I can't imagine anyone really needing a continually synchronizing clock. But
need is never a reason not to buy something cool.

I should know... in the past year, I've bought three of those clocks myself.
Why? Why not? It's cool to listen to WWV on one of my radios and watch my
clocks tick exactly in sync with the radio. It's kind of like my clock make
the radio beep.

A true gadget freak can NEVER have enough gadgets.

"lsmyer" ) writes:
I can't imagine anyone really needing a continually synchronizing clock. But
need is never a reason not to buy something cool.

When they hit the thirty dollar level here, I was tempted and kept putting it
off. I don't have a need for such "absolute" time. But then when one went
on sale for twenty dollars back in February, I bought one. It is indeed
a neat gadget.

It turns out to be a nice portable clock, at the very least, and as cheap as
many non-"atomic". But I do find it useful to know that this is the time, and
it is still set with the standard. While I still say such clocks have
now become common simply because we have clocks everywhere (compared
to years ago when there were only a couple in a house), none of which get
set to the exact same time and then drift a tad, it is useful to have
a standard so one can set the rest of the clocks.

Michael

I should know... in the past year, I've bought three of those clocks myself.
Why? Why not? It's cool to listen to WWV on one of my radios and watch my
clocks tick exactly in sync with the radio. It's kind of like my clock make
the radio beep.

A true gadget freak can NEVER have enough gadgets.

"lsmyer" wrote

I can't imagine anyone really needing a continually synchronizing clock.
But
need is never a reason not to buy something cool.

I should know... in the past year, I've bought three of those clocks
myself.
Why? Why not? It's cool to listen to WWV on one of my radios and watch my
clocks tick exactly in sync with the radio. It's kind of like my clock
make
the radio beep.

A true gadget freak can NEVER have enough gadgets.


Syncronization is a requirement for communications systems receiving inputs
from multiple sources. Besides the requirement for accuracy in logging, one
such syncronized system compares the inputs from several Rescue Coordination
Center and coastal station feeds, takes the check-sums with the fewest
errors and feeds the best signal back to the whole system, writing the
information to all stations. Only when all stations send exact timestamps
can the comparators perform correctly. This is how Global Marine Distress
Safety System inputs are compared at the Global Station, New Zealand.
Microsoft computer clocks are hopelssly innacurate for such connection, and
programs such as Dimension 4 (free) update your computer clock as often as
you require. Every 15min it makes significant adjustments to mine, running
minimized you never know it's there. Download at:

http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/

Best regards,

Jack Painter
Virginia Beach VA