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Looking for a time sync app for Mac.

transmaster

transmaster

Contributor
Original poster
Feb 1, 2010
1,871
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Cheyenne, Wyoming
I am setting up my MacStudio to operate on the amatuer radio digital mode, FT-4, and FT-8. One of the requirements is precise time syncing. My Windows machines are awful in maintaining the precise time needed. There was a earlier thread about this subject on this issue and I seems the Mac has a similar issue. We are talking about fractions of a second needed for smooth packet exchanges. Chrony Control was suggested. I tried to load in on my Mac Studio and it locked up the Mac in a continual loop thing I had to physically turn the computer off, and restart to stop. Is there anything else. So Far I have not found a solution. The applications I have on My Windows machines are set to resync every couple of minutes, no doubt overkill but it does this in the background so why not.
 
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I just tested ChronyControl v. 1.4.11 on my Mac Studio running Ventura and it seems to be working OK…but I don't know if there's something you're doing (settings etc.) that I'm not doing.
 
Were did you download ChronyControl from I tried it again and got the same result, and flickering locked up computer. I am running Sonoma 14.0. This is really disappointing ChronyControl seems to be the only thing out there.

I loaded the"Atomic Clock" app and it does not sync the clock of the MAC.

I tried to configure my time standard by switching to a NIST time server but it didn't help with the sync my Mac is still 2 seconds slow.
 
I know there are a few apps that let you sync to an atomic clock. What I don't know is if they are free or not. I almost wonder if you will need to invest in something that you can install on prem to ensure you are properly synced. Especially since there are potential delays in almost every aspect of your system getting out to the internet.
 
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I can sync the Mac Manually, than in auto mode is checks every 20 minutes. I switched to a NIST time server so we will see what happens.
 
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I was looking at Gov Time and after I manually synced the Mac Studio Clock and switched to one
the NIST time servers The Mac is OK for FT-8. The presently is off a negative 0.139 of a second.
 
Why not setup CRON job or any other scheduled job and use script? I quickly searched Google how to do this on macOS and found this: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/time-synchronization-command-line-in-macos-big-sur.2279396/
I have only Ventura, but "sudo sntp -S time.nist.gov" does set my time using NIST server, needs to be run as admin. Or you can add your account to SUDOERS file to be allowed to run sntp without password and then setup the CRON job or other type of scheduled job which runs every few minutes. The discussion notes, that there is timed service from Apple which will do the same - but if both your cron job and timed use the same server, it should not matter... It is not app, but seems relatively easy to setup even from linux/macos novice like myself. Google is amazing source of examples how to setup cron and add yourself to sudoers etc.
 
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Does setting up NTP via the NIST servers instead of Apple’s not provide enough accuracy for FT-8? I haven’t really explored too many digital modes yet, so I wasn’t aware of the time synchronization issues that tied into them. I guess you learn something every day.

Is this VHF or HF FT-8? HF signals can take some time to get to their destinations depending on the propagation path, but FT-8 definitely does get used on HF, so I wouldn’t have guessed that precision time synchronization would be an issue.
 
Not sure what your requirements are, but https://pfsense.org enterprise class open source firewall software supports GPS and PPS time synchronization.

I simply connected a used Garmin 18X LVC to a serial port on my firewall, then added a firewall rule to redirect all outbound port 123 traffic the local pfsense NTP server. So for less than $50 I can get less than 10 usec offset/jitter. Might not be good enough for time stamping financial tractions, but good enough for me. Keeps all clients in sync if you use a time sensitive authentication system or WAN goes down. Added benefit of preventing miscreants from profiling what devices/applications you may be running based on outbound NTP traffic.

github.com

GitHub - elvisimprsntr/pfsense-ntp-gps: pfSense NTP GPS Server

pfSense NTP GPS Server. Contribute to elvisimprsntr/pfsense-ntp-gps development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com
 
ShiftHappens said:
Curious question: how do you determine the offset that precisely?
Click to expand...
The Time.Gov webpage does it for you.

Screenshot 2023-10-20 at 15.53.32.png
 
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kc9hzn said:
Does setting up NTP via the NIST servers instead of Apple’s not provide enough accuracy for FT-8? I haven’t really explored too many digital modes yet, so I wasn’t aware of the time synchronization issues that tied into them. I guess you learn something every day.

Is this VHF or HF FT-8? HF signals can take some time to get to their destinations depending on the propagation path, but FT-8 definitely does get used on HF, so I wouldn’t have guessed that precision time synchronization would be an issue.
Click to expand...
The modes are all HF. And Time synchronization is an issue.
k0pir.us

Time Synchronization for FT8

Time Synchronization for FT8 means the most when you're trying to decode. See the tools I use to keep my clocks up to date.
k0pir.us k0pir.us
 
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I just remembered that that ICOM Japan website they have a Utility (ST-4003W) that works with ICOM radios that can be connected to a PC and allows the PC to set the clock on your radio. If you have one of the many time sync utilities for a PC you can keep the clock on the IC-7300, 7610, 705 absolutely dead on with NIST time. No luck for Mac users.
 
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I have a workable solution until Chrony Control is working with Sonoma.
I leave the Mac on the Apple time server and just uncheck the auto setting, set, and turn it back on. This is what I now have.

Screenshot 2023-10-20 at 16.55.00.png


I found out in order to change the time server you have to do it in the property list with a sudo command.
 
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I'd be looking at using PTP (Precision Time Protocol, IEEE 1588v2). The PTPd code at https://github.com/ptpd/ptpd seems to work on macOS, and recent versions of Windows have built-in support: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com...n-windows-server-2019-10-accurate/ba-p/339739. For older versions of Windows, an open-source package is available: https://github.com/GridProtectionAlliance/PTPSync

You would need to set up one computer (maybe running Linux) with a hopefully accurate clock as the "master".
 
Honza1 said:
Why not setup CRON job or any other scheduled job and use script? I quickly searched Google how to do this on macOS and found this: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/time-synchronization-command-line-in-macos-big-sur.2279396/
I have only Ventura, but "sudo sntp -S time.nist.gov" does set my time using NIST server, needs to be run as admin. Or you can add your account to SUDOERS file to be allowed to run sntp without password and then setup the CRON job or other type of scheduled job which runs every few minutes. The discussion notes, that there is timed service from Apple which will do the same - but if both your cron job and timed use the same server, it should not matter... It is not app, but seems relatively easy to setup even from linux/macos novice like myself. Google is amazing source of examples how to setup cron and add yourself to sudoers etc.
Click to expand...
Just the discussion I was looking for, and a fellow ham with the same issue with time sync on FT-4 and FT-8.
 
For more professional needs, in the PC world, I think I saw once there was a PCIE card with atomic clock onboard.
Dunno if you can get one, but if you can, precise time should not be a concern for a very long time.
 
ChronyControl continues to run fine on my Intel Macs with macOS 14.0.

I am guessing that your problem is Apple silicon specific? And, guessing further, that the chronyd daemon is the problem. Can you get it running with Rosetta? Of course, these guesses may be wide of the mark.

This https://qso365.co.uk/2021/04/accura...c-running-macos-big-sur-for-ft8-ft4-and-wspr/ says it continues to run with Sonoma and Apple silicon.
 
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