Geoff
I have also noted the pips sound different and seem to recall an on air
comment about using local time*. The last pip is not always longer.
You have also got to watch out for them using off air Freeview satellite
transmissions rebroadcast on normal radio stations!
Cheers,
Will
ZL1TAO
* Maybe from the Carter Observatory where the old solar transit was.
I'm not suggesting that they use it still.
On 01/02/2017 12:46 PM, Kiwi Geoff wrote:
Will Kimber <[email protected]> wrote:
If you listened to Radio New Zealand National news New Year's day
morning you would have heard then stating there will be 7 pips at 1:00pm.
However there were only 6 !!! So what happened?
I was listening to both of the above events too, and agree with your
comments Will.
The following is just my "observations" over the last few years as a
keen RNZ listener, and so may not be correct to those in the know.
To my ears, there are two "types" of Time Pips:
The "normal" time pips sound like reasonably pure sine-waves of 1KHz,
and are always correct to my house standard, and would be derived from
the atomic clocks at:
Measurement Standards Laboratory
Callaghan Innovation
PO Box 31 310
Lower Hutt 5040
New Zealand
https://www.msl.irl.cri.nz/services/time-and-frequency
The "other" time pips sound different, they appear to be shorter in
duration and more like a square-wave at 1KHz than a sine-wave. I
assume they are locally generated at RNZ and are used when the
land-line to Lower Hutt is broken by road-works, earthquakes, or a
digger driver with a careless hand !
In the past I have detected the "other" time pips drifting by about
half a second per day, so I assume it's a relatively simple XO that is
used rather than a GPS which I thought would have been a better option
for a standby reference.
So my guess as to what is currently going on (for RNZ time pips) is
that they are using the backup system , which appears to be manually
set - and is yet to be manually set by a man!
Maybe someone who knows someone in RNZ engineering, can give a more
accurate picture than just my conjecture.
Regards, Geoff ( Christchurch, New Zealand ).
_______________________________________________
time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected]
To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the instructions there.
_______________________________________________
time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected]
To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the instructions there.
