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How
to equip your binoculars with a NTP synchronized clock
If you have an android
smartphone with its headset, you can easily transform your binoculars into a
powerful instrument for timing satellites directly during your visual
observations. You just need the right application running with
Internet connection and a couple of rubber bands, as shown in the
following photograph:
Fig. 1 - Photographs showing all the required elements.
To arrange your syncronized binoculars, first of all, fix
the remote button of the headset to a suitable position so that you can
easily press the button while observing through the binoculars.
Depending on your preferences, you might find comfortable to block the
button near the internal side of the primary lens as shown in the
following photograph:
Fig. 2 - Photographs showing the arrangement of the remote button near
the primary lens by means of two rubber bands.
When the remote button is correctly blocked in a good position, connect
the headset to your smartphone keeping the second earphone
accessible as shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3 - Photographs showing the headset installed on the binoculars.
The free earphone can be used to listen to the acoustic signals.
Eventually, install on your smartphone our application "Time the sat". The
App is freely available on Google Play Store
through your smartphone, at this online web
page.
Time The Sat
is sort of stop-watch that is able to synchronize the clock of your
smartphone with accuracies usually better than 50 ms
using NTP servers. When the user presses a key, including the one
of the
headset, a list reporting time and pressed
key is populated as shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 - Screenshot of the Time-The-Sat
App.
The App is still under
development, however, the main functions are already available:
- 9 preset NTP
servers, located in different countries
- key
release recorded for long pressures ( > 0.5 s )
- acoustic
signal (beep) generated on time save (both on key press and long key
release)
- observer
coordinates automatically detected from either the phone
network or GPS
- soft
keys automatically disabled when the phone is upside-down (pocket
position)
- time
synchronization stored on user request
- list
of time is saved on user request (the file is saved in
/mnt/sdcard/timethesat )
- list
of time can be shared using available applications
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