RADIO CONTROLLED CLOCKS | WATCHES

Atomic Clocks are the most accurate timekeeping devices developed by man. Modern Atomic Clocks are so accurate that even in 100 million years less than a second of time would be lost.

This accuracy makes them ideal references for a NTP server (Network Time Protocol). NTP is a protocol widely used to synchronize computer networks across the Internet of local Area Network (LANs).

This article explains how to synchronise a computer network using NTP to an atomic clock source.

Atomic Clocks are so accurate that a universal timescale has been developed called UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) that is based on the time told by Atomic Clocks. UTC is globally used and is the same everywhere enabling different computer networks to be synchronized to the same time.

Unfortunately Atomic Clocks are hugely expensive, extremely delicate and quite bulky pieces of equipment, so they are only really to be found in large scale physical laboratories or in highly technical pieces of equipment such as satellites.

Fortunately a dedicated NTP server can synchronize to UTC time using an atomic clock as a reference source by either making us of the national time and frequency transmissions or the GPS (Global Positioning System) network.

Many national physics laboratories such as NPL in the UK, NPL in Germany and NIST in the USA, broadcast a UTC time reference on long wave radio transmission. These signals can be picked up by a NTP server using a radio receiver. Unfortunately the radio transmissions are not broadcast by every country and the signals are finite.

Fortunately the constellation of satellites that make up the USA’s GPS network all have an onboard atomic clock. This signal is used by satellite navigation receivers to work out location but can equally be used by a GPS NTP server as a timing source.

Using either a radio referenced NTP server or GPS time server, synchronization to within a few milliseconds of UTC is possible.

Richard N Williams is a technical author and specialist in Atomic Clocks, telecommunications, NTP and network time synchronisation helping to develop dedicated NTP clocks. Please visit us for more information about a network time server or other ntp server solutions.

With the innovation of the internet buying a desktop alarm clock has never been easier. Until recently there was only one way to get a desktop alarm clock – you had to go to a store and buy one. Not only you would have to select from a very limited number of desktop alarm clocks, but hopefully you will find one that would suit your tastes.

Well, the problem with this approach to buying yourself an alarm clock for you desktop is that you are not likely to find sufficient styles of timepieces at any one store except if you go in knowing exactly what it is that you want. For instance, you may have no problem to find a digital desktop alarm clock at one store, but there might be no good looking analog kind with the classical look that some people may prefer. Or, just maybe you might find yourself in the position of shopping at a more expensive boutique and only discover flashy desktop alarm clocks with silly fake pillars at the sides of them, whilst all you want is something to display the time and maybe wake you up in the morning with a horribly annoying ring that is impossible to ignore.

No matter what you want in a desktop alarm clock, it should be pretty easy to find one at the supermarket or even your local drug store. As a matter a fact, desktop alarm clocks are undoubtedly the easiest piece of electric gear, one can find anywhere – so you shouldn’t have a problem.

For those who are looking for a desktop alarm clock, I recommend getting one with a clock radio, as the sounds coming out from the other one are really annoying, and for sure you can start off in a bad mood! Of course, you should also think about what you want the desktop alarm clock for. Well if you would like one to travel, perhaps you will find one for lesser than 15 dollars, wherein these small desktop alarm clocks can be powered for quite some time on nothing more than a battery. On the other hand if you want something that will look nice in your room, however, the considerations are more comfortable.

Frankly speaking, I hardly ever use my desktop alarm clock now that I have an alarm clock on my computer desktop. To wake me up in the morning, it can play any of my mp3s in stead of having to put up with whatever is on the radio, or even worse that awful beeping that most desktop alarm clocks have. In my opinion I believe it will soon leave the traditional desktop alarm clock obsolete.

Time and attendance and clocking systems have moved on over the last few years from traditional punch clock cards to the latest biometric technology.

This might seem a bit extreme but companies loose millions on people being late, leaving early and what is known as ‘buddy clocking’ people clocking for other people. Biometric access control is growing quickly large organisation such as banks, airports etc tend to set the trend with this type of technology and I am sure if you go into any of these you will find some kind of biometric scanner whether it is clocking or access control or simply to log computers on/off.

What’s wrong with swipe cards or pin numbers you might ask, these can be copied or obtained covertly where as a biometric scan is a lot harder to copy in fact almost impossible.

When people hear biometric they instantly think of fingerprint technology but this is only one of several biometric systems.

