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Mark Rios
07-16-2006, 6:57 PM
Does anyone own one of these? Is the time on yours correct? I understand that they all get their signal from the same place.

Mine just started to read exactly 10 minutes fast. The clock in my phone and computer, both wireless, concur on the time (as well as all the other clocks in my house) but my "Atomic" clock is, all of the sudden, 10 minutes fast. Anyone else experiencing this? Been this way since this morning at least.


Hmmmmm............

Frankie Hunt
07-16-2006, 7:46 PM
Mine stays right on the money. I think they sync up twice a day, can't remember for sure. I think they sync up from a signal transmitted from WWV in Colorado. Mine did not sync correctly during the last time change, it took an extra day to sync up.

Gary Herrmann
07-16-2006, 7:52 PM
Check your battery.

Jim Hill
07-16-2006, 8:11 PM
We've got 4 of these atomic clocks around the house, and everyone of them displays a different time. 2 of the clocks are battery powered, and 2 of them are plug in. They're all within about 7-8 minutes of one another. I was surprised that they didn't all "sync" the time.

Jim

Jim Young
07-16-2006, 8:19 PM
I only have one and that's on my VCR. It seems to keep the right time.

Ken Garlock
07-16-2006, 8:31 PM
I have one in the shop and it is on the money.

Atomic clock is some what a misnomer. Your clock listens to the 60 kilohertz signal transmitted from the NIST in Boulder Colorado. The signal is ultimately controlled by the time standard in Boulder, and it transmits the correct time to which your clock syncs itself. The time standard is cesium based (http://tf.nist.gov/cesium/fountain.htm), and is correct to one second in sixty million years. Not bad for a government operation.:rolleyes:

Carl Eyman
07-16-2006, 8:33 PM
My understanding from reading the instructions when I got mine 4+ years ago is they get their signal from WWV once a day about 2 AM. (EST or CST?)

Mine has been on the money ever since I've had it these last 4 years - same battery. There is a symbol (icon) on the face that when it is showing tells you it got updated that morning. If for some reason it did not receive an update the symbol doesn't show. The antenna symbol is triangular with the vertex pointing down.

Norman Hitt
07-16-2006, 8:42 PM
Hey Mark, I think the big ads say "You'll Never Have To Set The Time Again", (but maybe they didn't say anything about it being the "Correct" Time).:rolleyes: :D

I "Almost" got weak and ordered one of those atomic Wrist watches, but then I just happened to remember all those things that I had bought over the years that were Guaranteed for Life,:rolleyes: :mad: ( and I regained my sanity and put my CC back up).;) It seems there is just a "WEE BIT" of Difference between what the Madison Ave Folks have to say about a product, and the actual performance in Real Life.

Maybe it just got a glitch in the signal this morning and it will correct itself tomorrow.:)

Tyler Howell
07-16-2006, 8:48 PM
Mine has a button to push for the sync.
RTI

Joe Pelonio
07-16-2006, 8:51 PM
I must say, this serious discussion of accurate time is foreign to me. In my house the family room wall clock, stove, microwave, DVD, clock radios, and 4 cars all have different times. My wife's car is 12 minutes fast and she likes it that way. My shop wall clock is for some reason 1/2 hour slow and has been for 6 months. I go by my watch more than anything else and so far have never been late.

Mark Rios
07-16-2006, 9:42 PM
This clock is from Radio shack and has been perfectly accurate since I bought it 5 or so years ago. I bought this one after researching and making sure that it wasn't just a cheap, crappy one. I didn't scrimp on the price. I wanted a good one (not that price equals quality, especially at Radio Shack :D).

I'll change the battery but that really shouldn't affect receiving the correct time from Colorado. It tells me when it needs a battery. It's not telling me that now but I'll change it anyway. I've only needed to change the battery once and when it needed it the time was still accurate.

My clock actually checks its synch 6 times per day. The little antenna signal has four bars and will only synch if it has the fourth bar level of signal strength, which it does and has since I put it up in it's current position.

Again, I'ts not off some random amount; It's off EXACTLY 10 minutes, to the second. I've even checked it by calling time on the phone.

Thanks Ken for the clarification. I used the term, "Atomic" simply as a general term for simplicity. My son always thought it was "cool" that we had something "atomic" in the house.


Hmmmm....oh well. I'll wait and see what happens. Just thought it was very strange.

I wonder if the Abysseration Vortex has anything to do with it? :D

Robert Mickley
07-16-2006, 10:08 PM
Clocks? Watches? oh those things that tell time!!!

