[600MRG] WSPRX resync question

[John Langridge]

I have to second Larry's comments on the computer clock slide.  I use a registry hack to update my time hourly via one of the NIST servers.  I lose several seconds over the course of a few hours making that required 2 second window for WSPR almost impossible to achieve.

The crazy thing is that the computer clocks seem to have gotten worse over the last few years.  I recall using WSPR when it first came on the scene and only having to update the time about once a day...bizzare turn of events.

btw, its my understanding from a number of guys that have been runing side-by-side tests that WSPR-X is not as sensitive for WSPR2.  I run version 2.11 and while I have X loaded here, 2.11 is just easier to run for standard beaconing...

73,

XIQ




________________________________
 From: Larry <larry at w7iuv.com>
To: Pat Hamel <pehamel at cableone.net> 
Cc: SHMRG <600mrg at w7ekb.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2013 8:58 AM
Subject: Re: [600MRG] WSPRX resync question
 

On 03-Sep-13 6:38 AM, Pat Hamel wrote:
> The past week or so I have had a good trace on the waterfall but no decodes.
>   I resync the computer to time.windows.com every night after I turn off my
> QRSS3 beacon to let WSPRX run all night unless storms are predicted.
>   Last night in an hour I finally got only one capture, and it said the DT
> (time delta) was 2.3 seconds.
> For some reason time.nist.com is not available here, is time.windows.com
> actually off by 2.3 seconds ?
> Thank you,
> Pat W5THT & WD2XSH/6

Pat,

Look here for Stratum 1 servers and status:

http://tf.nist.gov/tf-cgi/servers.cgi

Look here for "pool" servers which you would probably have better luck with:

http://www.pool.ntp.org/en/use.html

BTW, computer clocks can be very very bad. The one in the desktop I am writting this on will drift 2 seconds every 15 minutes! The one out in the shop is not much better.
I strongly suggest that you use time sync software that will automatically check and sync often. Thats assuming you are actually connected to the internet. If not than look into a GPS system.

I recommend "Dimension 4" (simplest) : http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/

or better yet Mienberg NTPD (complex): http://www.meinbergglobal.com/english/sw/ntp.htm

In any case, you have little or no hope of reliably copying WSJT/WSPR signals unless you periodically sync your clock through the night.

73, Larry - W7IUV





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