Understanding How Radio Controlled Clocks Function
Radio controlled clocks are terribly convenient to own as they’ll always show the proper time provided that they are working properly. They automatically reset themselves when turned on, and synchronize their time with that of the Atomic Clock in Colorado. Radio controlled clocks have an internal radio receiver that decodes the time setting messages that are broadcast from the controlling radio station. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found in Colorado runs a radio station called WWVB that it uses to broadcast time codes to all radio controlled clocks found anywhere in Northern America. The time codes are derived from the atomic clock based in the same station.
The whole process uses easy technology compared to the more complicated radio and TV broadcasts. WWVB radio station sends out the time codes in the guise of Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) which is one of the simplest formats. At a speed of one bit per 2nd, the information transmission rate is really slow. As a result, it takes a full minute to send out one time code. The time code indicates all of the mandatory info like seconds, minutes and hours in addition to the day of the year, light saving some time and leap years.
The broadcast station WWVB uses a high transmitter power of Fifty thousand watts and a very dynamic antenna to broadcast time codes at a highly low frequency of 60,000 Hz. This frequency range provides stable long wave radio trails that make allowance for broadcasts to a radius of nearly 2k miles. At such low frequencies, the radio waves follow the curvature of the earth for long distances. The earth and the ionosphere act as wave guides for these radio waves. As long as long-wave radio reception is undisturbed, it is feasible for the signal to be received anywhere in Northern America.
The radio controlled clocks sometimes contain a highly tiny but easy antenna and receiver that decodes the signal and proceeds to set time accurately on the clock. All the owner has to do is to set the time zone properly. WWVB radio station broadcasts the time as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) so an easy adjustment might be required. Thanks to the slow nature of the signals, radio-controlled clocks take more than a minute to reset themselves after being turned on. This delay can even take almost 5 minutes or even more dependent on the signal quality and receiver design.
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