slightly OT time signals

What is the point of pips on the radio when every feed over a different
medium and even the same medium with a different set is seconds out and all
different.

Brian

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Brian Gaff wrote:
What is the point of pips on the radio when every feed over a different
medium and even the same medium with a different set is seconds out and all
different.

Very little point these days. I think the GTS pips are adjusted such that they
are spot on listening to Radio 4 Droitwich on a receiver placed in Central
London ?

However, how far should your ear be from the loudspeaker ?



--
Mark
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In article , Mark Carver
wrote:

Brian Gaff wrote:
What is the point of pips on the radio when every feed over a different
medium and even the same medium with a different set is seconds out and all
different.

Very little point these days. I think the GTS pips are adjusted such that
they
are spot on listening to Radio 4 Droitwich on a receiver placed in Central
London ?

They are historical, really: before radio-controlled clocks they were a
useful way of setting your watch. I worked in the BBC Overseas Service
Control Room in the 1960s and we were told that they were used by ships
at sea as an aid to navigation (again, this was long before GPS) - I
don't know how true this was. They were inserted manually into the
stream in the continuity room, and missing one was regarded as serious
(we were given dramatic warnings of ships running aground): if this
happened it had to be broadcast on the next quarter hour, even over
programme. Missing the first one was not uncommon (late realisation).
One of my colleagues missed two - the middle two - I watched him do it;
several of us were chatting to him and he got distracted - he put the
key up after two pips, swore, and put it down again to catch the last
two (all six were short in those days). We all cleared out, of course.
Our boss, normally very strict, was so taken aback by the stupidity of
it that all he said was 'be more careful next time'.

Nowadays they work fine for FM, but as said the various digital
delivery channels introduce so much delay it's all a bit pointless.

In article , Roger Wilmut
wrote:
In article , Mark Carver
wrote:

Brian Gaff wrote:
What is the point of pips on the radio when every feed over a
different medium and even the same medium with a different set is
seconds out and all different.

Very little point these days. I think the GTS pips are adjusted such
that they are spot on listening to Radio 4 Droitwich on a receiver
placed in Central London ?

They are historical, really: before radio-controlled clocks they were a
useful way of setting your watch.

A letter received by Technical Correspondence (forerunner of EID) in the
early 1930s had "Will you kindly tell me for what purpose the Greenwich
Time Signal is broadcast? It is an irritating little noise."

--
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

Nowadays they work fine for FM, but as said the various digital
delivery channels introduce so much delay it's all a bit pointless.

So how inaccurate is the clock display on my DAB radio which I presume uses
DAB rather than the FM RDS as it's source?

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
What is the point of pips on the radio when every feed over a different
medium and even the same medium with a different set is seconds out and
all different.

They seem spot on here off FM - against my 'radio' clock. Pretty good too
off FreeView radio. DAB is dreadful. For delay only, of course. ;-)

You'll get more of a chance to check it tonight at 2400. They're adding
an extra pip.

--
*Toilet stolen from police station. Cops have nothing to go on.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
What is the point of pips on the radio when every feed over a different
medium and even the same medium with a different set is seconds out and
all different.

They seem spot on here off FM - against my 'radio' clock. Pretty good too
off FreeView radio. DAB is dreadful. For delay only, of course. ;-)

You'll get more of a chance to check it tonight at 2400. They're adding
an extra pip.

But which BBC radio station will have the pips rather than Big Ben at Midnight ?



--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

"Doctor D" wrote in message
et...

Nowadays they work fine for FM, but as said the various digital
delivery channels introduce so much delay it's all a bit pointless.

So how inaccurate is the clock display on my DAB radio which I presume
uses
DAB rather than the FM RDS as it's source?

3 to 4 seconds

In article ,
Mark Carver wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
What is the point of pips on the radio when every feed over a
different medium and even the same medium with a different set is
seconds out and all different.

They seem spot on here off FM - against my 'radio' clock. Pretty good
too off FreeView radio. DAB is dreadful. For delay only, of course. ;-)

You'll get more of a chance to check it tonight at 2400. They're
adding an extra pip.

But which BBC radio station will have the pips rather than Big Ben at
Midnight ?

Good point. ;-)

--
*Ham and Eggs: Just a day's work for a chicken, but a lifetime commitment

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
What is the point of pips on the radio when every feed over a different
medium and even the same medium with a different set is seconds out and
all different.

They seem spot on here off FM - against my 'radio' clock. Pretty good
too
off FreeView radio. DAB is dreadful. For delay only, of course. ;-)

You'll get more of a chance to check it tonight at 2400. They're adding
an extra pip.

But which BBC radio station will have the pips rather than Big Ben at
Midnight ?


I hope Big Ben will be clean on radio 4 this time, as it was last year.
On previous years the announcer has not been averse to reminding
us it's BBC radio, in the otherwise dead-air before the first bong.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%