Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Radio Time Clocks
Message-ID: <1989May27.222428.4127@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <895@osf.OSF.ORG> <3086@daisy.UUCP> <2767@csccat.UUCP> <600@lzaz.ATT.COM> <13437@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 27 May 89 22:24:28 GMT

In article <13437@ut-emx.UUCP> frank@ut-emx.UUCP (Frank Abernathy) writes:
>WHY do people want to subsidize AT&T/Sprint/MCI and (insert your favorite long-
>distance company here)?
>
>Buy the Heath Clock, $249.95 plus $49.95 for the RS-232 interface, put it
>together, string a wire an get the correct time.

Ever tried stringing a wire from inside the third floor of a university
building?  Without paying Physical Plant $$$$ to do it for you?  Running
one inside is useless -- too much old computer equipment that radiates
fiercely and ruins reception.  Not to mention that we're a long ways from
WWV and reception isn't great to begin with.  (The Heath clock's receiver
is not a superb job, in fact several aspects of the design aren't great --
one would hope that for US$49.95, they could do real RS232 rather than a
sloppy half-assed kludge, but no such luck...)  We won't even mention
considerations like lightning protection...
-- 
Van Allen, adj: pertaining to  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
deadly hazards to spaceflight. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu