[ARC5] NSS Cutler, ME

[Tim]

Good stuff Roy - Thanks!
Question:  Is time digital or analog?


On Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 11:06 AM, Roy Morgan <k1lky68 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> On Nov 27, 2013, at 11:57 AM, D C _Mac_ Macdonald <k2gkk at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Were time signals (ala WWV) once sent from a "Naval Observatory?"  Was
> that once the location of WWV?
>
> I’m not sure about radio transmissions from the Naval Observatory.  It’s
> possible that time signals from the Observatory went by wire to the NBS/WWV
> site which was not far away at that time.  As I have been writing this,
> Richard reports hearing time signals on NSS from Annapolis.  Most likely
> there was a wire from the DC observatory headquarters over to Annapolis.
>  And Mac reports hearing the voice time announcement. To See USNO time:
>
> Main Navy Time link:
> http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/  Click “Time” for the choices
>
> Simple web page numerical display:
> http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/simpletime.html
>
> Animated GIF window:
> http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/what1.html
>
> The voice by telephone service:
> Time Voice Announcer, Washington, DC:           202-762-1401 &
> 202-762-1069
> Time Voice Announcer, Colorado Springs, CO:     719-567-6742
>
> The Naval Observatory is in two places in DC.  The headquarters is within
> sight of the Lincoln Memorial at the west end of the Mall.  The mechanical
> clocks for Navy standard time were there, and the more modern physics-based
> ones may still be.  The astronomical observatory was a few miles (maybe 4
> miles) off to the North, still within the District of Columbia I think.
>  The US Vice Presidents residence is there.  There the now-ancient 24 (?)
> inch refractor telescope is still in operating condition, and the “Transit
> Telescope” is also.  This latter was still in use in the late 80’s when I
> visited there.  It is precisely fixed in rotation in east-west angle but
> moves easily in elevation.  We watched the observer lie underneath it on a
> mechanics-like dolly and swing the telescope to watch a star transit the
> scope’s center line, and push a button at the right instant.  That time
> mark, combined with much accurate calculation, and many more like it,
> establishes the sidereal time.  As I understand it, sidereal time wanders a
> bit with respect to UTC (or NIST-A) time but is still used for some things.
>  More info is at:   http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/sidereal.html       “…
> Astronomers use local sidereal time because it corresponds to the
> coordinate right ascension of a celestial body that is presently on the
> local meridian.” One of the very early transit telescopes was/is located in
> now-suburban Maryland in Rockville.  The building is still there, but I
> don’t know if the instrument is.
>
> The division of responsibility for time keeping is roughly:  Military
> purposes, Naval Observatory.  Civilian and international purposes:
> NIST/WWV.  Naturally, the two organizations coordinate with each other.
>
> During  the early years, the WWV time broadcasts came from Greenbelt, MD,
> just to the NE of the District.  That all moved to Boulder CO, (in the
> early 60’s I think).  I remember hearing the time broadcasts from
> Greenbelt, and have visited the Boulder facility.  At the time of the
> visit, there were three Master Clocks, made by HP I think, in operation  I
> think there is a compare and vote system to eliminate one if it messes up.
>  the voice that announces the time (and other things) is now solid state
> memory/playback, but it used to be a drum magnetic recorder that was played
> automatically.
>
> The NIST Time and Frequency Division is part of the NIST Physics
> Laboratory.  The research and development of newer time standards goes on
> at Boulder.  When I was there they had become able to get the “Fountain
> Clock” to operate for some 20 minutes before it quit.  No doubt by now
> the’ve made considerable progress.  The “Fountain Clock” was calculated to
> develop an error of a second in some gad zillions of years.  It’s quite
> possible that we won’t be here to notice the error.
>
> Time is a most interesting topic.
>
> Roy
>
> Roy Morgan
> RoyMorgan at alum.mit.edu
> K1LKY Since 1958
>
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