What Would You Do With an Atomic Clock?

[K8ERV]

Use it to time an atomic bomb silly!

I suggest at least a 10-second delay.

Or get Glen to do it.

TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo

[KK4AMP]

While having such an incredibly accurate time interval measuring device available at that really low price qould be cool, without tracibility to a reference standard to set the thing by and to occasionally check it against, it's a great conversation piece.

Sorry, I guess my PMEL is showing! LOL

[KI6HLD]

I have a $29 Radio Shack digital atomic wall clock with seconds readout, in my trailer at my fishing camp on the coast. I don't have any internet service there (to use one of the on line clocks such as Meinberg or Dimension 4) and need accuracy within a second or so on my PC clock in order to work JT65 HF. The clock built into my PC drifts a bit, so a couple times a day I reset it using the atomic clock as reference. It works perfectly for that.

The 'Atomic Clock' you can buy from Radio Shack or Fry's does not have an atomic clock chip. It receives time sync signals from WWV. If the internal clock on the Radio Shack unit is drifty, it can be off as much as 1 second over a day. Once a day it checks the WWV signal and suddenly the clock you synced to it 10 minutes ago is off by one second. This is not important in most situations, but I have timed rally cars by time of day, and we do not use those type clocks for that reason.

[KA5S]

While having such an incredibly accurate time interval measuring device available at that really low price qould be cool, without tracibility to a reference standard to set the thing by and to occasionally check it against, it's a great conversation piece.

Sorry, I guess my PMEL is showing! LOL

As I understand metrology, one would need a standard four times more accurate than the item being calibrated. And that is? It costs HOW much to use? Biannually, you say?

Hmm.

I propose an extraterrestrial reference: pulsar emissions. Now, about that 200 meter dish antenna...

Cortland
KA5S

[K5RCD]

The 'Atomic Clock' you can buy from Radio Shack or Fry's does not have an atomic clock chip. It receives time sync signals from WWV. If the internal clock on the Radio Shack unit is drift, it can be off as much as 1 second over a day. Once a day it checks the WWV signal and suddenly the clock you synced to it 10 minutes ago is off by one second. This is not important in most situations, but I have timed rally cars by time of day, and we do not use those type clocks for that reason.

I'm well aware of that. None of the available, reasonable priced clocks have an "atomic chip". It will synch to the nearest second with the radio time, and the time chip in the clock is accurate to less than 1 second / day drift. I have placed both my clocks where they could not receive the radio signal for 3 days, and both were still accurate within 1 second.

I have 2 clocks, which are always dead on accurate to each other, and have never varied from WWV time enough for me to detect by eye / ear.

Works just fine for the purpose I stated.

[K9LOL]

They look to be around $1,500 each when ordered in quantities of 100: http://www.insidegnss.com/node/2446

[WW7F]

OK, Sounds plausible to me Sue, I heard Wayne has other things going and he is too busy right now,but is it true that they also got Joe Walsh as lead guitarist and Bob Heil as thier sound man? Oh yeah, Gordon West On the HT touchpad as well They plan to release a made for charity song "We Are The Hams" in the spirit of that other tune a bunch of musicians made.
But I am on a tangent today This is a good idea for a project find some way to get all the hams who are prominent musicians and get them to form a supergroup and produce an album with that theme
Their first album I understand will be entitled,"It's About Time" hehehee, sorry Sue guess I had too much coffee and that second maple bar sure was good though! Take care, I gotta go take care of my tomatos I have a lot of blossoms I hope will turn into tasty homegrown heirloom varieties
73 to all, Michelle

I just found out this morning their managener is a small headed up by the man and woman who voices CHU....

[KJ4VTH]

I'd take it with when visiting folks I didn't really like so it would tell me when to split.

[N5PVL]

http://www.symmetricom.com/products/...c/SA.45s-CSAC/

This is a true atomic-clock-on-a-chip. Just pulling stuff from the internet it appears to be roughly $1500 for "small quantities", but probably 2-3 grand for a single chip. That kind of price is incredibly amazing actually, this thing is a an atomic clock on a chip.

It pulls less than a watt.

What kinds of cool radio-related stuff could this be used for?

I've thought it over carefully... - I would sell the atomic clock and use the money for something better, maybe a spare HF rig or a really nice VHF/UHF all mode setup w/antennas, feedlines etc..

[K7MH]

I have an Efratom 10MHz rubidium frequency standard. It's a BOATANCHOR compared to the newer ones but it does work. It is housed in a Tektronics TM5006 mainframe so it takes up a lot of space around here. Currently it is out in the garage waiting for me to arrange a workbench. No more room in the shack!
Efratomfrk.JPG