![]() ![]() In the UK, for example, the station is called (Other countries have equivalent radio stations. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from a base near FortĬollins, Colorado. Time signals are broadcast by a station called Time-over and over again-in the form of a special code that only There's no DJ and no irritatingĪdvertisements for car insurance. The radio signals come from a unique radio "station" thatĭoesn't broadcast any words or music. Unlike an ordinary clock or watch, an RCC always knows what The circuit uses the radio signals to figure out theĬorrect time and adjusts the time displayed by the clock or watchĪccordingly. Ordinary electronic clock or watch but it has two extra components:Īn antenna that picks up radio signals and a circuit thatĭecodes them. It: it's not a time-keeping device unless you set it to theĪ radio-controlled clock (RCC) is different. But it doesn't actually know what time it is until you tell Photo by Stefan Kühn courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.Īn ordinary clock or watch is a time-counting device thatĪdds up the number of seconds, minutes, hours, and days that have Today, many different manufacturers make them and there are millions in use all over the world. Radio-controlled clocks and watches were popularized by such companies as Junghans in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ![]() Let's take a closer look at what these things are and how they work!Īrtwork: Watches and clocks synchronized using radio signals mean anyone can own a watch as accurate as an atomic clock. Which set their time by super-accurate atomic clocks. ![]() That's the basic idea behind radio-controlled clocks and watches, The right time automatically without you ever needing to worry? Neat if your watch could listen to those broadcasts and set itself to You hear before news broadcasts on radio stations. That's why most people regularly check their watches against a reliable time signal-like the ones That could add up to a minute a month or almost a quarter of an hour a year. Hours (an amazing accuracy of 99.998 percent), and the errors don't cancel out, Second a day if they wander out by just a couple of seconds in 24 Really good quartz clocks struggle to keep time to better than a You might have the most expensive watch in the world, but if it's set to the wrong time to begin with, it's no use to you at all. ![]()
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