I don't pay much attention to them. No clock in the shop
No watch on my wrist. The cabel box and the vcr have one, and the microwave one is always flashing since the wife and I both to lazy to set it.
There isn't one in the bedroom either. I turned the one on the cell phone off. Basicly I don't pay much attention to time.

Jim O'Dell
07-16-2006, 10:21 PM
I have an analog version in the shop. It has always been spot on, but I didn't compare it with my watch this morning. And there is a digital version with temp at work. I'll check it and see in the morning. Jim.

Michael Cody
07-16-2006, 10:49 PM
Does anyone own one of these? Is the time on yours correct? I understand that they all get their signal from the same place.

Mine just started to read exactly 10 minutes fast. The clock in my phone and computer, both wireless, concur on the time (as well as all the other clocks in my house) but my "Atomic" clock is, all of the sudden, 10 minutes fast. Anyone else experiencing this? Been this way since this morning at least.
Hmmmmm............

Something is hokey there .. it should be perfect or off in increments of 60 minutes. Does is have settings to correct for you location/time zone? It should sync to GMT and correct for your time zone. It might be defective.

On a odd coincidence: (small world ain't it).

I have the added advantage as being one of the builders of one of the
earliest clocks like this for the commercial market. We introduced them in 1983 for HeathKit electronics. I was a wave solder supervisor there in Benton Harbor Michigan at the time building Z-100's & Z-89's along with Z-150's for the government. We even built the original HERO robot, numerous weather stations, ham radio stuff, even electronics training items. The clocks we built could be adjusted for time zone & long/latt to correct for signal lag. Looked like a cheap clock radio but cost 239$ in 1983 dollars. I had one of the first off the line.. worked slick but you had to have an antenna to get a good reliable signal.

Jamie Buxton
07-16-2006, 10:56 PM
Not that it will directly help to correct your radio, but here's a site run by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. http://time.gov/ It offers official US time. You can even get it to set the clock in your computer.

Ken Garlock
07-17-2006, 12:34 AM
My understanding from reading the instructions when I got mine 4+ years ago is they get their signal from WWV once a day about 2 AM. (EST or CST?) ....

Yes Carl, that is WWVB, the 60 Kilohertz station. They use the low frequency since it is propagated along the surface of the earth and is not easily influenced by solar storms like the high frequency WWV stations at 5, and 10 MHz stations at Boulder, and the 15 MHz WWVH in Hawaii. Since the signal is earth following, it is easy to compute the propagation delay between the Boulder transmitter and the listening receiver once you know the straight-line distance between the two points.

The 60 KHz signal is used by calibration labs as their base reference. Not only is the time signal 'on the money', but the 60 KHz is exactly 60 KHz.

Kirk (KC) Constable
07-17-2006, 9:07 AM
I have the $15 model that shows time and temp in the shop, and it's spot-on with the cell phone...to the second, always.

Jim O'Dell
07-17-2006, 12:21 PM
I just checked ours here at work, and it's spot on. Doesn't make sense why one would be off 10 min. Did it correct itself overnight? I would doubt this, but is there something that could interfere with it's receiving the signal? Let us know if you figure it out! Jim.

Mark Rios
07-17-2006, 12:25 PM
I just now read Jim O.'s post. I looked up at my clock and.....lo and behold.....just like magic.........it is now correct.

You can all go back to your regular jobs now. Thanks.






EDIT: I just corrected my mispelling of Jim's name. Sorry Jim; No, I don't think you look like a "KIM". :D

Carl Eyman
07-17-2006, 6:29 PM
Oh Ye of Little Faith! Is this a left coast trait?

Frank Guerin
07-17-2006, 6:29 PM
I have a 1922 punch clock that keeps good time. The dang crank telephone hasn't had a call come in years and the wind up Victrola is sounding a bit raspy of late, but you can't exspect those records to last forever.

Andy Hoyt
07-17-2006, 8:19 PM
I synchronize all my timepieces to SMC time.

Believe me, it's a full time job.

Dennis Peacock
07-17-2006, 8:21 PM
Man....with all this "time" on our hands now....I guess I'd better get out to the shop before my time "runs out". :p :D

Mark Rios
07-17-2006, 8:23 PM
I synchronize all my timepieces to SMC time.

Believe me, it's a full time job.



SMC's clock is ALWAYS wrong. :D :D :D At least it's consistant though, I guess. Maybe the new server will have one of those new fancy "digital" chips in it and the clock will be on time. :eek: ;) :D

As far as my radio controlled clock, I still think that maybe I was somehow in the vicinity of the VORTEX at one time and my personal space-time continuum got off kilter.