Fingerprint is the most common and least expensive to implement in to any organisation, readers such as the iClock

take several pin point readings of ridges and dips in the fingerprint then using a complicated algorithm store these as an individual code. In most cases it is always a good practice to store more than one fingerprint code in the reader just in case a finger gets a cut or blemish on it which can affect the reading.

Other types such as hand recognition require big bulky readers. The terminal captures a three-dimensional image of the hand each time the employee places their hand in the reader. The hand’s size and the shape are used to verify their identity. These types of systems are almost double the cost of fingerprint systems. Face recognition is a growing technology but requires powerful computer processing is slow and is not as reliable as other biometric technologies but is improving as CCD cameras and software improves. Iris recognition which uses infrared to look at the pattern of blood vessels in the back of the eye is also a very fast growing biometric technology. Iris recognition is a secure system but again requires powerful processing and is slow to read with a high failure rate not very good for access control with a lot of traffic.

With all biometric systems the biggest battle of all when implementing them is how to win the confidence of the people who will be using them. They need to be reassured that the information will only be used for what it is intended and it is safe to use. This is probably the biggest stumbling block to over come when introducing biometric readers.

All of these biometric technologies have a place in today’s security and business’s but for time and attendance fingerprint technology is more than enough due to the low cost and reliability and for most security applications the dual method of fingerprint and card offers a very high level of access control. This is where a media card such as RFID (radio frequency Identification) and the fingerprint must tally together to gain access.

Using barcode technology is also widely used but has its problems the main one being the ability to clock other people in or out ‘buddy clocking’ obviously this can not be done if biometric readers are used. On a plus side for barcode over other media technology is the cost, as most barcodes 3 of 9, EAN, Code128 etc can be printed on most laser printers and then laminated creating a clock card or job card for a very little cost. Other media that can also be used for ‘buddy clocking’ are magstripe and proximity but these media cards are more expensive than barcodes. Magstripe can be produced in house but an expensive encoder and printer are required to produce a good quality card. RFID tags are purchased with a ID code already programmed into it, the benefit of this is it is more difficult to copy the tag and also the reader requires no optical or any contact with the media reducing any routine maintenance.

So which one to choose? Biometrics can be just as cheap and just as reliable as other media types but has limitations. Each has a place in today’s world if all you require is to clock employees in and out and low security access then fingerprint is the option low cost no media to produce or buy.

Andy McSaint has been a author for many technical manuals and case studies for Capture Services with over 20 years in the Shop Floor Data Capture Industry http://www.Clocking-Machine.com

Those chronological pioneers at NIST have teamed up with the University of Colorado and have developed the world’s most accurate atomic clock to date. The strontium based clock is nearly twice as accurate as the current caesium clocks used to govern UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) as it loses just a second every 300 million years.

Strontium based Atomic Clocks are now being seen as the way forward in timekeeping as higher levels of accuracy are attainable that are just not possible with the caesium atom. Strontium clocks, like their predecessors work by harnessing the natural yet highly consistent vibration of atoms.

However, these new generations of clocks use laser beams and extremely low temperatures close to absolute zero to control the atoms and it is hoped it is a step forward to creating a perfectly precise clock.

This extreme accuracy may seem a step too far and unnecessary but the uses for such precision are many fold and when you consider the technologies that have been developed that are based on the first generation of Atomic Clocks such as GPS navigation, NTP server synchronisation and digital broadcasting a new world of exciting technology based on these new clocks could just be around the corner.

While currently the world’s global timescale, UTC, is based on the time told by a constellation of caesium clocks (and incidentally so is t he definition of a second as just over 9 billion caesium ticks), it is thought that when the Consultative Committee for Time and Frequency at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) next meets it will discuss whether to make these next generation of Atomic Clocks the new standard.

However, strontium clocks are not the only method of highly precise time. Last year a quantum clock, also developed at NIST managed accuracy of 1 second in 1 billion years. However, this type of clock can’t be directly monitored and requires a more complex scheme to monitor the time.

Richard N Williams is a technical author and specialist in Atomic Clocks, telecommunications, NTP and network time synchronisation helping to develop dedicated NTP clocks. Please visit us for more information about an NTP server or other NTP time server solution.

As we all enjoy the vinyl record revival, there is another aspect to this phenomenon that sometimes gets overlooked: the forgotten 45 rpm records from years past. Sure, there are some mainstream artists, punk rockers and indie musicians who have found this audio medium to their liking, it is a marvelous way to not only give their fans what they want (the music), but also create a collectible as well.

