Radio Controlled Time

Wall clocks

There are a whole range of radio-controlled wallclocks available. Take a look at the following links:

Basic silver Acctim model (pictured) for under £10 from Argos (Cat no:255/1966)

Digital Wall Clock £29.99 from Maplin Electronics

Precision Radio Controlled Wall Clock with internal and external temperature display- £24.99 from Argos. (Cat no:255/3469)

Aluminium Klik Wall Clock for £17.99 from Argos. (Cat no:255/1502)

Radio-controlled watches

Junghans has a name within that industry for accuracy and quality, through their use of radio control technology. Their watches contain a radio receiver that regularly checks for the current time from the Frankfurt transmitter, and some are solar powered. The practical upshot of this is that you never need to adjust your watch (it even corrects for GMT/BST changeover), it'll never need a new battery, and it's never more than a second inaccurate. The downside? They're not cheap, with prices starting from around the £200 mark!
See the range at www.junghanswatches.co.uk. We also recommend you take a look at www.theBestofTime.com - an online store that carries a good range of Junghans and Maximilian watches in the UK.

Another option to consider, is the Casio range of Wave Ceptor watches. These radio controlled watches are dual-band which, unlike other radio controlled products, allow you to switch between the UK and mainland Europe time signal transmitters in Anthorn and Frankfurt for a wider signal range. As you'd expect from Casio, as well as being watches with atomic timekeeping, many of the WaveCeptor range come with other features, such as: world time, stopwatch, Illuminator (EL backlight), 5 alarms, date alert and some are water resistant to 50 meters.

Prices start from around £55 - For a range of Casio Waveceptor watches, go to argos.co.uk. At the time of writing, there also a good range at Amazon - See Waveceptors at Amazon

A lower-priced alternative is available for under £30. The silver and black watch to the right comes with alarm, backlight, date display, and it's water resistant. Watch face measures 20 x 15mm. It's been seen at Watch Heaven (£34.99)

Clock Radio

A Morphy Richards AM/FM clock radio with dual alarm set to daily or weekly. Snooze button. Adjustable sleep timer. LCD display with backlight. Auto time change at start/end British summertime. Resets time every four hours

Sadly, we can no longer find a supplier for this. Recommend an alternative?

Features: Clock, date and month, alarm and snooze function

Available for £19.99 from Maplin Electronics

Projector - Projects the time onto the wall/ceiling of a darkened room.

Features: 8-minute snooze function , Crescendo alarm with increasing volume, radio controlled clock with time synchronised by MSF radio signal from Anthorn in Cumbria (Always accurate and changes from BST to GMT) . Hi-Glo backlit display. Measures 110 x 100 x 56mm. Mains and battery powered - ships complete with 2 x AA (1.5V) batteries and mains powered AC adaptor for constant projection. Both the UK power adaptor and the UK-based MSF signal used to set the clock mean that this product is for us in the UK only.

Available for £24.95 from Firebox

Also worth considering:

• Radio Controlled Projection Alarm Clock with AM/FM Radio from Argos. (Cat no: 255/1241)

Provided your clock or watch is able to receive the signal from the time transmitter, it should automatically update to the correct time - so when the clocks go back and forward for GMT / BST, your device should advance or go back by one hour as appropriate.

We've been asked whether it's possible to change the hour on radio controlled clocks. The normal reason for wanting to do this, is for where you're using a clock outside of the country where the transmitter is - i.e. using a clock in the UK that's tuned to the German timesignal.

Radio-controlled clocks and watches normally provide a way of manually advancing the hours, to offset timezones, e.g. "This clock is 1 hour behind the transmitter". This may be via a button to step forward in units of one hour, or a wheel/dial to advance the hour hand manually.

A query from site visitor Lisa: "I still don't understand whether the watch automatically sets itself to local time when you go abroad? I'm considering buying one for a friend who travels a lot so they don't have to keep changing the time on their watch - will it do it automatically?"

