Joe from Kokomo wrote:
Michael Black wrote:

- show quoted text -
"It helps if you tune in the right frequencies. WWV (and WWVH in Hawaii)
are on 5, 10, 15 and 20MHz, not KHz, and I think WWV is back on 25MHz"

On 6/18/2016 3:54 PM, wrote:

I am severely dyslexic and always confuse what's in
mHz or kHz. But I have distinct long-term memories
of these time signals being much easier to pick up
decades ago than now, merely by flipping up the
telescopic antenna on the radio or boombox I was
using then. Didn't have to be right near a window or
have an external antenna.

The wikipedia article also mentions, about halfway
down, a power reduction at one or more of the sites
transmitting time signals, around 10 years ago.

Perhaps people just don't rely on broadcast signals
for accurate time anymore? Getting the time from a
shortwave source guarantees next to no latency
issues, unlike getting those same signals off the
internet or the telephone. Yes - it matters. that.
much.

"I guess I have to respectfully ask what you are doing that requires such
critical timing...

For my ham station I am operating the JT9 and JT65 modes that are *VERY*
sensitive to timing issues; there are several free apps (Dimension 4,
for one) that will adjust your computer clock. Internet latency has not
been a problem, keeping my computer clock within milliseconds. Would
being within milliseconds be close enough for your application(s)? "


Just the satisfaction of having the most accurate time on
my 'dumb' timekeepers(my aforementioned watch and
wind-up clocks, and even the one on the microwave).

Last time I worked in an office, most of my co-workers
wore watches, and many of them beeped at the top of the
hour. After syncing mine to the time signals on SW, I'd
go to work and start hearing watches beeping 2-6 minutes
before mine and up to 5 minutes after mine. Just amusing,
that's all, having the most accurate time and everyone else
is all over the place. As are the DJs and announcers on
local radio stations.

I've witnessed internet time being as much as 1/2second
behind the shortwave tones.

On 6/18/2016 5:28 PM, wrote:

Just the satisfaction of having the most accurate time on
my 'dumb' timekeepers(my aforementioned watch and
wind-up clocks, and even the one on the microwave).

Last time I worked in an office, most of my co-workers
wore watches, and many of them beeped at the top of the
hour. After syncing mine to the time signals on SW, I'd
go to work and start hearing watches beeping 2-6 minutes
before mine and up to 5 minutes after mine. Just amusing,
that's all, having the most accurate time and everyone else
is all over the place. As are the DJs and announcers on
local radio stations.

Well, I agree with you and have on occasion done similar to what you
have done.

I've witnessed internet time being as much as 1/2second
behind the shortwave tones.

That surprises me a bit.

1) Computer clocks are notoriously unstable; when you were comparing the
PC to the radio, how long was it since you calibrated the PC?

2) With the D4 app, you can option it to upgrade your PC clock at
whatever interval you want, once a week, once a day, once an hour, once
a minute or anything in between. The PC clocks, as bad as they are, will
usually hold for at least 15-30 minutes so if you set D4 to upgrade
every minute or two, you should be fine.

3) D4 will allow you to choose whatever atomic clock source you want to
use, i.e., you can choose a state University source closest to your home
to minimize propagation delay.

Having said all that, if propagation is good and you can hear them, WWV
is fine.