Radio Controlled Clock MSF Time Signal

virgo17

Uxb wrote: »

Its just yet more sh*t UK infrastructure coupled with something being improved (in this case moved) which makes things worse
So all pretty normal then.

I agree. I have a cheap radio clock (wx station) that was bought from Lidl in Spain and brought back to UK. It syncs perfectly with DCF-77 at Frankfurt. OTOH a similar UK purchased device frequently fails to sync with Anthorn in Cumbria.

Both items are in the north west of the UK.

coffeehound

virgo17 wrote: »

Both items are in the north west of the UK.

I suppose the mountains could be blocking the Cumbria signal?

Interesting to hear about the German signal as I have a clock bought from German company Tchibo (remember them?) in the UK at the turn of the century. Still going strong. I wonder if it is using the German mast too.

andyt8

Quite agree - Rugby was a better location for us in the south of England, I expect those in north Scotland prefer Anthorn up on the English Scottish border.

abssorb

Have you or any of your neighbours recently had any building work done? Foil backed plasterboard is becoming the norm now and does horrible things with RF.

S0litaire

coffeehound wrote: »

I suppose the mountains could be blocking the Cumbria signal?

Interesting to hear about the German signal as I have a clock bought from German company Tchibo (remember them?) in the UK at the turn of the century. Still going strong. I wonder if it is using the German mast too.

Probably
The German signal is on a higher frequency (77Khz?) than the UK one (60Khz) and a lot more powerful.

@dosh37
You could try opening it up and checking the aerial is intact. Simple wire round ferrite rod usually hot glued inside.
Simple to replace if steady with soldering iron ;D

Frozen_up_north

S0litaire wrote: »

Probably
The German signal is on a higher frequency (77Mhz?) than the UK one (60Hz) and a lot more powerful.

@dosh37

You mean 60 KHz and 77.5 KHz. You can listen to both at good strength on a web based software defined radio (SDR) in Holland.
Enter 77.5 or 60, mode CW. MSF on 60 KHz is very strong there.

websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/m.html

[Deleted User]

S0litaire wrote: »

@dosh37
You could try opening it up and checking the aerial is intact. Simple wire round ferrite rod usually hot glued inside.
Simple to replace if steady with soldering iron ;D

15 months later I suspect they may have bought a new clock

S0litaire

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

15 months later I suspect they may have bought a new clock

You never know with people in this group...

Dodor1

Yes, they have probably bought a clock you set in the traditional way maybe even a clockwork one. Neither of my radio controlled clocks are any good both are relatively new and supposedly good (one being a Roberts DAB with the tiniest wire antenna ever) o e randomly changes its time sometimes in the night so the alarm is wrong and the other had only set itself once when brand new.

chiny

Perhaps analogue clocks are obsolescent and hoping they will connect reliably to a modern time standard is wishful thinking. Of course, a nice clock in the living room is pretty much de rigueur but maybe heading the way of other familiar household devices.

What standard would you use anyway; GPS based would appear to be the obvious choice but my experience is GPS systems are not too happy away from windows in a typical house. Wifi ntp ? Surely it is tricky (not impossible) to make such clocks analogue, so probably commercially expensive.