In article , Andy Hall
writes
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 15:15:11 +0100, "Mark"
wrote:

How do these Radio controlled clocks supposed to work? I today bought a
cheap LCD rc alarm clock from Littlewoods but can't get the clock to
automatically update to the correct time. The instructions say the clock
updates itself at certain times of the day from the the signal via a
transmitter in Rugby. There's also a manual "receive" button to start
receiving the signal immediately if required (or as soon as the
batteries are inserted). The "receive" indicator will flash for about 8
minutes but then goes out without updating the clock. I thought perhaps
I may have bought a faulty clock so took it back and swapped it for
another one but the same thing is happening. It's been about 3 hours now
and still no correct time. Any ideas welcome?

The MSF transmitter at Rugby provides a time signal service on a very
low (60kHz) frequency from a highly accurate atomic clock.

IIRC, the time data are transmitted once per minute so it should not
take more than a couple of minutes for the clock to synchronise. It's
up to the clock to decide how it uses the signal, and it may choose to
compare successive time codes before changing anything to reduce the
risk that interference affects the setting.

I have got an Oregon Scientific MSF alarm clock, and it will only pick
up MSF in certain areas of the house. My bedside table is a place it
does not work! 10cm either way and it works. I would try leaving it in
different places in the house, you will probably find the place you have
it now is in an MSF "dead spot" or there is too much interference there.
--
Tim Mitchell