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Comment by jsjohnst | Hacker News Reader

It’s so simple to setup your own Stratum-1 server, I don’t get why more folks don’t. The one I keep in my house is a 1U unit about the size of a 16 port switch and keeps time accurate to 15ns via a small Multi-GNSS antenna (yes, serious overkill for home needs, but I already owned it for a use case that used to need it).

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Unfortunately, having more Stratum-1 servers does nothing to help clueless device manufacturers who hardcoding the IP address of an individual server, and damaging the community service. But yes, when we talk about the NTP community in general, we certainly needs more Stratum-1 servers. Nowadays, running a Stratum-1 is easy, the hardware is cheap, a single broad computer w/ time source from a shortwave radio or GPS. And if one loves electronics, one can build a precision oscillator (evem a Rubidium standard can be used for 300 USD), or go straight to make a GPSDO to achieve highly-reliable timekeeping.

Nevertheless, there are two practical difficulties.

1. Static IP addresses are unavailable in most home connections. And many home broadbands throttle UDP traffic, dropping them when the pps rate is high. It makes one's home unsuitable for hosting a NTP server.

2. Unlike Stradium-2, you cannot simply use a "cloud" service for your dedicated server. To run a NTP Stratum-1, you have to physically host your server with the customized hardware in a datacenter, which costs 100 dollars/month in my city, not including network transit and bandwidth. I really want to run one, but I cannot afford it.

3. Shortwave / GPS reception is usually not available in a datacenter, and an antenna installation is usually not allowed. You can be creative, a good way is using the time provided by mobile basestations. But it needs experience.

Re: #3, many good data centers either provide a stratum-1 to sync to or let you run your own cable/antenna if you are at least renting a cage worth of space.

> a good way is using the time provided by mobile basestations

That would definitely not be Stratum-1, so I wouldn’t recommend it.

Thanks for reminding me. If a mobile basestation is not usable, it seems to me that the best way is trying a WWVB-disciplined oscillator. Shortwave is certainly not available indoor, but longwave reception is possible. Hopefully it won't be killed by NIST due to the funding issues...

I’ve never been successful getting long wave reception in a data center (didn’t try running cable to an external antenna though, as then why not GNSS if that’s doable).

That and also many DCs I’ve been in barely get cell signal on the floor.

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