Raspberry Pi NTP Server

I run a number of applications such as WSPR which require accurate timing. PC clocks are very poor at keeping accurate time and rather than rely on an internet time source, I have run my own NTP server based on a Garmin GPS unit for some years. This is connected to a computer running Windows XP which takes the GPS data and the PPS signal to provide a very accurate time.

As this system is now many years old, I have been looking for an alternative solution and found a build using a Raspberry Pi and a GPS.

I have also been wanting to play with the Raspberry Pi so this looked like an ideal project, so I ordered the parts last week and completed over the weekend.

I must make clear that none of this is my own original work. I followed the instructions and downloads from:

David Taylor at this link: http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/Raspberry-Pi-NTP.html#trimble

The download and information from: http://ntpi.openchaos.org/downloads/ and http://ava.upuaut.net/?p=612

And the GPS add-on board from here: http://ava.upuaut.net/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_60&product_id=95

I would like to thank them for the information, downloads and GPS board they have made available to create an incredibly simple to construct and cheap NTP server.

The first stage was connecting the GPS board to the Raspberry Pi. This was simply a matter of plugging the two units together using the GPIO pins. An antenna is then connected to the GPS board.

The following photo shows the Raspberry Pi with the GPS board added:

The add on GPS board is at top left with the cable attached to the GPS antenna.

After downloading the image, this was written to a new SD card using Win32DiskImager.

The SD card was inserted in the Raspberry Pi, power connected and the system came up and running as an NTP server.

To monitor time on my computers I use NTP Time Server Monitor by Meinberg. The following picture shows the Time Server Monitor screen on one of my PCs:

!92.168.1.85 is the new Raspberry Pi NTP server and 192.168.1.5 is the original NTP server on the Windows XP machine.

Really remarkable how simple it was to put this project together and my thanks to those who had put together the image, instructions and made available a compatible GPS board for all this to work so easily.

Also a good start with the Raspberry Pi, a remarkable little computer which seems to offer no end of possibilities for building simple applications to perform specific functions.

QSL Cards from the Bureau

Received a batch of QSL cards in the post last week for my MQ5LMY and MO5LMY call signs celebrating the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics in 2012.

 
If your call is amongst them, many thanks for sending the card. My special event QSL cards were sent to the bureau at the start of last year so hopefully you have received mine.

Birdbox Webcam

Yesterday was one of those rare days at the moment where we had some dry weather, so I took the opportunity to clean out the birdbox at the side of the house and make sure the camera was set up and working.

There was a Blue Tit nest in the box last year which was reasonably successful in that some of the chicks fledged. I try and get the box ready around Christmas as birds start looking for nesting sites at the start of the year if the weather is reasonably mild.

The following picture shows the box mounted next to the side of the house.

The box on the side houses the connecting block between the cables leading to the computer and the camera.

The camera is this small CCTV camera from Henry's mounted on the lid of the box facing down. I have also included a white LED in the box which is always on to add some light.

The camera is cabled to one of my Shed Computers which runs CamUniversal from Crazypixels.

CamUniversal is configured for motion detection, comparing pictures every 5 seconds and saving pictures if there is a change. This ensures that any activity in the box is captured. CamUniversal is also configured to save a picture every 60 seconds. This is then uploaded to my monitoring web site so I can check any build up of activity and whether nesting has started.

The weather today has been a significant improvement on recent weeks with plenty of sunshine and this seems to have prompted some immediate inspections of the birdbox. Checking the folder which holds pictures taken when motion is detected I found a number with a bird checking out the box. See the following as an example:

Hopefully nest building may start soon and I shall have another successful nest in 2014.

If you want to check what is happening, the 60 second snapshot can be found here.

Weather Report: Continuing Stormy Weather

The stormy weather continues. Heavy rain, hail and winds again today with a low pressure area to the north of Scotland resulting in fast moving heavy belts of rain moving across my location in the south of England.

NOAA APT pictures continue to provide good views of the weather moving across the UK. The early morning and mid to late afternoon satellite passes are still to dark due to the low elevation of the sun at this time of year, however the passes around midday work well.

The above picture is from the NOAA 19, 13:07 pass and clearly shows the low pressure area to the north of Scotland and the stream of showers being fed from the Atlantic over the southern half of the UK.

Just before this pass, there was an intense storm at my location with heavy hail, rain and wind. The following graph is the temperature reading from my "computer shed" and shows the sudden drop in temperature at the onsite of the storm.

 

The drop is shown just after 12:00. the storm passed through in an hour.

Lots of flooding in the south west of England and along the south coast.

Aerials still holding up with no damage. Still more to come over the weekend !

Weather Update: A Rare Break In The Rain

A rare day of clear sky and no rain although this is forecast to change later this evening with heavy rain and strong winds returning.

The following is the NOAA19 APT picture received early this afternoon and shows the cloud that produced yesterday's rain over central Europe and Scandinavia with the next low pressure area and cloud bringing this evening's and tomorrow's rainfall to the west, approaching from the Atlantic.

This has been the pattern for most of the last few weeks with a continuous series of low pressure areas spreading across the UK from the Atlantic bringing heavy wind and rain.

The ground is water logged and rivers running very high with localised flooding. The following photo is the Blackwater River not far from my home location.

The river is more than twice the size of normal and is very fast flowing. When I took this photo, the water had receded as the ground around the river had flooded and was still covered in many places.

So far, no aerial damage. The new M0CVO HW-40HP aerial I put up just before Christmas is working well and providing there are no more branches falling from the trees supporting the aerial it should be fine.

Radio and Weather Statistics for 2013

Well, the end of another year and some statistics from my radio operation during 2013 and from the M5LMY weather station:

Radio Operation

Total number of contacts: 978

Modes

JT65:  710
SSB:   229
PSK31: 39

Weather

Total rainfall for the year: 713mm

Average temperature: 9.5 degrees centigrade

Maximum temperature of 31.9 on the 13th July at 15:30
Minimum temperature of -4.2 on the 22nd January at 03:27

The weather at the end of the year has been very wet and windy with a succession of low pressure areas running from the Atlantic across the country. December alone had 105.4mm of rainfall.

January is starting the same with so far 9mm of rain.