[ale] [Semi-OT] Building a WWVB receiver for ntp or similar

[Michael B. Trausch]

Recently, I have become fascinated with the idea of keeping my server
with /really/ accurate time by making use of the WWVB radio signal that
transmits time and frequency information.[1]  The only real problem that
I have is that I know next to nothing when it comes to low-level
electronics and I would like to find a starting point for building such
a device relatively inexpensively.  I have seen that there are devices
for sale that are already assembled and do the task, but they seem to
cost >$100, and that would be way more than I could reasonably justify
spending on this little project.

The main things that I would like to get out of the project, of course,
is a bit of a better knowledge of radio signals and electronics, a
completely reliable reference clock for my server that the server keeps
up-to-date from on a continual basis, and the ability to build such
devices for things that I do in the future that may or may not be
permitted/able to use NTP to keep time for various reasons.  Of course,
I also just think that it is absolutely fascinating that such a thing
can be built and eliminate the dependency on the Internet for supplying
time to the server.

I noticed that there is a reference on the Internet for building a
device using a pre-assembled tuner and some additional circuitry,[2]
(and that this works with the "radioclk" package available in Debian and
Ubuntu) but I would like to avoid even buying the tuner if I can
reasonably build one myself.  Does anyone here have any ideas on where
to start with something like this?  Also, any ideas on how long this
would take someone like me who is a complete noob when it comes to
electronics and understanding the concepts that go into building
something like this?  I would like to do this for no other reason than
it would be absolutely fascinating to do and be able to say that I have
done it; I really have no absolute need to keeping my server so close to
the "actual" time, other than to say that I can and that I built the
hardware that does it.  I would assume that I need to learn more about
how radio signals work with relation to electronics that would be
receiving them so that I could actually understand the electronic
components that go into the setup, as well as a lot about electronics to
find out the hows and whys of what goes into the tuner and radio
decoding mechanism to send the bits to, say, a serial or USB port.

	--- Mike

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWVB
[2] http://www.buzzard.me.uk/jonathan/radioclock.html

-- 
Michael B. Trausch                                   mike at trausch.us
home: 404-592-5746, 1                                 www.trausch.us
cell: 678-522-7934                       im: mike at trausch.us, jabber
Ubuntu Unofficial Backports Project:    http://backports.trausch.us/
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