[ntp:questions] Building/cannabalizing a WWVB radioclock...
Pete Stephenson
pete+usenet at heypete.com
Fri Aug 3 19:57:24 UTC 2007
In article <46B34E92.6020407 at comcast.net>,
"Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> wrote:
> WWVB radio circuits come in all sizes and shapes and may use anything
> from the technology of the 1940s and 50s to "state of the art" solid
> state devices.
Indeed. Perhaps that was a poor question for me to ask. :)
> Measure it!!!!
I'll see if I can head to the university's electronics shop today to see
if I can borrow some of their equipment.
> D cells would probably die of old age before the active ingredients were
> consumed. I've been running a WWVB wall clock on the same pair of AA
> batteries for 3-1/2 years now!
Lucky! This clock lasts about 6 months between changes of the batteries
(standard Duracell batteries, no lithium or other fancy stuff).
> In large parts of the world, the WWVB signal is available only during
> the hours of darkness! In some parts of the world the signal is not
> available at all! The clock synchs up whenever it has a usable signal.
I'm in Arizona, a mere ~1,000km from the transmitter. WWVB signal is
received on a constant basis by the University of Arizona time guy. My
WWVB radio clock syncs during the daytime without any problems...there
might be a few periods when it's not being received that I don't know
about, as the clock only checks periodically.
> Do you have a useable signal 24x7x365? If not, your clock is going to
> be "free running" from 8-14 hours per day.
I believe so. It's presently 1:00pm local time and the sun is quite
intense outside. I disconnected the batteries on the wall clock,
reconnected them, and is indicating "full strength" on it's screen (the
exact strength, I have no idea, I'm just going off of it's indicator)
and has set itself to the proper time.
--
Pete Stephenson
HeyPete.com
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