"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

I have been looking for an "Atomic" clock which can be set to UTC time
for the shack. Since the update feature only works in North America,
most of them can only be set to the local time zones. The couple of
sales people I talked to didn't even understand the question. Any
first hand recommendations? (I have already looked at eHam.)


--
Alan
WA4SCA

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Alan WA4SCA wrote:

I have been looking for an "Atomic" clock which can be set to UTC time
for the shack. Since the update feature only works in North America,
most of them can only be set to the local time zones. The couple of
sales people I talked to didn't even understand the question. Any
first hand recommendations? (I have already looked at eHam.)

--
Alan
WA4SCA

Hi Alan. look up LA Crosse on the web. i got mine a couple years back
from Universal in Ohio. best price at that time. also my favorite
shortwave shop. and, for your computer, google -alpha clock-. great
little
free program, small foot print.

Father Michael.

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

"Alan WA4SCA" wrote in message ...
I have been looking for an "Atomic" clock which can be set to UTC time
for the shack. Since the update feature only works in North America,
most of them can only be set to the local time zones. The couple of
sales people I talked to didn't even understand the question. Any
first hand recommendations? (I have already looked at eHam.)
--
Alan
WA4SCA

Sam's Club sells a digital "atomic" clock by SkyScan for less than $20. It has a 2" LCD time (12/24 hr) display and below it a 1"
calendar and temperature display.
I have two in my shack, one for UTC and the other for Central time.
Glenn
AA5PK

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Alan WA4SCA wrote:
I have been looking for an "Atomic" clock which can be set to UTC time
for the shack. Since the update feature only works in North America,
most of them can only be set to the local time zones. The couple of
sales people I talked to didn't even understand the question. Any
first hand recommendations? (I have already looked at eHam.)


--
Alan
WA4SCA


You can also get UTC time info from a GPS unit that has a data port..
UTC time info can also be pulled off the Internet from any time standard site...

I have done all 3, and find that a GPS unit with an external antenna is easy to
set up, and going the Internet route is free...

Bob N9LVU

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Father Mike, Glenn, and Robert,

Thanks for the solid information and sources!

BTW, I actually do have a GPS clock for my computer. It works great,
but I wanted something which I could keep in the shack which didn't
require the computer to be up. My ancient Heathkit digital clock died
after 20+ years, and I thought I would replace it, and opt for
something I didn't have to hack with WWV every time the power failed.




--
Alan
WA4SCA

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Father Mike wrote in news:4576AA0A.3F649999
@theseminary.net:

Alan WA4SCA wrote:

I have been looking for an "Atomic" clock which can be set to UTC time
for the shack. Since the update feature only works in North America,
most of them can only be set to the local time zones. The couple of
sales people I talked to didn't even understand the question. Any
first hand recommendations? (I have already looked at eHam.)

--
Alan
WA4SCA

Hi Alan. look up LA Crosse on the web. i got mine a couple years back
from Universal in Ohio. best price at that time. also my favorite
shortwave shop. and, for your computer, google -alpha clock-. great
little
free program, small foot print.

Father Michael.

Fow Windows XP, this is already built in to the OS. If you double click on
the time down in the lower right hand corner of your screen, you will get
a Date and Time Properties window to open. Click on the Internet Time tab.
Here you can set which time server your computer checks with to get the
time. By default it is set to time.windows.com, but you can set it to most
any time server. The one I use is time.nist.gov This is the same standard
the WWV uses and is also used by those "Atomic Time" clocks on one
frequency or another. usually the LF one.

The default check interval is, if memory serves, once a week. But you can
change this by doing a simple regedit. Goto Start--Run and type regedit
in the command box. Once regedit starts, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services \W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient, then
select SpecialPollInterval. Right click on it and select Modify and
change decimal value from 604800 to some other value in seconds. e.g. I
have mine set to 10800 which is 3 hours. This keeps my computer running to
much less than one second error and is more than enough for me :D


Hope it helps

--
Panzer

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Panzer,

Thanks for the effort, but I was looking for a completely separate
clock, not a computer program. I already have several of those!


--
Alan
WA4SCA

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Hi Alan;

I have a desktop Atomic Clock that can do UTC as well
as other time zones.

It has a data port on it so you can connect it to your
PC and pull in the time from it.

It comes with a MS-compatable program, plus I wrote one
for Linux.

I'm considering selling it (I have 2 of them) at $200.oo

If you're interested let me know and I'll give you more
information on it.

73,
W6ESE - tony
NNNNZCZC

Alan WA4SCA wrote:

I have been looking for an "Atomic" clock which can be set to UTC time
for the shack. Since the update feature only works in North America,
most of them can only be set to the local time zones. The couple of
sales people I talked to didn't even understand the question. Any
first hand recommendations? (I have already looked at eHam.)


--
Alan
WA4SCA

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

In article ,
(known to some as Alan WA4SCA) scribed...

I have been looking for an "Atomic" clock which can be set to UTC time
for the shack. Since the update feature only works in North America,
most of them can only be set to the local time zones. The couple of
sales people I talked to didn't even understand the question. Any
first hand recommendations? (I have already looked at eHam.)

May as well put in my $0.02 worth.

