Talk:Radio clock

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Contents 1 WikiProject Time assessment rating comment 2 Discussion 3 Name of this article 4 Interoperability 5 Performance 6 oscillator

[edit] WikiProject Time assessment rating comment

Needs cites, but otherwise a B.

Want to help write or improve articles about Time? Join WikiProject Time or visit the Time Portal for a list of articles that need improving.
—Yamara ✉ 18:09, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion

News radio: The easiest method to access standard time is to listen to the news on radio. National radio news programs set their clocks to the transmissions from the standards departments of their respective countries. - This is an Opinion 70.251.161.12 17:01, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Name of this article

Aren't these usually called clock radios? Evertype 18:17, 17 April 2006 (UTC) - No

On a somewhat related matter, wouldn't the appropriate name for this article be "Radio-controlled clock"? I have never seen or heard of these devices refered to simply as "radio clock"--Kevin586 20:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

yes, these refer to radio controlled clocks. Clocks that update their time based on radio signals received. A clock radio is just a regular clock, with a radio attached.crd721

Actually, most radio clocks are sold as "atomic clocks". I check out the clocks in Target and WalMart, so I see that this is what they actually use to label these clocks. (See also the last paragraph in the introduction of atomic clock.) But I think that "radio clock" is acceptable. Val42 23:00, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Interoperability

I'm missing a clear statement whether or not a simple radio clock purchased in one country will work in the other. From reading the text I'd say rather not, but it doesn't say so.
Else it is written quite understandable - thinks Steffen.

I would say you are correct: simpler radio clocks I have seen (in north america) have options that only account for the four time zones that run through it. I have seen some radio clocks and wrist watches that claim to adjust themselves for any time zone one might travel to. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kevin586 (talk • contribs) 23:45, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

I have a radio clock that I can (manually) set to any time zone, and then -- if it can detect WWVB -- it will automatically adjust the minutes and seconds appropriately.

So it will work in any country (as long as I manually set the time zone appropriately), as long as I bring it back to somewhere where it can detect WWVB once a week or so for it to re-synchronize.

But the article needs to answer the following question:

Will a clock designed to listen to WWVB work if I leave it in Germany where it can only hear the DCF77 broadcast? is the DCF77 broadcast "compatible enough" with the WWVB protocol (at least the "minutes" and "seconds" parts) so that clock will continue to work? --68.0.124.33 (talk) 00:11, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Performance

The "Performance" section seems to bring up a few relevant issues (for example, the need to orient a clock in a window properly, and the necessity of setting the time zone) and many irrelevant ones (like the supposed unavailability of tech support for these clocks), but uses a very sarcastic tone:

A typical radio clock will be accurate to the millisecond but may be off by an hour or two, because the user failed to understand the manual. These range from a single sheet of paper, folded twice, to a booklet the size of a business card and 100 pages (50 leaves) long, in both English and Spanish. In most cases, the timepiece was designed by highly-skilled engiteers using specifications published by the NIST, then manufactured in the Far East, usually China. Design parameters are highly subject to cost constraints, which limit the number of chips and the number of switches, or buttons: in general, it is cheaper to have five buttons and 5! (30) modes than to have 30 buttons and one mode. The resulting state-machine diagrams are so complex that the engineers can barely understand them. The engineers then pass on their specifications to technical writers, who may or may not be fluent in English, and are not allowed to replicate the engineers' diagrams, lest the user understand the complexity of the clock's design. A user who doesn't understand may try to cotact the manufacturer, but they will never reach a person who can answer the question: the engineer speaks only Mandarin and never answers the phone, and there is "no" Technical Support department.

This ought to be rolled back, or heavily edited. I will roll it back if no one steps up to edit it. ThinkingInBinary 01:14, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] oscillator

The article currently correctly points out that "No GPS receiver directly computes time or frequency, rather they use GPS to discipline an oscillator".

However, my understanding is that *every* radio clock (and NTP) does the same thing, so it is misleading to imply that *only* GPS receivers do this.

All radio clocks including GPS (and also NTP) use a local oscillator to maintain an approximate time, then use the received signal to either (a) adjust the oscillator clock frequency (directly, or indirectly by adjusting the clock divider), or (b) force the counter to the correct time, then continue to use the oscillator to increment the time, or (c) both.

Or is there some subtlety that I am missing, or some other kind of clock that somehow works differently? --68.0.124.33 (talk) 00:11, 2 March 2008 (UTC)