I used to spend hours looking at the equipment used for satellite ground control on ebay. I always told myself that someday I'd have a setup like that. I wanted the Cesium beam clock, the GPS time dohickey, and all of those sexy BNC connectors. Well, we got on the topic of satellites today at work, and I decided to check out what a 1U GPS unit costs these days. A led to B, which led to C, which ended up with me buying a $75 PCIe GPS time card off eBay. I figure, my rack's already full. I've already got an NTP server. Why not just improve the accuracy of said server instead of adding another 1U that I don't have room for - Isn't that why I have a rack? For density?
I realized, of course, AFTER I made the purchase that I have no idea what kind of antenna I need for this card. The manufacturer's site states that I need a "remote powered GPS antenna/converter unit, up to 300m distance to antenna with RG58". Now, obviously, I could go looking for Meinberg's GPSANT model antenna, but given how expensive this stuff is generally when new, I'd rather not. From what I can gather, the "remote powered" part of the description means that the antenna is powered by the card. Why an antenna would need power is beyond me. In my mind, an antenna is just a fancy chunk of cable. The manufacturer's page for the supported model suggest that it converts the frequency of the signal so that it works with the RG58 cable. Do all GPS antennas do this, or do I need to buy a special one?
And I'm sure someone's going to ask why I need that kind of accuracy. I don't. It's just really freaking cool.
I realized, of course, AFTER I made the purchase that I have no idea what kind of antenna I need for this card. The manufacturer's site states that I need a "remote powered GPS antenna/converter unit, up to 300m distance to antenna with RG58". Now, obviously, I could go looking for Meinberg's GPSANT model antenna, but given how expensive this stuff is generally when new, I'd rather not. From what I can gather, the "remote powered" part of the description means that the antenna is powered by the card. Why an antenna would need power is beyond me. In my mind, an antenna is just a fancy chunk of cable. The manufacturer's page for the supported model suggest that it converts the frequency of the signal so that it works with the RG58 cable. Do all GPS antennas do this, or do I need to buy a special one?
And I'm sure someone's going to ask why I need that kind of accuracy. I don't. It's just really freaking cool.