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Author Topic: atomic clocks
steve1977
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hello again, the though just recurred to me, someone said this to me ages ago now and I wondered if it was true. In England or all over Great Britain for that matter. Are all stations modern digital clocks all linked to a main central atomic clock somewhere in Britain in order to syncronise time perfectly?

I may be wrong but I set my digital watch to the same time as the clock at Burgess Hill station in Sussex, and found the other day when I got out at Brighton terminus station that their digital station clock was a few minutes out to my watch so I wondered whether all clocks all over the country are set exactly the same at any given moment in time.

Or could that clock at Brighton station (or the other station) perhaps be a bit faulty or somehow out of calibration?

Interesting?

Cheers to all...


Posts: 16 | From: England | Registered: Dec 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
TR-00
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I can't say about the stations, but there have been some problems with clocks in the signal towere. Perhaps you've heard of...Fawlty Towers?
Posts: 12 | From: Hammonton, NJ, USA | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Geoff Mayo
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There's a Rugby Radio Clock that sends out a digital encoded signal on a certain frequency. My alarm clock syncs with this every few minutes. A lot of railway stuff also uses the radio clock. However, there is also a system in Germany (I think) which does a similar thing which I believe is supposed to replace the Rugby one, which is getting old now.

Before the railways came along, London was on a slightly different time to Bristol - each area had noon at "their" noon time, which is obviously later the further west you go. Railways allegedly brought in standard time to the UK, because of the problems of writing timetables and keeping time while travelling.

Geoff M.


Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

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