Reply With QuoteBrilliant - id read about these - seems pretty simple to make- I know there are a few places that a reception cannot be received
I bought the Citizen PMD56-2951 back in September and set it manually to the correct time. Since then it gained approx 30 seconds (in 6 months) which isn't too bad. However, one of the features of this watch is the radio synch, which works in Japan but not here. For some years there's been an iphone app JJY simulator that will work by emitting high frequency sound through speakers, and more recently a similar android app was launched. As I didn't have an iphone I had to wait for the new app, and I thought I'd give it a go.
After downloading and trying through headphones, it wouldn't work. So, after a little research, I learnt that a simple amplifier could be made with a bit of speaker cable and a 3.5mm stereo jack.
I took a 5m length of speaker cable and seperated the two (left & right) cables then joined them to make a single length of 10m. I then wound this cable round a bottle, leaving enough space in the middle to fit the watch and bound the coil with tape to stop it unwinding. Next I took a spare male to male 3.5mm stereo adapter and cut it in half (and chucked one half). I then stripped and joined the two insulated cables, and attached this to one of the protruding coil ends. The outer insulator braid on the 3.5mm jack cable was then joined to the other end of the coil cable. All exposed wires then bound with tape. Hey presto, one antenna for amplifying my JJY signal.
I plugged it in, and it worked 1st time. Now I can update my watch without having to unscrew the crown.
Apparently this would also work with G-Shocks and other radio controlled watches.
Note; I think the app works by transmitting the time on your phone, so make sure that is set correctly before you begin.
Brilliant - id read about these - seems pretty simple to make- I know there are a few places that a reception cannot be received
...like here. Very useful info MoK, thanks for sharing. I'm going to give it a try.Originally Posted by lewie
Any use...link?
Very enterprising! Don't have an RC watch but I applaud your ingenuity.
Thanks very much for posting about this.
I also have a citizen radio controlled with no chance of getting a signal out here in Mexico.
Interestingly, my G-shock picks up a signal from the USA (Fort Worthh, I think) with no problem.
When I was experimenting with this earlier I noticed that my G-6900-1D had synchronised to Fort Worth during a February trip to Villa de Leyva which is only 100 miles north of Bogotá but far less protected by the mountains. The watch has never successfully picked up the signal at home.
Last edited by Mr Curta; 24th March 2018 at 18:01.
As I rarely browse on a PC I assume this has a link to a signal emitter, which will be similar to the phone apps.
The question has to be asked as to why Citizen didn't (and don't) make all their radio watches multiband, just like Casio.
Indeed it is...and it opens OK in the Chrome browser on my Android phone.
Ahh, yes, I had the volume down. So, if you plug the antenna (or headphones) into the headphone socket with that page open it'll work the same as the app.
Reception ability must depend a lot on local topography. I live up on the Bajio, a pretty flat area but high, approx 1800 metres which I guess would help to get a good signal.
Getting the Fort Worth signal that far south in Columbia is pretty good and I see that your elevation is even higher.
How do you mean? Seiko receives the time signal at multiple frequencies and Citizen only uses one particular frequency? Getting into the different propagation and strength of radio signals is complicated stuff!The question has to be asked as to why Citizen didn't (and don't) make all their radio watches multiband, just like Casio.
Correction to my earlier post, it is Fort Collins in the USA.
Oh yes, so it is, teach me to blindly copy
I've also tried to synch at high altitude in Peru and Bolivia but I think that they are just too far south, regardless of topography.
My Citizen is built to only receive the Japanese signal. My multiband g-shocks can synch with 6 transmitters.
Have a look at this link: Where They Work...and the rest of that site.Oh yes, so it is, teach me to blindly copy
I've also tried to synch at high altitude in Peru and Bolivia but I think that they are just too far south, regardless of topography.
Yes, I've been working from those 100µV/m maps. There are some small patches of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and even Chile that potentially receive a signal overnight but so far Villa de Leyva in Colombia is the only place that I've been successful in South America (at 03:04am on 14 February). I've not tried in Venezuela yet so I'm going to take the G-6900 on my next trip to Caracas, however I think that the surrounding hills are likely to be an issue.
This might be a stupid question but if you sync to a USA time signal does the watch end up set to the time zone the transmitter is in rather than local time?
Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app
The time is set according to the time zone set on watch.
There's some discussion on an example of a passive induction device that Citizen used to supply in the middle part of this thread - http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...=1#post4288540
Just older tech, although very modern at the time of release with both radio control, solar, and a metal case. This long-selling Citizen model was released in early 2007, for the Japan market. The first multiband 6 watch by Casio (plastic case) was released in 2008 (multiband 5 in a metal case was late 2006).
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