I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

---MIKE--- wrote:
I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

Does it have a little picture of a dish antenna on it? When you
plugged it in did it go crazy and start spinning rapidly? If so
it receives the time code from the NIST time transmitter in Boulder, CO.
However, there are some that have been set at the factory and they
have a battery back up time chip in them so that the time is correct
from the start. Supposedly you never have to set these, but they
are standard quartz movements that won't keep the correct time forever.
I prefer the ones that set themselves to the NIST transmissions.

Bill

---MIKE--- wrote:
I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')


Probably. I have two clocks like this and a watch, all battery
operated, but you have to set them to your time zone. They are set by
transmitted atomic clock signals and time is exact.

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:10:42 -0500, Frank
wrote:

---MIKE--- wrote:
I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')


Probably. I have two clocks like this and a watch, all battery
operated, but you have to set them to your time zone. They are set by
transmitted atomic clock signals and time is exact.

On it's way from China it went through Rome. The Pope blessed it, so
it was set according to God. Since God is always right, so is the
time. Now you know !!!!

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:36:47 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:

I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')


I have seen both radio signal and pre-set internal battery
powered clocks. It might be either.

wrote:
....

I have seen both radio signal and pre-set internal battery
powered clocks. It might be either.

How did they know which time zone to preset it to????

--

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:36:47 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:

I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')


I looked at several clocks in Walmart yesterday. Three were
"radio-controlled" clocks," which is very nice for accuracy, power
outages and daylight Savings Time changes. Take a look here...

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com...uestion461.htm

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:19:16 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:36:47 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:

I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')


I have seen both radio signal and pre-set internal battery
powered clocks. It might be either.

I have a couple of clocks that run through the displays on power up,
as if they set the time automatically. Only one of them (then one
that's a clock-radio) actually does. The other uses a little battery
to keep time.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:31:06 -0600, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...

I have seen both radio signal and pre-set internal battery
powered clocks. It might be either.

How did they know which time zone to preset it to????

And how does it deal with Daylight Savings on and off?

On Feb 20, 9:09*am, BillGill wrote:
---MIKE--- wrote:
I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. *How does it do
this? *Does it pick up a radio signal? *The clock works perfectly. *I am
just curious.

* * * * * * * * * ---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
* (44° 15' *N - Elevation 1580')

Does it have a little picture of a dish antenna on it? *When you
plugged it in did it go crazy and start spinning rapidly? *If so
it receives the time code from the NIST time transmitter in Boulder, CO.
However, there are some that have been set at the factory and they
have a battery back up time chip in them so that the time is correct
from the start. *Supposedly you never have to set these, but they
are standard quartz movements that won't keep the correct time forever.
I prefer the ones that set themselves to the NIST transmissions.

Bill

Are some of the more modern ones made using quartz crystals for their
regular timekeeping functions (as opposed to being synchronized with
the AC mains?) reason I ask is that I have never had a plug-in alarm
clock that has kept anything resembling accurate time when running on
battery backup - an outage lasting more than an hour or two will
result in the clock being wildly off. The way that this was explained
to me was that they generally got their timekeeping signal from the
60Hz AC power and only used the quartz oscillator when the power went
out, and that plug-in alarm clocks generally used the cheapest
oscillators (possibly ones that were rejected for use in wris****ches
or other battery operated devices?)

nate

On Feb 20, 2:30*pm, wrote:
On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:31:06 -0600, dpb wrote:
wrote:
...

* * * *I have seen both radio signal and pre-set internal battery
powered clocks. *It might be either. *

How did they know which time zone to preset it to????

And how does it deal with Daylight Savings on and off?

If it syncs to NIST, it gets a signal as to whether DST is in effect
or not when it syncs. (well, it SHOULD, there is a DST flag. I guess
some clocks may be pre-set for DST changes, in which case older ones
will not work correctly now that we've been mucking about with it. I
do know that my "Sharp" alarm clock handles DST correctly, that is, it
gets its DST flag from the NIST signal not from its internal
programming.)

nate

The clock claims to have "Intelli-Time" (whatever that means). The time
zone is selected with a multi position switch. There is a daylight
savings option switch. I'll find out in a few weeks if it resets
automatically. For $12 it's a nice clock!


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:15:09 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:

The clock claims to have "Intelli-Time" (whatever that means). The time
zone is selected with a multi position switch. There is a daylight
savings option switch. I'll find out in a few weeks if it resets
automatically. For $12 it's a nice clock!


That's the one I had. I removed the battery for a couple of hours to
see if it would really set itself. it didn't.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:31:06 -0600, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...

I have seen both radio signal and pre-set internal battery
powered clocks. It might be either.

How did they know which time zone to preset it to????

