Some specialized timers for some specialized purposes:

Some specialized timers for some specialized purposes: Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 18:49:45 -0600 To: Chuck Maddox <cmaddox3@sbcglobal.net> Subject: Seeking an accurate watch Chuck, I work with high speed video. We use IRIG timecode generators to figure out when things happen. Xxxxxxx, Ok, your ahead of me, but I suspect I don't know that I need to know the details. On almost every location (in the desert) there are at least 5 and as many as 15 of these time code generators. I need a watch that will allow me to see if these things are all reading from the same sheet of music, so to speak. All the watches and Palm programs I have seen are only accurate to the closest second, or at least only display to the closest second. Do you know of any affordable watches or programs that will give me 10th to 100th of a second? Well, the answer Xxxxxxx, is it depends... It really depends on what you are looking for, how much you are willing to pay what activation methods are optimal, does it need to be a watch and how accurate do you need. I have a Palm/Cellular phone that seems to be synchronized to my GPS time. I was hoping to use that, but have not had any luck finding a time program that displays to 10th of a second. For the Palm, there was a program, 5 or 6 years back (circa 1998) called "Chronos" that had a 1/100th of a second stopwatch that was activated by a tap on the screen. Let me see if I can find a link for you... It was probably one of these (which have probably since had a name change). Why don't you download them all and see which one's look promising? The other option was a WWV receiver watch but still have the same problem, no decasecond or centasecond hand. Of all the people I have met on the web you seemed like the most likely to know where I can turn for a solution. Well, if you're willing to live with a wristwatch solution, I'd recommend you look at either a Citizen Skyhawk: 1, 2. Casio has a watch called the "Wave Ceptor" that combines an Atomic Clock synchronizing watch with a 1/100th of a second chronograph that might be right down your alley, and more economical than the Citizen's... I'm sure there might be some Casio G-Shock's that might be good candidates as well... These would have the advantage of being ruggedized for field use: I see they have an "Atomic Solar" line of watches that might be possibilities. Now, one thing you may not realize is that one of the most significant drawbacks to accurate timing is the human Central Nervous System... The CNS only has connections that run at about 200mph (as opposed to the speed of light with electronic means of tripping a timer), there is also reaction times and the fact that the thumb is actually slower and less accurate than the index finger for triping a stopwatch. Hence you probably want to avoid a timing mechanism tripped by the human thumb for critical timings. You might wish to consider a quartz stopwatch... The brand I use when I visit the track is Robic (and the specific model is the SC-808). The SC-808 allows you to program in the length of the track so that when you time a lap, it will return the average speed of the car. Very handy: They also make one model, the SC-507, that has a 1/1000th of a second stopwatch: Check this out... That might be handy to have... I don't know... Anyway, I'm not sure I've answered your question, but hopefully I have provided some possibilities worth further investigation... Let me know what you end up with... Thanks Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Chuck