate
> > enough", and they just work. I've got one on my desk, with a cheap
> > (car) GPS antenna dangling out the window, and it syncs and runs
> > happily. A friend of mine has stuffed one in an IP68 box and it's
> > hanging happily on the side of a TV tower in the elements with no
> > issues...
> >
> > I get mine from airspy.us - $349 + antenna.
> >
> > W
> >
> >
> >>
> >> -mel beckman
> >>
> >>> On Jun 20, 2019, at 7:53 AM, David Bass <davidbass570 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> What are folks using these days for smaller organizations, that need to dole out time from an internal source?
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > I don't think the execution is relevant when it was obviously a bad
> > idea in the first place.
> > This is like putting rabid weasels in your pants, and later expressing
> > regret at having chosen those particular rabid weasels and that pair
> > of pants.
> >   ---maf

-- 
I don't think the execution is relevant when it was obviously a bad
idea in the first place.
This is like putting rabid weasels in your pants, and later expressing
regret at having chosen those particular rabid weasels and that pair
of pants.
   ---maf