[Boatanchors] OT: Guess I need a new clock for the shack, the old one's 'obsolete' :(

[w5jo at brightok.net]

Hi Phil,

I just read the NIST site and did not find anything about changing the 60 
Kcy signal in the Help with Radio Controlled Clocks page.  They simply state 
if there is a problem then reception might be bad, it takes about a minute 
for a clock to sync with WWVB and they said that if it changes and should 
not, reception may be bad, the same if the clock does not change when it 
should.  The time code is sent at 1 bit per second on WWVB but they don't 
say what is sent to change from ST to DT.

All my clocks are old like me, and recently propagation on 60 Kcy has not 
been optimal, nor has 10 megacycles so my clocks have had problems.  Come 
Nov. 6 we will see if the two I have that has that option will change as 
they have in the past.  I have one digital clock that is going on over 35 
years sold by MFJ.  I don't recall what I paid then, but comparatively it 
was a bunch, as I recall near $50.  It just keeps on ticking but is 
completely manual adjustment when out of sync and, of course, does not 
change when DST/DST change comes along.

I recently purchased a Pulsar Railroad Certified wrist watch which is 
nothing more than a quartz clock, completely manual.  I laughed up my sleeve 
at customer reviews, many saying it did not sync with WWV and the date did 
not change properly in months that have only 30 days.  Not only do we have a 
bunch of people who do not read, but they have a big problem understanding 
what they buy.  Also they bought knock offs which were not accurate at all.

I am curious where you found that information about changing the modulation?

Jim
W5JO

-----Original Message----- 

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 10:56 AM, Phil <ko6bb1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, for quite some time now the shack clock has 'synced' exactly 12
> hours fast.  That is, 8:00AM shows as 8:00PM.  No big deal (I have it set
> for 12:00 display) except that half a day each day the date and day 
> display
> also is bonkers.  Also, the daylight savings time feature doesn't display
> (I can manually set it, but when it syncs it goes away). . .
>
> At first I thought that the 60kHz receiver may have died and it's not
> syncing each night, but that's NOT the case.  It seems that NIST changed
> their format just enough (adding phase modulation as well as Amplitude
> modulation) to make many, if not all older 'atomic' clocks obsolete.  They
> even say so on their web site.
>
> It's a very nice large clock,  displaying room temperature, day, date and
> time.  Oh well, I only paid a little over $20 for it many years ago (maybe
> 15 years?).  Guess I got my service out of it. After all, it's only money
> (which I don't have a lot of, LOL).
>
> --
> 73 de Phil, KO6BB.