A radio-controlled watch will be tuned to receive its signal from a fixed time transmitter. For watches available in the UK, this will either be the transmitter here in the UK, or the transmitter in Germany. Your watch has no concept of timezones, so if you move from one timezone to another, the watch won't automatically correct.

If your watch is getting a signal from Germany, all the watch is aware of, is the time in Germany, and it can't tell which timezone you're currently in. For that reason, radio-controlled watches allow you to "offset" the hour manually - If you travel from GMT to GMT+2 you will need to advance the watch by two hours. Here's how.

If the watch is still in range of the transmitter, the minutes and seconds will still be corrected automatically.

A question from site visitor Syam: "Can I buy a radio controlled watch in Germany and use it in India ? Will the watch be able to receive transmissions from any transmitters across the world ? Will it function just a regular watch if it is in a place where there is no signal ?"

A clock purchased in Germany will probably use the European transmitter in Frankfurt. It's unlikely that India will be able to get a signal from the German transmitter. A clock or watch that's been able to sync to a timeclock will continue to operate when it's out of range of a signal, it just won't be able to update itself, so will slowly lose its accuracy until it's able to get a signal again.

A similar question from PlummerNick: "I'm considering buying a radio controlled watch. I would like to know if it will automatically correct itself when I am traveling in the UK, across Europe or America. Will it automatically re-tune in to that Country's atomic signal. "

Watches bought in the UK will either get their signal from a transmitter in the UK or from the European transmitter in in Germany. These services operate on different frequencies, and a radio controlled clock or watch is pre-tuned to a specific frequency . The German transmitter in Germany has a wider reach, and if travelling in Europe, look for a watch that can receive from DCF77 from Frankfurt. This transmitter doesn't cover the US. A clock or watch that's been able to sync to a timeclock will continue to operate when it's out of range of a signal, it just won't be able to update itself, so will slowly lose its accuracy until it's able to get a signal again.

Having a problem with your radio controlled clock or watch? Some suggestions:

• First off , try inserting a fresh battery
• Next, try a full reset of the clock (it may have a reset button, or may rely on battery removal - check the manual supplied with your timepiece)
• Then, leave the clock / watch in an area that's free from electrical interference, somewhere where it stands a good chance of getting clear reception of the time signal.

From our experience, most problems with radio-controlled timepieces comes down to not getting decent reception of the signal. If you're still having problems, refer to the instruction manual or contact the hardware manufacturer.

A question from site visitor Mustafa Cankurt: " I have bought a Comet Radio Controlled Desk top Watch. But I'm living in Isparta City, Turkey. Can I set up my watch in here? But I can't receive any signals from Frankfurt Transmitter. Can I use an amplified antenna for to catch signals? Or can I set up my watch with another ways like internet, or online connection or directive antenna?"

We're struggling with a good answer to this one. It may be possible to design an aerial to receive the signal from Frankfurt - but working out how to connect that aerial to your watch's radio receiver would be a problem. We know that it's possible to build a small transmitter that can re-broadcast the time signal, but you'll need some engineering knowledge, and it won't be too cheap to manufacture. You should find that the watch manufacturer has provided a method to allow you to set the watch manually, in areas where there's no signal, so it might be worth checking the watch's manual, or direct with the manufacturer. If you know of something we can add to this answer, please let us know.

Update: Mustafa has come back to us with good news: "I'm a DXer and shortwave listener. I know that 77.5 KHz broadcasting receptions is available with a good antenna like ferrite core or long wire, but some problem how signals connected from aerial to watch. I have built up an antenna horizontal lying (exactly parallel to Frankfurt transmitters) my window to other building's roof with isolated copper wire as 5 meters horizontal strained wire known marconi thin wire. I have a coil 10-20 turns the wire end within the window when I will tune to distant radio receptions. I will have tried with ferrite core with in the coil. Today, I have closed up my watch to the coil. Then the watch resonated with signals and watch was set up Central European Time. This may have been atmospheric conditions."

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