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Old 26-10-2003, 11:48
chris2k2
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Well, we should have all put our clocks back last night.

But, was wondering which is the best time to use really.

My tv & digibox sets itself, when switched on.

But, when setting my clocks & watches, Is teletext better to use than the news channels?.

All in all, what is the time delay on the digital channels, and which do you think would be the most accurate.
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Old 26-10-2003, 11:51
Rob_Online
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I think BBC News 24 would be most acuurate, as i have a radio controlled clock and BBC News 24 is only behind by about 2 seconds. . But if you want the seconds then BBC Ceefax.

BTW: I think the time delay on Freeview is 2 seconds.
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Old 26-10-2003, 11:54
chrisy
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I always use the Ceefax or Teletext clock. The news channels should be in sync, the BBC certainly set their clock fast so that the broadcast delay makes it accurate. The problem with the news channels and digital, is that you don't get any seconds on the clocks, except on the News 24 countdown. Analogue teletext is the way to go.

Chris
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Old 26-10-2003, 11:57
chris2k2
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I thought the teletext option, would be the best, so i used this option.

It is strange tho, how we can't have analogue teletext on the digital channels.
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Old 26-10-2003, 11:57
Spot
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Tune in to the Greenwich Time Signal on any ANALOGUE station [Radio 4 broadcasts it many times each day] and it'll be spot on. And analogue text is usually pretty good too.
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:07
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Analouge teletext does the trick - ensure it is NOT an emap tv channel though *lol*

(on sky)

BBC1 ceefax - cannot go wrong with that
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:17
chilpillphil
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The time delay on sky is about 10 seconds
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:20
chris2k2
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As anyone ever tried the talking clock (123), on a bt phone, how accurate is this.
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:24
JamSir
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Back in the days when I used to do hospital radio(!), we used BBC Ceefax for the time when opting-in to IRN news bulletins, and Ceefax was certainly more accurate that ITV/C4/C5 teletext.

Digital television does suffer from 2-3 seconds delay, which is why, I suspect, we no longer see clocks going into the news on BBC1.

If you want to really accurate, radio-controlled clocks are quite cheap now. They cost as little as £15 (from Argos), are always correct, and cope with such things as clocks going backwards and forward.

For example, I set my alarm clock for 7.15 am last night, and as my clock was radio-controlled, it woke me up at 7.15 am GMT, even though I set the alarm yesterday, when we were still using BST.

Failing that, the "123" talking clock is spot on, as well!!
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:27
Rob_Online
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Yeah the Talking clock on 1,2,3 is very accurate. But to set my clocks i use my radio controlled clock whic gets a time signal from Greenwich.
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:34
Nic_3
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The transmitter is actually in Rugby.
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:39
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What frequency does the transmitter broadcast on - anyone know ?

eg: is it a LW signal - like Radio 4 LW ? IT must be something like that to cover the whole country with one transmitter.
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:48
Spot
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Originally posted by Mr_X
What frequency does the transmitter broadcast on - anyone know ?

eg: is it a LW signal - like Radio 4 LW ? IT must be something like that to cover the whole country with one transmitter.
60 Khz.
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Old 26-10-2003, 12:55
Rob_Online
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I know this thread is turning to be nothing about terrestial but anyway: In the instruction book for my Radio Colled clock it says the transmitter is in Frankfurt, Germany Is that possible?
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:08
Nic_3
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Afaik the transmitter for the UK is in Rugby. Maybe your clock was made for the German market originally?
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:10
Lester M Fong
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Originally posted by chris2k2
But, when setting my clocks & watches, Is teletext better to use than the news channels?.
anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can automatically sync their system clock with a time server every time they go online... the SNTP protocol is designed to take network lag into account, so it is an extremely simple and accurate way of doing it

there's lots of freeware that will do the job (such as Automachron), and there are many public NTP servers in the UK which are themselves synced with atomic clocks, etc.
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:15
Spot
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The Frankfurt signal is on 77.5kHz and is designed to cover most of Europe. However, they're an hour ahead of us so although you might well be able to pick it up here your clock would presumably show the wrong time for the UK. Maybe they make a British version which tunes in to Rugby but forgot to alter the instruction manual!
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:20
Nic_3
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Spot, how come you know so much about all of this?
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:24
TheCableGuy
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When going into the news BBC Three Counties radio uses the Pips, so i set my wrist watch to the hour and wait for the final pip, then i push the pin back into my watch.

This seems quite accurate for me. I also went to the time settings of Windows XP, which has the feature Lester mentioned, and the time is sport on.
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:28
Spot
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Well I knew about Rugby anyway but I've just been typing key words into Google! Haven't given any references are there are loads of sites about this - just try something like 'time signal Rugby' [or Frankfurt] or 'Rugby 60kHz ' and you'll have enough reading material for the rest of the day!
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:31
Rob_Online
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In the instuctions it does say Frankfurt but i get the exact time as Ceefax, News 24 etc. And it change fine last night when the clocks went back so it must come from Rugby or there is a UK signal sent out from the one in Frankfurt.
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:37
asjonesuk
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I was under the impression that any time signal was sent as GMT - it is then up to individual countries to work out their offsets from the main GMT signal.

I have world clock software for PC and it asks me how far ahead or behind GMT I want to set each country, and things like Email etc nearly always say GMT+0000 or GMT+0100
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:46
TheCableGuy
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Originally posted by asjonesuk
I was under the impression that any time signal was sent as GMT - it is then up to individual countries to work out their offsets from the main GMT signal.

I have world clock software for PC and it asks me how far ahead or behind GMT I want to set each country, and things like Email etc nearly always say GMT+0000 or GMT+0100
Yes this is true. GMT, also called UTC, is the universal timezone. As you say, in emails it will have a GMT/UTC ofset time.

If you saw the concorde programme on BBC2/N24/World you may have noticed the pilot mentioned the GMT time for its landing.

Theres loads of info on time if you google it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMT

If i were a DS mod i would move this thread to GD so people can talk a little more about this in depth.
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:49
Rob_Online
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Yeah it would be good if this were moved to G.D. This may be going a bit in depth but how does a Radio Controlled clock decode the time signal?
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Old 26-10-2003, 13:56
TheCableGuy
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Originally posted by *Somerset-Freeview*
Yeah it would be good if this were moved to G.D. This may be going a bit in depth but how does a Radio Controlled clock decode the time signal?
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question461.htm

Its an American site so it mentions Colorado instead of Rugby, but it might help answer your question.
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