I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:30:35 -0800, wrote:

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:31:06 -0600, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...

I have seen both radio signal and pre-set internal battery
powered clocks. It might be either.

How did they know which time zone to preset it to????

And how does it deal with Daylight Savings on and off?


Many of them are having problems with that once since they
recently changed the date.

The only really accurate way is the radio sync along with user
input of the correct time zone.

All I have seen allow manual changes.

wrote:
....
I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.

So you're telling me WalMart is buying, keeping inventory straight, and
shipping individual lots of clocks to various time zones?

While possible, seems highly antithetical to cost-cutting ...

--

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:15:09 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:

The clock claims to have "Intelli-Time" (whatever that means). The time

I don't know what it is either, but it sounds better than my clock,
that has "Dummi-Time".

zone is selected with a multi position switch. There is a daylight
savings option switch. I'll find out in a few weeks if it resets
automatically. For $12 it's a nice clock!


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:47:56 -0600, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...
I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.

So you're telling me WalMart is buying, keeping inventory straight, and
shipping individual lots of clocks to various time zones?


The clocks I see have a switch to set the time zone.

While possible, seems highly antithetical to cost-cutting ...
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

Phisherman wrote:
On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:36:47 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:


I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')



I looked at several clocks in Walmart yesterday. Three were
"radio-controlled" clocks," which is very nice for accuracy, power
outages and daylight Savings Time changes. Take a look here...

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com...uestion461.htm



Why do so many, including myself, say "Dalight Savings Time" when the
official term is "Daylight Saving Time"?

I Think maybe it's because the added "s" makes the words roll off our
tongues easier.

http://tinyurl.com/ujskf

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:43:08 -0500, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

Phisherman wrote:
On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:36:47 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:


I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')



I looked at several clocks in Walmart yesterday. Three were
"radio-controlled" clocks," which is very nice for accuracy, power
outages and daylight Savings Time changes. Take a look here...

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com...uestion461.htm



Why do so many, including myself, say "Dalight Savings Time" when the
official term is "Daylight Saving Time"?

Maybe it has to do with Arsenal Savings and Loan.

I Think maybe it's because the added "s" makes the words roll off our
tongues easier.

http://tinyurl.com/ujskf

Jeff

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:43:08 -0500, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

Phisherman wrote:
On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:36:47 -0500,
(---MIKE---) wrote:


I just bought a cheap electric alarm clock - made in China naturally.
When I plugged it in it displayed the correct time. How does it do
this? Does it pick up a radio signal? The clock works perfectly. I am
just curious.


---MIKE---

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')



I looked at several clocks in Walmart yesterday. Three were
"radio-controlled" clocks," which is very nice for accuracy, power
outages and daylight Savings Time changes. Take a look here...

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com...uestion461.htm



Why do so many, including myself, say "Dalight Savings Time" when the
official term is "Daylight Saving Time"?

I Think maybe it's because the added "s" makes the words roll off our
tongues easier.


I try to control the urge.

http://tinyurl.com/ujskf

Jeff
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:47:56 -0600, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...
I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.

So you're telling me WalMart is buying, keeping inventory straight, and
shipping individual lots of clocks to various time zones?

While possible, seems highly antithetical to cost-cutting ...

I don't know how they handle their distribution. I would think
that the problem you are pointing out would explain why they often
seem to be a time zone or so off.

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:47:56 -0600, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...
I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.

So you're telling me WalMart is buying, keeping inventory straight, and
shipping individual lots of clocks to various time zones?

While possible, seems highly antithetical to cost-cutting ...

I don't know how they handle their distribution. I would think
that the problem you are pointing out would explain why they often
seem to be a time zone or so off.

We have an "atomic clock" at work. It is often off by an hour and right now
it is set for a different time zone so it appears correct. When we go to
DST, who knows what will happen. It has been stable for a couple of months
now, but at times it would make an adjustment and come back an hour off.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:47:56 -0600, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...
I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.
So you're telling me WalMart is buying, keeping inventory straight, and
shipping individual lots of clocks to various time zones?

While possible, seems highly antithetical to cost-cutting ...
I don't know how they handle their distribution. I would think
that the problem you are pointing out would explain why they often
seem to be a time zone or so off.

We have an "atomic clock" at work. It is often off by an hour and right now
it is set for a different time zone so it appears correct. When we go to
DST, who knows what will happen. It has been stable for a couple of months
now, but at times it would make an adjustment and come back an hour off.


My "Sharp" brand "atomic" alarm clock from Target has been flawless
since new. Only issues I have with it are short battery life (it's
powered solely by batteries, have to replace them every couple months
because the display gets hard to read at night) and not very loud alarm
beep. But I can't use an AC powered alarm clock unless the alarm works
when the power is off, and while some may work like that, it's hard to
find documentation that it will in fact function.