Another medium from the past has gone through some major changes in recent years. Remember when AM radio dominated the air waves? And then another format in the 70′s added even more alternatives for music lovers -FM radio. Now we have satellite radio and another inventive medium, the Internet radio station.

One Internet radio station in particular has been able to combine the aforementioned 45 rpm records and the Internet to form Counter Clock Radio (http://www.live365.com/stations/counter_clock?play) and Counter Clock Records (http://stores.ebay.com/Counter-Clock-Records). The business is the brainchild of the wife and husband team of Jane and Norm Geddis of Mission Viejo, California who have developed a ‘play what we find’ programming style that is very unique and allows their listeners an eclectic array of music genres to listen to. I had the opportunity to speak with the developers of this novel concept, let’s learn more about Counter Clock Records and Counter Clock Radio:

Obviously you have a love for vinyl- what is it about records that make them so appealing to you?

Norm: “They’re round, like wheels. It’s by far the best use of man’s first invention. CD’s never felt quite the same. Downloads are radio plus labor. I’m a decade past being impressed with myself for getting software to work after an evening playing around with my computer.”

Jane: “I like the built-in nostalgia value of vinyl – whether it’s a 1964 Top 40 one-hit wonder or a super rare Private Press Psych LP. It felt like a part of me died and was buried when CD’s became the standard. With downloads, it’s like the moss has grown over the headstones.”

How long have you been online/ selling on ebay and what are your thoughts about the fee changes and the overall operations of this online giant?

Norm: “We started Counter-Clock Records in July of ’07. Or rather, I started selling on eBay about that time, just 45′s that I was done loving on, and then both us created the store and glued these other parts (blog and radio station) to it.”

“As far as those changes everyone talks about, I came into the middle of that and, speaking just for me, I’m a part of Counter-Clock Records. eBay is just the venue, the shopping center where our store is located. No matter where one has their store, there’s not a merchant on this planet, or likely any other, who isn’t complaining about the rents. It’s not a complaint I’m going to pass along to my customers.”

When did you decide to go ‘online’ with the Live365 radio station?

Norm: “The station has been running since March of ’07 which was several months before we opened the store.”

What kind of fan base do you have, what kind of records/music do you play?

Jane: “Our base is our customers who have found our station. The station is very close to exactly how we want it to be, with short music news segments and trivia, so now we have something unique and something we’re proud of. It’s time to let everyone know. We play what we find. I call the programming style Accidental Nostalgia.”

My readers love the “Top 5 vinyl record sales” feature each week. How long have you been doing this? Have you noticed any specific patterns- what sells the best (and who) and what is the most expensive record that you have ever documented on the list?

Norm: “I began the blog about the same time I started the radio station. The “store” so to speak began when I put a few records up on my eBay account in July of last year.”

“The most expensive record I’ve documented was the White Album that sold last week for $30k, which is saying a lot for vinyl collectibles in this economy. Unfortunately I flubbed that one and it got left off that week’s list. The seller had listed it in “Music Memorabilia” and I keep my eyes on the “Record” category. I also didn’t keep an eye on your blog that week, Robert, or I would have caught it – the problem of selling records and writing about them during the holiday season. So I did a mea culpa entry on that one so it makes it on the Record Store Day year-end list.”

I love listening to the station- your format and genres of music are very eclectic. Where do you get the music and how do you decide what you want to play?

Jane: “We buy collections from individuals, closed record stores, from eBay as well. Mostly the 45′s speak to me. By that I mean that when I look through a stack of records I sense what’s interesting, unusual, weird . . . just enjoyable. Norm has an encyclopedia of music history in his head, but if we just went on that alone we’d sound like tons of other stations. So clairvoyance plays its part.”

Do you have any plans to add DJ’s to the mix?

Jane: “A podcast is in the works. But it may not happen unless the Earth starts spinning slower.”

What are the future plans for the station and Counter Clock Records?

Norm: “Next year is going to be about more of everything. We have lots of inventory to love on and get out there to the world. The backbone of vinyl records is the community record store. The Internet cannot deliver that. Counter Clock Records is something to come home to, but not to replace the chill up your spine dirty tile smell of your record store.”

What do you think of the ‘vinyl revival’ and where do you see vinyl in the next ten years?

