marcus@osf.org (Mark Roman) (06/01/89)
A followup & summary on the PSTI saga. Thanks to all who responded to my pleas for information concerning radio time clocks in general, and Precision Standard Time specifically. The official story I have is that PSTI was bought out. This includes the Patents held by PSTI on radio clock gear. The new company took my P.O. from the PSTI files & sent me a letter. Choice quotes follow: "Traconex Inc. is pleased to announce that we have purchased the rights to Patent . . .High Precision Radio Signal [blah blah blah] Clock, previously manufactured and sold by Precision Standard Time, Inc." "It is our intention to manufacture, sell, service, [and] support all of those products peviously handled by PSTI." "For a limited time we will are prepared to accept purchase orders under the same terms and conditions." I spoke with the president, Frank Girardot, who said that ther would be some delay in processing orders, but the company will be continuing the product line. Thus, as you might guess, I will be resubmitting my P.O. The address of the company is: Traconex, Inc. 3510 Bassett Street Santa Clara, CA 95054 (408) 727 0260 In my original posting to the net, I solicited opinions on alternative technolgies and vendors. I received a significant number of responses. Most pointed me at Heathkit for their prouduct. It is apprently available in both kit & prebuilt form. The clock goes for about $299 in kit form with the optional (but not really) serial interface. Some adivce concerning the serial interface was offered by several respondants. The remaining advice pointed me at Spectracom & dialing in to NBS in CO. Finally, I would like to thank all of you who responded to my postings. Your assistance provided me with several viable alternatives, although it appears that I will not avail myself of any of them, as my original plan (to purchase a PSTI clock) will hold. I hope this info is of use to others on the net. mark roman OSF Wide Area Net
cratz@icldata.UUCP (Tony Cratz) (06/01/89)
In article <1060@osf.OSF.ORG>, marcus@osf.org (Mark Roman) writes: > > > A followup & summary on the PSTI saga. Thanks to all who responded to > my pleas for information concerning radio time clocks in general, and > Precision Standard Time specifically. > > The official story I have is that PSTI was bought out. This > includes the Patents held by PSTI on radio clock gear. The new > company took my P.O. from the PSTI files & sent me a letter. Choice > quotes follow: > > "Traconex Inc. is pleased to announce that we have purchased the > rights to Patent . . .High Precision Radio Signal [blah blah blah] > Clock, previously manufactured and sold by Precision Standard Time, Inc." . . . > Traconex, Inc. > 3510 Bassett Street > Santa Clara, CA 95054 > (408) 727 0260 > This was one of the two companies that I mention in my last posting. At the time I did not know about the buy-out. I also understand that Traconex is planning on droping the price on the PSTI clock (I'm not sure how true this is). The other company that I mention (they make a PC version VERY similar to the PSTI board seeing that the person that design the PSTI is the same person that is doing the PC version) is: Time Sync 921 Bluebonnet Dr. Sunnyvale, Ca. 94086 (408) 738 - 2862 This company is getting to REALLY take off. Their price for the PC version is about $150. Tony Cratz -- "Looks like plant food to me" Tony Cratz work phone: (408) 982-3585 UUCP: ames!versatc!icldata!cratz Snail: ICL Datachecker, 800 Central Expressway MS 33-36, Santa Clara, Ca 95052
david@daisy.UUCP (David Schachter) (06/04/89)
In article <5314@icldata.UUCP> cratz@icldata.UUCP (Tony Cratz) writes: >The other company that I mention (they make a PC version VERY similar >to the PSTI board seeing that the person that design the PSTI is the >same person that is doing the PC version) is: > > Time Sync > 921 Bluebonnet Dr. > Sunnyvale, Ca. 94086 > (408) 738 - 2862 There are several people who can claim to have "designed" the PSTI clock. Most are incompetent. I know; I had to re-do the damn thing from scratch from the software side, and another person re-did the digital side. The analog part was done by a consultant, who did a fine job, considering the ridiculous restrictions put on him by the founder, who was eventually fired. If the person behind Time Sync is the person I'm thinking it is, I'll be interested in seeing if he repeats the fiasco. Obviously, this note reflects my opinions only. And I'm clearly biased. -- David Schachter