Auto-adjusting clocks for use at home?

Its all about signal. Signal, signal, signal.
And most places don't get a very strong signal. There are local 'repeaters' in many cities and those may or may not work well. My VCR (Sony) auto-detect clock works very well, but so far I haven't seen or heard of any regular watches or clocks that are dependable

If you live someplace like Denver you are in great shape, but even with a wide open area like I have here in Texas, most of the time the signal is not propagating well enough for those devices (watches/clocks) to pick it up because the antenna is not big enough or the signal is blocked by buildings, etc.

Before plopping down the money for one of those I would recommend you get a demonstration that it works, first. Maybe your local Radio Shack???

Merry Christmas from down Texas way, y'all.

Dr. Bill,

I've been using a SPRINGFIELD probably three or so years which keeps excellent time. Think I purchased it at a store like Wal-Mart for in the neighborhood of $70. It is a wall-mounted clock and I never have to set it even for the time changes.

I only wish I had two or three more of them.

Tim

If you are using Windows XP, and you must have Internet access to be able to post here, then your system is updated every 24 hours to a USA based atomic clock.

If you do not have WXP, well, I used "Atomic Clock" from www.worldtimesaver.com for several years, though the automated update never worked, I just placed a manual update in autoexec.bat.

If you have one clock in the house that is accurate to the microsecond, then setting the rest of the clocks within the human eye level of accuracy is not difficult.

Ian

I have an Atomix model from Chaney Instrument Company that has served me well for several years now in the Atlanta area. It even sets itself at each end of daylight savings time. I have checked it several times in the past against time.gov and it has always been accurate to the second. Call them at 1-800-777-0565 to see if they have a dealer in your area.

I'm not sure that this is the same company which made my dependable clock (SPRINGFIELD), but these sure look to be in the realm of quality products.

http://www.springfieldclock.com/radio.htm

I've been using a SkyScan atomic clock for a while and it's on-the-dot accurate. It has a symbol on the digital readout that lets you know if it's geting the signal. It also tells the month/date/day of week, indoor temp, and has a small sensor that you put outside so it will also display the outdoor temp. It's always accurate, and changes to and from Daylight Savings Time by itself too.

I just got another SkyScan and paid about $25.00 for it, at Sam's. The new ones even have a moon phase display, lol. While there I also saw another one that has an analog display with none of the indoor/outdoor temp bells and whistles, and it was only $15.00. Same brand I think.

The folks at Sam's tell me that they sell a LOT of these. The digital ones can be placed on the wall or on a table.

DE

you may find something at Oregon Scientific that you like! Mine has been working very, very good and is more accurate than a Breitlling watch! This is the one I have. It took about 3 hours to get the full signal and ever since, it has worked perfectly. I live in NYC as you may know so I am not exactly close to CO...

It has always worked extremely well in Chicago although it needed, as I recall, overnight to set accurately. I use it to set my watch which needs to be accurate to make train schedules.

I also use it on eBay to make last second bids. If I bid with 20 seconds to go, no one can counter, but the time needs to be dead on.

Actually I been considering buying a clock that couldn't be set (externally) myself, to hang at 'relief site' at work. Then there would be one clock there that noone had no control over what time it stated. I could set a watch then so I'd know what time I arrive to relieve anyway. And (to be honest, to acheive my main point, it would need to be large and hard to ignore) to fix a time I was being relieve by one particular relief person.

I have read recently about clocks that the time is set internally on a lithium battery backup chipset that is suppose to be accurate within one second for the next 5 years or so.

roger

Haven't used one as they are pricey here, so can't comment on performance. However that is old technology, been around for some years now, here they align themselves to the atomic time base at Rugby.

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I went by Radio Shack and checked out their radio-receiving clocks. The ones in the store are not working properly 'because the signal is so weak inside the store'. The clerk assured me that people don't have problems out in 'the real world' but I think I'll pass on the clock for now.

Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe someday the technology will work out in 'the boonies'.

Oh well.