I have written to the BBC asking them to include running seconds on the clock at the bottom of the BBC News Channel screen.
Don't know if they will take any notice but I thought it might be helpful when setting our watches.
I have written to the BBC asking them to include running seconds on the clock at the bottom of the BBC News Channel screen.
Don't know if they will take any notice but I thought it might be helpful when setting our watches.
time.is
You might be disappointed to discover that TV time is not accurate. In Slovenia at least, the teletext clock is around 8 seconds behind and the TV news clock is not even locked to it most of the time. The lag used to be less before the switch to DBV-T, but I find that analogue radio is still can't be beat.
Mariners used to set watches on the pips after listening to the shipping forecast but now it's all gone digital, the accuracy of the pips has gone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Time_Signal
Which reminds me of the excellent book called Longtitude by Dava Sobel. It demonstrates the relationship between time, the celest and navigation around the world. The clue to solving the problem was the need to build an accurate clock. Very interesting reading. There is a documentary too.
I'm currently reading this.Originally Posted by broxie
Yeah this would never be possible due to the lag in various transmission methods.
This.
I live around the corner from a pub that shows the World Cup.
On Saturday, England scored and I got up, walked through my kitchen and out into the garden (OK, it's not a long way, but not just a step or two) and started to move my lawnmower to put it back in the shed. Only then the did pub erupt into cheering.
I can only presume the Sky broadcast there was 5-10 seconds behind the already slightly delayed Virgin service I watched on!
Unless of course everyone in the pub was so addled with drink or basic stupidity that it took that long to register the goal!
M
The best accuracy that you will get from the BBC is from the pips on Radio 4 longwave.
time.is is usually a little bit off, but mostly less than a second.
I've just compared a freshly synced radio controlled clock with the GPS Clock phone app. The GPS clock is about half a second behind. time.is is very slightly ahead of the radio clock.
Oh my.
Last edited by Cornholio; 11th July 2018 at 19:33.
I'm off to look for a DCF77 powered watch ;-0
Brilliant book.
These days, a mechanical watch is viewed by many as an unnecessary anachronism, and accuracy is sometimes dismissed because “who was ever 10 seconds late for a meeting?”, but in prior times an accurate timepiece was all that stopped lost ships from wrecking themselves aground, or trains accidentally on the same track smashing into one-another.
For my own part, when I need a reference time-check, Time.is or my 9F Quartz Grand Seiko are sufficient.
App this app that, website etc. etc.
This might be old school, but what's wrong with simply ringing the speaking clock? Accurate simple and free
I believe that it isn’t free any more!
Or 45p per minute.....
And they'd need to make allowances for the slight differences between Sky, Virgin, streaming online and council TV.
Ooft. This is all too complicated. So the time on ceefax and teletext 30 years ago was more reliable?!
I would have thought that even if the News Channel clock is not showing absolutely correct time, it would be stable. So in other words if it showed running seconds, then over say 24 hours one could judge the accuracy of one's watches against it.
If it’s not accurate they shouldn’t show it.
^^^ "Fake news."
Yep broadcast media is not quite "live" any more in the digital age. My Amazon Dot BBC 5 Live radio stream is about 40 seconds behind MW. DAB radio about 30 seconds behind. Freeview, different again though I can't quite remember the particular margin of difference.
The pips have become pointless except to analogue radio listeners. But atomic radio-synchronised clocks are cheap and spot on. So (usually) are computers that use NTP.
I use the time bit on the Watchville app.
How accurate is that then? It says atomic time synced..
Even Hawaii wasn't near where they thought it was when GPS was invented and the Americans turned the wobble off.
I’ve an atomic G Shock and an atomic alarm clock; they’re two seconds apart.
Not that it matters as I don’t live my life to the second (or minute for that matter)!
Is it still sponsored?
I must admit, I've not called the speaking clock since 1978!
M
Watchville for me as well, I am thinking of getting a gshock as well, my son has one and the time on his is the same as watchville.
Scottie
Why...? Do you really worry that your watch might be 5-10 seconds out from the atomic clock?
Some really do, I'm happy enough if it's within the minute
Tried it, nope. Just tells you the time.Is it still sponsored?
I must admit, I've not called the speaking clock since 1978!
M
IIRC it used to be "The time sponsored by Accurist will be....."
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