Now if only we could get rid of Daylight Saving Time ...
100% true. But there is also a practical side to this ...
When a NOC-ling, in their own local timezone, says, "hey, what happened two hours ago?", they have to make a calculation. And that calculation annoyingly depends on the time of year in many if not most locales worldwide. And to make matters worse, some folks change at different times of the year, so, if you're a global network ............
Hawai'i and Arizona can add/subtract without looking at the damn calendar. I'm just sayin' I'd like to see more of that.
Clocks are cheap. I have two on the wall; one is local time and
the other is marked GMT.
- Brian
Cheap != free. Many clocks have to be set after a DST change. Clocks that do this automatically are > cheap.
I stand by my point.
Disclaimer: I have two clocks.
And furthermore, GMT != UTC.
Assuming that WWVB will persist (a medium-sized assumption) …
The La Crosse 404-1235UA-SS UltrAtomic (not affiliated, just a fan) tracks DST - and even leap seconds. They have much better reach than previous similar clocks. Mine work during daytime deep inside buildings in Alaska, far outside the traditional WWVB reach. They’re also also simple and legible, which could make them a good NOC choice. Local timezone is adjustable, so you could easily run one on local time and one on UTC. They also change their hand positions to indicate low-battery status. Not cheap, but not too bad - price hovers around US$48-$52. Big fan.
Royce
Once upon a time, Royce Williams <royce@techsolvency.com> said:
The La Crosse 404-1235UA-SS UltrAtomic (not affiliated, just a fan) tracks
DST - and even leap seconds. They have much better reach than previous
similar clocks.
Looks like somebody finally brought a clock to market that uses the
new-format phase-modulated signal. Hopefully there'll be more, but with
the WWVB funding threats, I wouldn't be surprised if companies don't
want to invest in any new products that use it.
Chris Adams <cma@cmadams.net>:
Once upon a time, Royce Williams <royce@techsolvency.com> said:
> The La Crosse 404-1235UA-SS UltrAtomic (not affiliated, just a fan) tracks
> DST - and even leap seconds. They have much better reach than previous
> similar clocks.Looks like somebody finally brought a clock to market that uses the
new-format phase-modulated signal. Hopefully there'll be more, but with
the WWVB funding threats, I wouldn't be surprised if companies don't
want to invest in any new products that use it.
Interesting - first device I've heard of that uses the new-format
fine modulation, and as NTPsec's tech lead I keep as close an eye on such
developments as anybody.
Before this I had thought that a combination of clock vendors feeling burned by
the modulation change and cheap GPSes entirely killed the market for devices that
can get high-precision time from WWBV.
Anybody know of anything fitting that description that you might want
to deploy in a data center as a Stratum 1? If such a creature exists I shall
contrive to get my lunch hooks on one and write a driver for it.
That would be fantastic. I mentioned it on Freenode when it first came out - but it may have escaped your attention. 
An eBay search for “EverSet ES100 WWVB BPSK Phase Modulation Receiver Kit” should prove fruitful. I have one - but I haven’t had time to tinker with it yet.
The kit comes with the double-antenna setup that appears to be key to the improved reception. In the clocks, the antennas are at 90 degrees relative to each other.
Royce
You already got one with your computer, and if it is Free Software:
$ TZ=Z date -d '2 hours ago' +%FT%TZ
Tony.
Royce Williams <royce@techsolvency.com>:
> Anybody know of anything fitting that description that you might want
> to deploy in a data center as a Stratum 1? If such a creature exists I
> shall contrive to get my lunch hooks on one and write a driver for it.That would be fantastic. I mentioned it on Freenode when it first came out
- but it may have escaped your attention.An eBay search for "EverSet ES100 WWVB BPSK Phase Modulation Receiver Kit"
should prove fruitful. I have one - but I haven't had time to tinker with
it yet.The kit comes with the double-antenna setup that appears to be key to the
improved reception. In the clocks, the antennas are at 90 degrees relative
to each other.
Alas. In concept, that is extremely interesting. But a bit too
bare-metal for me; first I'd have to recruit help to design and build
it into something one of my computers can talk to.
OTOH, I have written successful I2C code; if something like this
hardware were a Raspberry Pi HAT I'd have bought one before I finished
typing this reply and probably have a test system up in 24 hours. So
it's close. Real close. Relevant link:
https://www.ntpsec.org/white-papers/stratum-1-microserver-howto/
It would be delightful to add a WWVB radio version of the build
to that document.
Well, 2 months ago, the EU parliament voted to scrap daylight saving
time from 2021. This would also apply to the UK if it chooses to remain
in the EU, or during the extended transition period that Theresa May is
currently working.
It's now up to the various EU member states to decide whether they want
to remain permanently in winter or permanently in summer.
Of course, the UK government aren't necessarily amused.
Mark.
Dst Time works great for Scotland as allows kids to go to school during lighter hours.
It has been proved to save road deaths
Col