Jane: “I think the vinyl revival is great! I also think it was inevitable. Tens of millions of us who love vinyl are either retiring or have more time on our hands, and whether you have a little or a lot of money, there’s something for everyone. Plus, it seems that even though they’re not buying “our music,” young adults and teens are discovering that there is something more to vinyl than the downloads. And getting squeezed in the middle are CD’s. It seemed only a matter of time before these two groups converged and the music market opened up to let us back in.”

Norm: “I’m not a money guru and this isn’t investment advice. However, as my grandmother used to say during tough times, “there’ll always be somebody with money.” And, like during the seventies and early nineties, traditional investments are not attractive. Comic book values skyrocketed in the seventies, as with sports cards in the early nineties. I think it’s about to be vinyl’s day in the sun.”

Do you have a Top Ten list of your favorite 45′s and or favorite recording artists?

Jane: “I’ll do artists-Etta James, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, The Band, Bill Monroe, Renaissance, Mazzy Star, Opal, Joan Armatrading, CSNY.”

Norm: “45′s for me- Mixed Feelings “Sha La La”/”Love Will Find A Way,” Moody Blues “Go Now”/”Lose Your Money,” Small Faces “Itchycoo Park”/”I’m Only Dreaming,” Sandi Sheldon “You’re Gonna Make Me Love You”/”Baby You’re Mine,” Pink Floyd “Point Me At The Sky”/”Careful With That Axe Eugene,” Olivia Tremor Control “California Demise” EP, Hedgehoppers Anonymous “It’s Good News Week”/”Afraid Of Love,” Barbara Lewis “Baby I’m Yours”/”I Say Love,” Denny Laine “It’s So Easy”/Listen To Me”/”I’m Looking For Someone To Love,” The Intruders “Every Day Is A Holiday”/”Old Love” and probably a hundred others.”

So, if you are looking for some great old obscure rock and roll, one-hit wonders and soulful R&B, drop by Counter Clock Radio and Counter Clock Records and give them a spin. Your ears will love what you hear.

From the time of its introduction in the market, the radio clock has been constantly enhanced with new features and better technology. Let’s take the Sony CD Radio Clock, for example. This product comes in various models.

Some Basic Features

While looking for a product, first be clear of the basic features that you would like to have in your timepiece. Then look for those key features. Any radio clock would have either a LED or LCD display. There are models that come with or without power backup too.

The dual alarm system is another feature that can be useful if you have more than one important time to be set as reminder. The extendable snooze enables you to extend your reminder time without having to reset your alarm. There are also products that give you the freedom of setting your own time limit for the snooze facility.

Musically Speaking

When it comes to the radio part of the gadget, the tuner is an important aspect. Though most of them are digital in nature, there are models with analogues tuners that are also available in the market. Digital tuners can be used to tune into specific radio stations. Analogue tuners usually have a dial and may sometimes not be able to lock into a specific station.

Apart from the radio this product also has the features of the compact disk player incorporated into it. While some models come with a readable compact disk drive, there are the others that come with read-write option. For those who like it loud and clear, look for one with a mega bass feature. Other features include the repeat function, the shuffle option and the wake up track that enables you to wake up to an audio recording of your choice.

You must also check the availability of volume control option, the speaker type, size and the speaker power. Remember an important aspect to look for while choosing a CD Radio Clock would be the sound quality.

Visit CORE online to get free access to more information on shopping for clock radios.

Bruce D Hunter

Precision Radio Controlled Cube Weather Station

Alba Watchtime Wall Clock Radiocontrolled with Plastic Lens

Mankind has always been preoccupied with measuring and recording the passage of time. Timekeeping has been essential for the development of civilisations; from knowing when to plant or harvest crops to identifying important events in the year.

Time has historically been measured in relation to the movement of the Earth; a day, is one revolution of the planet; while a year is an entire orbit of the Sun. Calendars were developed from as far back as 20,000 years ago when hunter-gatherers scratched lines and gouged holes in sticks and bones to possibly count the days between phases of the moon.

Civilizations from the Ancient Egyptians to the Roman Empire have used differing methods to discover what day of the year it is. However, measuring time as it passed throughout the day had always proved difficult to early mankind. Sundials were perhaps the first time pieces and they can trace their origin back over five thousand years; when obelisks were built, possibly to allow the telling of time by the cast of their shadows.