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Nate Nagel wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:47:56 -0600, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...
I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.
So you're telling me WalMart is buying, keeping inventory straight, and
shipping individual lots of clocks to various time zones?

While possible, seems highly antithetical to cost-cutting ...
I don't know how they handle their distribution. I would think
that the problem you are pointing out would explain why they often
seem to be a time zone or so off.

We have an "atomic clock" at work. It is often off by an hour and
right now it is set for a different time zone so it appears correct.
When we go to DST, who knows what will happen. It has been stable for
a couple of months now, but at times it would make an adjustment and
come back an hour off.

My "Sharp" brand "atomic" alarm clock from Target has been flawless
since new. Only issues I have with it are short battery life (it's
powered solely by batteries, have to replace them every couple months
because the display gets hard to read at night) and not very loud alarm
beep. But I can't use an AC powered alarm clock unless the alarm works
when the power is off, and while some may work like that, it's hard to
find documentation that it will in fact function.

nate


Forgot to mention, one more quibble. The clock I have uses a battery
powered outdoor temp sensor, and apparently supports three of them. I'd
love to have extra temp sensors so I could monitor temp in the attic,
garage, whatever, but who knows where to buy them. I suspect that it
was probably a relabel of someone else's product, but whose?

nate


--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

on 2/22/2009 11:17 AM (ET) Ed Pawlowski wrote the following:
wrote in message
...

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:47:56 -0600, dpb wrote:


wrote:
...

I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.

So you're telling me WalMart is buying, keeping inventory straight, and
shipping individual lots of clocks to various time zones?

While possible, seems highly antithetical to cost-cutting ...

I don't know how they handle their distribution. I would think
that the problem you are pointing out would explain why they often
seem to be a time zone or so off.


We have an "atomic clock" at work. It is often off by an hour and right now
it is set for a different time zone so it appears correct. When we go to
DST, who knows what will happen. It has been stable for a couple of months
now, but at times it would make an adjustment and come back an hour off.




Now, if they will make all time keepers with an atomic time feature,
maybe I won't have to go all around the house resetting appliance clocks
after a power outage. :-)

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

In article ,
willshak wrote:

on 2/22/2009 11:17 AM (ET) Ed Pawlowski wrote the following:
wrote in message
...

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:47:56 -0600, dpb wrote:


wrote:
...

I understand they set the time based on the destination for
the clock.

So you're telling me WalMart is buying, keeping inventory straight, and
shipping individual lots of clocks to various time zones?

While possible, seems highly antithetical to cost-cutting ...

I don't know how they handle their distribution. I would think
that the problem you are pointing out would explain why they often
seem to be a time zone or so off.


We have an "atomic clock" at work. It is often off by an hour and right now
it is set for a different time zone so it appears correct. When we go to
DST, who knows what will happen. It has been stable for a couple of months
now, but at times it would make an adjustment and come back an hour off.




Now, if they will make all time keepers with an atomic time feature,
maybe I won't have to go all around the house resetting appliance clocks
after a power outage. :-)

Isn't bluetooth supposed to take care of that? Your waffle maker talks
to your electric toothbrush, etc? Pretty soon your iPhone will
automatically order a new pair of shoelaces from Amazon when one of
yours breaks. I'm becoming a luddite.

Nate Nagel wrote:

My "Sharp" brand "atomic" alarm clock from Target has been flawless
since new. Only issues I have with it are short battery life (it's
powered solely by batteries, have to replace them every couple months
because the display gets hard to read at night) and not very loud alarm
beep. But I can't use an AC powered alarm clock unless the alarm works
when the power is off, and while some may work like that, it's hard to
find documentation that it will in fact function.

nate



I have a couple of "Sharp" brand wall clocks. They have good battery
life, but of course they don't have digital displays and alarms. One
of them keeps good time, almost, right through the DST change. The
other one doesn't. The first one I bought apparently uses the
DST flag on the time signal. However, it has a quirk that in the
morning after a change it will be right, then in the evening it will
go back to the other time. Then the next morning it will be right
again and will stay that way till the next time change. The second
one I bought of the same brand and model has the DST change hard
coded, so it is off an hour during the interim between the new
time change and the old one. I do usually set the time zone to
compensate, but people in Eastern and Pacific time zones just have
to lump it I guess.

Bill

On Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:17:52 -0500, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote:




We have an "atomic clock" at work. It is often off by an hour and right now
it is set for a different time zone so it appears correct. When we go to
DST, who knows what will happen. It has been stable for a couple of months
now, but at times it would make an adjustment and come back an hour off.


Yea many of them were/are poorly programmed. Part of the
problem was the change in DST that was recently made.