[GreenKeys] Western Union Time

[Doug Alderdice]

Another possible solution, though will require some soldering iron work, 
are the little one-board GPS receivers like the Motorola Oncore and 
Rockwell Jupiter.  You can often find them at the e-place for $10 or 
so.  Those receivers have, among other outputs, a 1 PPS output, and of 
course the GPS time is locked to the satellites, which is locked to 
NIST.  A little external circuitry in the form of either a TTL counter or a 
microcontroller programmed to count an hour's worth of 1 PPS pulses from 
the GPS rx and use that to fire your synch pulse.  I did something kinda 
similar for an old IBM time clock I have that requires 1 PPM to advance the 
clock each minute, I programmed a PIC chip to look at the power line freq 
and count accordingly for a minute and fire the clock solenoid.  Not NIST 
in that case, but close enough for my uses.

73,

Doug, KA2WFT



At 02:03 PM 3/1/2011 -0500, Bruce Gentry wrote:
>Randy and Sherry Guttery wrote:
> > On 3/1/2011 9:49 AM, Larry Tighe wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Folks,
> >>
> >> Slightly "off topic" but very much Western Union (the folks who had all
> >> those teletypes) I have a collection of WU clocks.  They were made by the
> >> Self Winding Clock Co. of NYC.  WU sent a pulse every hour to a 
> solenoid in
> >> the clock that pulled the minute and second hand straight up.
> >>
> >> I wrote to the NIST who opereate WWV et.al. from their time site...
> >> http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java  ....asking if 
> there is a
> >> way to use their web site to get that hourly correction pulse for my 
> clocks.
> >> Mike Lombardi wrote back that they don't have the 1 KHz correction 
> pulse on
> >> the internet site that is on WWV et. al. on the hour.
> >>
> >> I know some of the nerds
> >>
> > Nerds...  Well!  if that's the best "please" you can
> > muster...  go fish!
> >
> >
> >> BTW, Mike (at NIST) asked if I know anything about "radio
> >>
> > controlled
> >
> >> clocks"...which I've never heard of...anyone here that
> >>
> > can comment on these?
> >
> > Look for Sky Scan   this is the one I have:
> >
> > http://www.skyscaninfo.com/content/manuals/26-model-86722alu.html
> >
> > While one of their first - is still available (they've
> > discontinued about 20+ models over the years).
> >
> > Anyway - most Skyscan clocks run from around $10.00 -
> > $30.00 depending on features.
> >
> > There are others, of course.
> >
> > At one time Skyscan made one for computers (i.e. USB
> > interface) - but I think it's also now discontinued.
> >
> > Then there is this:
> > http://www.meinberg.de/english/products/wwvb51usb.htm
> >
> > No idea the cost - but you should - or a nerd buddy - should
> > be able to get any "time" out of it you want...
> >
> > Nerd, eh...  hhharumph!
> >
> > best
> >
> >
>I am a nerd, geek, and Gleek (powerful enthusiast for the TV show"Glee")
>too. I wear them all with pride!     Bruce Gentry  KA2IVY