Atomic clock

[GGJaguar]

I would love to have this!

 

[Rich Cohen]

I would love to have this!

Me too!

 

[SFIV1967]

And the back of one, so it runs using 110V as it looks!



Ralf

 

[davismanLV]

That is SO COOL!!!

 

[GAD]

Oh, that’s cool!

I’d need to alter it so it used a Symmetricon chip-scale atomic clock, though…

 

[Cougar]

I’d need to alter it so it used a Symmetricon chip-scale atomic clock, though…

Yeah, my plug in digital clock radio gains 3 or 4 minutes every couple of weeks, apparently since the mains frequency runs higher than standard around here. My watch collector brother gifted me a nice Grand Seiko which I set to the U.S. Official NIST Time correct to the second about a month or so ago. I just checked it. It's still correct to the nearest second! Brother said it's more accurate than a Rolex.

 

[Guildedagain]

My latest timepiece, a Seiko diver, is crazy accurate for an Automatic watch, was on time when I received it, within 2 minutes two months later to the day, very impressive.

 

[GAD]

Yeah, my plug in digital clock radio gains 3 or 4 minutes every couple of weeks, apparently since the mains frequency runs higher than standard around here. My watch collector brother gifted me a nice Grand Seiko which I set to the U.S. Official NIST Time correct to the second about a month or so ago. I just checked it. It's still correct to the nearest second! Brother said it's more accurate than a Rolex.

Rolex watches are not known for accuracy, though about 10 years ago they changed the mainsprings in many models to be non-magnetic which made a huge difference.

That a mechanical timepiece can be accurate at all is astounding to me. Electronic clocks, though, are another matter. I’m designing and building a Nixie tube clock and for about $15 I bought a battery backup RTC (Real Time Clock) that keeps great time. There are $5 models that would work just as well for most uses. A clock that keeps time based in mains frequency is pretty old school.

BTW that chip-scale atomic clock I mentioned is a real thing! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip-scale_atomic_clock

 

[chazmo]

GAD, I had NO idea that you could have a cesium-atom clock in a chip. That's amazing! What does one of these cost?

 

[GAD]

GAD, I had NO idea that you could have a cesium-atom clock in a chip. That's amazing! What does one of these cost?

I want to say about $2000-3000...

Here's one for $2000 but no stock so no idea how old the listing is:

Atomic Clock - SPX-14830 - SparkFun Electronics

The Miniature Atomic Clock (MAC) from Microsemi uses a rubidium laser to output an extremely accurate clock. We're speaking at the edge of our knowledge so

www.sparkfun.com

What's fun about that is that Sparkfun is a site for people like me who make goofy stuff in their home labs.

I only know about them because early in the days of the company I work for we sold a switch with one on board so that it could be used as the grandmaster clock in a PtP network. I actually have one in my home lab and I was devastated to discover that at some point they had changed out the Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) for an Oven-Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO) because the time accuracy on an OCXO is 10⁻⁷ or 10⁻⁸ at the 1/10th the price of for 10⁻¹¹ with an SCAC. Apparently while it was REALLY cool, people just didn't see the need for that level of accuracy over a network. It was shortly after that that I went a bit nuts and installed an amplified GPS antenna on my roof so I could have accurate time and a pure 10MHz signal to sync my test equipment.

Now, before anyone replies that poor time over a network should be obvious, the PtP protocol is really fascinating because the master and boundary clocks can actually compensate for the computational and propagational delay present in a network in order to deliver very accurate time. I don't know if it still is, but it was very common in High Frequency Trading 10 years ago.

 

[Harp Tail]

GAD - are you somehow like Napoleon, who supposedly only ever slept about three hours a night?

Also - know nothing about her, but your wife must be a hell of a woman! Or is she a Guild fanatic herself?

 

[GAD]

GAD - are you somehow like Napoleon, who supposedly only ever slept about three hours a night?

I don’t really watch TV, I don’t follow sports, I rarely drink, and I don’t have a commute. I was an only child so I am perfectly happy sitting in a room by myself and I have very little need for socializing.

I am insatiably curious and have the means to pursue my wacky obsessions in a way that sometimes manages to make me money. I am also a compulsive tinkerer who needs to know how things to work, often to an annoying or sometimes comical degree.

While I sometimes don’t sleep as much as a normal person, I think that the real key is that my favorite pastime is learning, and learning new skills is as fun as learning new topics. If I’m watching TV it’s usually in a window on my computer while I’m working on something else.

I am also very likely on the Autism spectrum so my hyper-focus and obsessiveness are almost a super power.

Also - know nothing about her, but your wife must be a hell of a woman! Or is she a Guild fanatic herself?

My wife is a saint.

 

[Harp Tail]

That was the assumption - spoil her any way you can

 

[Harp Tail]

I kinda felt we shared something else besides the love of Guild guitars, GAD..

I have never owned a TV set, bask in loneliness and one of my favorite pastimes is studying... right know I'm trying to expand my limited knowledge of the Albanian language..

 

[Harp Tail]

After spending evenings on end to familiarize myself with Tunisian cuisine...

 

[Harp Tail]

I'm fully aware of my mental derangement and coexist well with it

 

[Harp Tail]

Or rather with THEM

 

[davismanLV]

My wife is a saint.

I'd agree with this statement. And she's nice and fun. As are you, at least in Vegas. We had a good time, as I recall.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Don't know where Skyland is, but if you're ever in Western Massachusetts, plan on a day at Mass MoCA, built on the site of the old Sprague Electric Company and earlier companies. If you like that clock, you'll love this place.

It's a time machine with twists. They kept a lot of the old Sprague facility as well as pre-Atom Age industrial works intact. The museum connects the twentieth century with our post-post-modern digital age. Highly cool, highly entertaining:

Mass MoCA home page

Long-term exhibits

Boiler room

Astral Airstream

 

[Cougar]

That a mechanical timepiece can be accurate at all is astounding to me.

Yeah. The Grand Seiko is a "hybrid." "It takes a traditional mechanical movement and blends it with the best of quartz. The movement has an accuracy of +/- 15 seconds a month, or 1 second per day."

Mine shows an accuracy much better than that. Like I said, it's on the same second a month later!