Last year, at a local ham swap meet, I bought a Trak Systems GPS
station clock. Extremely well-built 1U rackmount package, doubles as a
very stable frequency standard, and puts out an IRIG-B timecode stream
as well so you can drive slave displays with it if you want.

Initial cost: $75 as a "tech special." Put a couple of hours into
it for troubleshooting, and found the problem to be a bad firmware
EPROM. Got the last release of firmware files from the manufacturer,
made new EPROMs, and had a multi-thousand $$ GPS clock to call my own
for about $120 total (counting time and parts).

There are other surplus clocks Out There. Some are more expensive
than others. Datum and TrueTime (both now owned by Symmetricom), as well
as Odetics (out of business) made numerous GPS-referenced clocks. Most
are rack-mounted, most can be set either for GMT or local, and I've yet
to see one in its class that didn't have a timecode output as well.

Prices vary from what I paid to $300 and up.

Happy hunting.


--
Dr. Anton T. Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute
(Known to some as Bruce Lane, KC7GR)
http://www.bluefeathertech.com -- kyrrin a/t bluefeathertech d-o=t calm
"Salvadore Dali's computer has surreal ports..."

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Alan WA4SCA wrote:
I have been looking for an "Atomic" clock which can be set to UTC time
for the shack. Since the update feature only works in North America,
most of them can only be set to the local time zones. The couple of
sales people I talked to didn't even understand the question. Any

My wife has bought a handful of those gray plastic digitals
that set themselves to WWV at night; I was pleasantly surprised
to find that at least two of them can be set to UTC even though
the manual didn't mention it. I've got one in my shack now,
big thing that cost about $10 at a discount store, and shows
UTC time, plus a calendar and the ambient temp. It was a very
nice surprise to find a "UTC" setting on the time offset button!
So looking at those cheap clocks in the discount stores might
bring you the same sort of deal. Good luck!


_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD ken . kuzenski at duke .edu
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:29:19 GMT, Alan WA4SCA
wrote:

Panzer,

Thanks for the effort, but I was looking for a completely separate
clock, not a computer program. I already have several of those!

Some of the MFJ atomic clocks might work -- check their web site.

bob
k5qwg

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Alan WA4SCA wrote:
Father Mike, Glenn, and Robert,

Thanks for the solid information and sources!

BTW, I actually do have a GPS clock for my computer. It works great,
but I wanted something which I could keep in the shack which didn't
require the computer to be up. My ancient Heathkit digital clock died
after 20+ years, and I thought I would replace it, and opt for
something I didn't have to hack with WWV every time the power failed.




--
Alan
WA4SCA
Well, I have seen gps units interfaced to a mcpu and lcd display that shows gps
info, which can also be time in any format you want.. 2 displays whether lcd or
led can be set up from the same mcpu "Basic Stamp". It is very do-able and
should be low cost "under $100" for sure... i can easily do it with what I have
in the shack... I also sold one of those cell-site reference gps-time units for
a bunch of $$$ that I only picked up for $55 bucks a few years ago...It would of
been the best thing for a shack time reference unit..

Bob N9LVU

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Steve Bonine ) writes:
wrote:

So looking at those cheap clocks in the discount stores might
bring you the same sort of deal. Good luck!

I have bought two flavors of WWV-synced clocks recently at the big box
stores. One was a small unit (2-inch display) and the other was a large
analog wall clock. Both of them work great, even though one is on an
interior wall in the basement. I'm truly amazed that they can hear WWV
and yet the cost was under $20.

Likely because they aren't "WWV-synced".

While in the past there were some clocks that got the time in digital
format from WWV, the more recent wave of "atomic clocks" receive WWVB
at 60KHz. The low frequency allows for strong propagation throughout
much of the day, and penetration where higher frequencies might
get shielded out.

Michael VE2BVW

"Atomic" clock for UTC/GMT?
 

Well Dunno but I have 2 of the big ones digital also displays
indoor and outdoor temp. They are fed by wwvh just one island
away from me on Kauai. I have no problem it stays locked
right to the second. Once in a while the Kauai WWVH goes down
on both 5 and 10 mhz for hours if not days. Then the 2 clocks
loose it of course. WWV on the mainland is almost inaudible
out here most of the time except if conditions are good the
15mhz sig comes thru fairly well and the clocks sync on it.
Joe



************************************************** ************************
* Ham since 1937 HiSchool Sophomore ex W9ZUU, KP4EX, W4FAG, KH6ARG KH6JF *
* WW2 Vet since Sep 1940 to just After VJ day. US Signal Corps AACS *
************************************************** ************************




On Sun, 11 Dec 2006, Michael Black wrote:

Steve Bonine ) writes:
wrote:

So looking at those cheap clocks in the discount stores might
bring you the same sort of deal. Good luck!

I have bought two flavors of WWV-synced clocks recently at the big box
stores. One was a small unit (2-inch display) and the other was a large
analog wall clock. Both of them work great, even though one is on an
interior wall in the basement. I'm truly amazed that they can hear WWV
and yet the cost was under $20.

Likely because they aren't "WWV-synced".

While in the past there were some clocks that got the time in digital
format from WWV, the more recent wave of "atomic clocks" receive WWVB
at 60KHz. The low frequency allows for strong propagation throughout
much of the day, and penetration where higher frequencies might
get shielded out.

Michael VE2BVW