However, the time told on a sundial was based on the movement of the sun in the sky, which would differ throughout the seasons and of course would not work on cloudy days or at night. Other methods such as water clocks or the hourglass would simply act as crude timers. Telling the time of day would prove difficult with people relying on comparisons as time references such as: “As long as it would take a man to walk a quarter mile.”

People were reliant on these methods and others such as bell ringing to indicate important moments until the 14th century, when mechanical clocks first appeared which were driven by weight and regulated by a verge-and-foliot escapement (a gear system that advancing the gear train at regular intervals or ‘ticks’). These clocks were far more reliable than sundials or other methods allowing accurate and reliable telling of the time of day for the first time in human history.

The next step forward in horology came in the 17th century when the pendulum was developed to help clocks maintain their accuracy. Clock making soon became widespread and it was not for another three hundred years that the next revolutionary step in horology would take place; with the development of electronic clocks. These were based on the movement of a vibrating crystal (usually quartz) to create an electric signal with an exact frequency.

While electronic clocks were far more accurate than mechanical clocks it wasn’t until the development of Atomic Clocks and around fifty years ago that modern technologies such as communication satellites, GPS and global computer networks became possible.

Most Atomic Clocks use the resonance of the atom caesium-133 which vibrates exactly at a frequency of 9,192,631,770 every second. Since 1967 the International System of Units (SI) has defined the second as that number of cycles from this atom which makes Atomic Clocks (sometimes called caesium oscillators) the standard for time measurements.

Atomic Clocks are accurate to less than 2 nanoseconds per day, which equates to about one second in 1.4 million years. Because of this accuracy, a universal time scale UTC (Coordinated Universal Time or Temps Universel Coordonné) has been developed that maintains a continuous and stable time scale and supports such features as leap seconds – added to compensate for the slowing of the Earth’s rotation.

However, Atomic Clocks are extremely expensive and are generally only to be found in large-scale physics laboratories. However, NTP servers (Network Time Protocol), the standard means for achieving time synchronisation on computer networks, can synchronise networks to an atomic clock by using either the Global Positioning System (GPS) network or specialist radio transmissions.

The development of Atomic Clocks, GPS and NTP time servers has been vital for modern technologies, allowing computer networks all over the world to be synchronized to UTC.

Copyright 2008 © Richard N Williams
Richard N Williams is a technical author and a specialist in the telecommunications and network time synchronisation industry helping to develop dedicated time server products; ethernet clocks, GPS time servers, NTP servers, digital wall clocks, atomic clock servers and SNTP time servers. Please visit us for more information about NTP products and NTP servers This article may be republished and reprinted in its complete form or in part without seeking permission providing a relevant link to this site is maintained. It is a violation of copyright law to reprint or publish this content without following these terms.

Among the many types of radio clocks is the AM/FM Radio Clock. The basic models of this clock are less complicated compared to their hi-tech counterparts.

Basically, Sony AM FM Radio Clock is a radio with an AM/FM tuner and features of an alarm clock. It is ideal for those who prefer simple technology. There are different models that you can choose from. Let’s take a look at them.

Choose Your Pick

A simple model comes with an analogue tuner. It has a green LED with variable brightness control that allows you to decrease or increase the brightness as per your convenience. This stylish and compact model has a large display panel and includes features like a single alarm with 3 modes of alarm with super loud setting. It has a snooze bar that is easy to handle and a single 9V battery with full power back-up. You also have the option of 5 AM, 10 FM station memory presets.

For those who want more features, there is another model which has an analogue tuner. It has a backlit LCD with brightness control. It also has a nap timer, the convenience of dual alarm and a snooze facility of 10 minutes interval upto an hour. Other attributes include a mono type speaker, power backup and memory preset of 15 stations.

If you find the analog tuner cumbersome, the model with an AM/FM digital tuner might be a better choice for you. It has a 200 Wm speaker output. It also has an extendable snooze facility, sleep timer, dual alarm with an alarm pattern of 5 melodies and 2 buzzers. Its comes with Automatic Time Set facility, With D.S.T./Summer Time Button. You have the option of Automatic DST/ST adjustment, as well. The display panel also offers date display. The product has a built-in lithium battery.

The price of Sony Am Fm Radio Clock models range somewhere between $20 and $40. A balanced view of the features and the price tag will enable you to choose the right clock for yourself.

Visit CORE online to get free access to more information on shopping for sony clock radios.

Bruce D Hunter