Greenwich Mean Time.

John_Gray

It's OK - I accept your apology! :beer:

john_s_2

Kind of on topic... We've got radio controlled clocks at work - they tune in to the MSF time signal (according to the sticker on the back).

http://www.npl.co.uk/science-technology/time-frequency/time/products-and-services/msf-radio-time-signal

Well they were all on BST this morning. And we spent ages fiddling with them, taking the batteries out, putting them back in etc. Eventually we worked out they needed to be left near a window to pick up the signal, at which point they would correct themselves, and they could be put back on the wall. (Where I presume they never see the signal again and are just normal clocks.)

I don't know how much more they cost but they certainly cost a lot of money in man hours (the women in my office quite sensibly didn't worry about it) while we figured out how to change them.

Leopard

john_s wrote: »

Kind of on topic... We've got radio controlled clocks at work - they tune in to the MSF time signal (according to the sticker on the back).

http://www.npl.co.uk/science-technology/time-frequency/time/products-and-services/msf-radio-time-signal

Well they were all on BST this morning. And we spent ages fiddling with them, taking the batteries out, putting them back in etc. Eventually we worked out they needed to be left near a window to pick up the signal, at which point they would correct themselves, and they could be put back on the wall. (Where I presume they never see the signal again and are just normal clocks.)

I don't know how much more they cost but they certainly cost a lot of money in man hours (the women in my office quite sensibly didn't worry about it) while we figured out how to change them.

Ever since transmission of Britain's MSF-60 atomic clock radio time signal was relocated in March 2007 from Rugby to Anthorn, in Cumbria, people in the south of England have had trouble receiving it. You have little hope unless you put the device(s) close to a north-facing window. :rolleyes:

My watch, however, is German (a Junghans Mega Solar of 1999 vintage), so it works properly: throughout Britain and Europe it has always synched faultlessly (set to a one-hour offset when in the U.K.) with the DCF-77 time signal broadcast from Mainflingen, near Frankfurt.

We were out for dinner with friends on Saturday night and on the stroke of 2:00 am I noticed its hands silently advance by 11 hours and settle back on 1 o'clock. :T

When I got home, MSE hadn't managed it. It still hasn't. :rolleyes:

If ever you should be minded to purchase a radio-controlled watch or clock, be sure to buy one that uses the German DCF-77 signal unless you live somewhere close to Carlisle and don't travel far!

John_Gray wrote: »

It's OK - I accept your apology! :beer:

No problem: I waive, most generously, my entitlement to one from you.

As Hamlet himself avers in the very scene from which you quote: " They do but jest, poison in jest; no offence i' the world."

I was merely and idly waxing philosophical over a cup of coffee at the time I wrote what provoked your ribaldry. :coffee:

If you're going to address me as "Laddie" with any validity, though, I trust you are equipped to regale us all with your memories of Techie ingenuity during the Boer War.

Money_Grabber13579

So that would explain why my radio controlled clock quite frequently displays ridiclous times such as 65:82?

Leopard

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

So that would explain why my radio controlled clock quite frequently displays ridiclous times such as 65:82?

Yes. Unless it needs a new battery. (My watch is solar-powered.)

Money_Grabber13579

Leopard wrote: »

Yes. Unless it needs a new battery. (My watch is solar-powered.)

I've had endless new batteries in it, but no joy. Although it has been doing that for about the last 7-8 years. My sister had one exactly the same and hers went the same way on exactly the same day! So they must have done something then too!

Leopard

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

I've had endless new batteries in it, but no joy. Although it has been doing that for about the last 7-8 years. My sister had one exactly the same and hers went the same way on exactly the same day! So they must have done something then too!

Your joint experiences would certainly suggest that it was signal, rather than hardware, related.

Take a read of this.

david29dpo

I thought martin used a Mac?

BillScarab

david29dpo wrote: »

I thought martin used a Mac?

He may do but I very much doubt if he's running the site from it.

barak

Leopard wrote: »

Ever since transmission of Britain's MSF-60 atomic clock radio time signal was relocated in March 2007 from Rugby to Anthorn, in Cumbria, people in the south of England have had trouble receiving it. You have little hope unless you put the device(s) close to a north-facing window. :rolleyes:

Thanks - I hadn't realised that and I'm in Sussex.

(1) My bargain £39 Eurochron German DSF watch isn't now much use as the battery seems to lose its connection if I wear it, but lying on my bedside table it switched to GMT on time.

(2) So also - strangely perhaps - did my cheap KLIK (probably Chinese) MSF kitchen wall clock, but...

(3) my bedside "Science Museum" alarm clock - presumably also MSF - didn't manage it for 48 hours.

Incidentally, I've just looked at the Creative Watch Co site and there it says -

When replacing the battery in a radio controlled clock DO NOT use Duracell batteries as they can cause malfunctioning of the clock movement.

Both mine have Duracell batteries. I'd be interested to know the reasoning behind that advice. :undecided