High School Am I understanding the concept of proper frame of reference?

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TL;DR
A proper reference frame in the theory of relativity is a particular form of accelerated reference frame, in which an accelerated observer can be considered as being in rest. Well, the context isn't Special Relativity, this is, inertial frames of reference?
MOVING CLOCKS

In this section, we show that clocks moving at high speeds run slowly.
We construct a clock, called a light clock, using a stick of proper lenght ##L_0##, and two mirrors. The two mirrors face each other, and a pulse of light bounces back and forth betweem them. Each time the light pulse strikes one of the mirrors, say the lower mirror, the clock is said to tick. Between successive ticks the light pulse travels a distance ##2L_0## in the proper reference of frame of the clock. Thus, the time between ticks ##T_0## is related to ##L_0 ##by

$$2L_0=cT_0\quad{R_1}$$

Next, we consider the time between ticks of the same light clock, but this time we observe it from a reference frame in which the clock is moving perpendicular to the stick with speed ##v##. In this reference frame, the clock moves a distance ##vT## between ticks and the light pulse moves a distance ##cT## between ticks. The distance the pulse moves in travelling from the bottom mirror to the top mirror is

$$\displaystyle\sqrt{L_0^2+\bigg (\frac{1}{2}vT\bigg )^2}$$

The light pulse travels the same distance in traveling from the top mirror to the bottom mirror. Thus,

$$2\displaystyle\sqrt{L_0^2+\bigg (\frac{1}{2}vT\bigg )^2}=cT\quad{R-2}$$

Because the speed of light is the same in all inertial reference frames, we have the same symbol ##c## for the speed of light in Equations ##R-1## and ##R-2##. Solving Equation ##R-1## for ##L_0## and substituting into Equation ##R-2## gives

$$\displaystyle\sqrt{\bigg (\frac{1}{2}cT_0\bigg )^2+\bigg (\frac{1}{2}vT\bigg )^2}=\frac{1}{2}cT$$

Solving for T gives

$$T=\displaystyle\frac{T_0}{\sqrt{1-(v^2/c^2}}\quad{R-3}$$

According to Equation ##R-3##, the time between ticks in the reference frame in which the clock moves at speed ##v## is greater than the time between ticks in the proper reference frame of the clock.

Attempt at a solution

The proper reference frame both observers can be considered as being in rest.

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Your thought about two IFRs seems OK. What’s the problem?
 
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It looks more like you are trying to understand the relationship between two inertial frames of reference rather than the concept of a "proper reference frame".

My graduate level textbook, Misner, Thorne, Wheeler "Gravitation", has a discussion of proper reference frames of possibly accelerated observers (in section $13.6, pg 337), but it's not at high school level. But fortunately, your post doesn't really seem to be about proper reference frames or accelerated frames, but more about the the relationship between "stationary" and "moving" inertial frames.

The Lorentz transform is a more general relationship for the relation between a "stationary" frame S, and a "moving" frame S'. It provides a map between the coordinates (t,x,y,z) in some inertial frame S, to the coordiantes (t', x', y', z') in some other inertial frame S', which is usually taken to be moving with respect to S, and has the property that at t=0, x'=x, y'=y, z'=z. You can find the exact equations in many many posts.
 
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In this video I can see a person walking around lines of curvature on a sphere with an arrow strapped to his waist. His task is to keep the arrow pointed in the same direction How does he do this ? Does he use a reference point like the stars? (that only move very slowly) If that is how he keeps the arrow pointing in the same direction, is that equivalent to saying that he orients the arrow wrt the 3d space that the sphere is embedded in? So ,although one refers to intrinsic curvature...

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