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high precision wall clocks

F

fatso485

Member
Hello all

Does any of you have recommendations or ideas for installing wall clocks that displays exact time. We have several conference rooms in several buildings and I would like to make sure that they all show exact synchronized time in all rooms. I am not sure of the available options but I would prefer something simple and not too ridiculously overpriced like Atom clocks or even GPS based wall clocks.

other info: i think we have an NTP server somewhere
 
fatso485 said:
Hello all

Does any of you have recommendations or ideas for installing wall clocks that displays exact time. We have several conference rooms in several buildings and I would like to make sure that they all show exact synchronized time in all rooms.
I would prefer something simple and not too ridiculously overpriced like Atom clocks or even GPS based wall clocks.
Click to expand...
Would you consider four @ $71.96 shipped "ridiculously overpriced"? 😛
 
thanks i seem to have totally misjudged the whole situation 🙂.

ive never actually seen one of these locally here (Saudi Arabia) and they definitely don't sell them here. questions:

-will this work here if i buy it from the states. the videos http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/3102s/video.php show only 4 time zones that doesn't include our GMT+3 .
-i assume that this uses the radio signals to sync time & weather. is there a way to know if we have these signals in this part of the world. also does that mean that the clock needs to be placed in special place with very good radio signals
 
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fatso485 said:
thanks i seem to have totally misjudged the whole situation 🙂.

ive never actually seen one of these locally here (Saudi Arabia) and they definitely don't sell them here.
Click to expand...
Did you not think it relevant to specify your location when asking for "recommendations or ideas"?
 
I'm sure there are radio controlled clocks available for locations other than the U.S.
I seem to remember reading about an electronic "Muslim prayer time" clock, that included GPS for providing information on which direction to face (towards Mecca) while doing the 5x daily Muslim prayer thingy.
A Google search should turn up something.
You're able to do a Google search, yes?

Edit: GPS satellites cover the entire planet, and may provide another method of obtaining an accurate time signal. Every GPS satellite includes an onboard atomic clock.
 
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all the "prayer clocks" ive seen dont have GPS and they just calculate the prayer time based on the included quartz clock, date and the city you program it to use. they dont sync themselves with a GPS source or NTP server


i think im stuck with a network enabled NTP-based clock
 
I am sure that there are communication satellites available to Saudi Arabia Networks.

May be you should be the Pioneer starting to advocate adding Atom Time Sync. signal to one of them.

.
 
after some research and several emails to some sites the cheapest decent looking NTP- based clock i found was $1100. probably ok for a few wall clocks but not acceptable in the long run since we may need a lot more.


hypothetical question:
is there a way that we can install a radio transmitter that we can use to transmit a clock signal (from the NTP server or a GPS clock). My goal is to provide the infrastructure to allow us to use these cheap $20-$50 radio clocks on our buildings. Our buildings are spread around an area of around 5km sq/m
from the top of my head, i need help with:

1-equipment types/models radio transmitter models and how it interfaces with the clock source (GPS,NTP)
2-i need to tackle the radio frequency issue that can be used on our relatively small area
3- need to find Radio clocks that will work on our +3:00GMT time zone and that radio trasmitter. the $15-$80 ones i saw online only support the 4 US timezones and im not sure if they will work on the radio transmitter that will be installed

not sure what else im missing
 
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fatso485 said:
after some research and several emails to some sites the cheapest decent looking NTP- based clock i found was $1100. probably ok for a few wall clocks but not acceptable in the long run since we may need a lot more.


hypothetical question:
is there a way that we can install a radio transmitter that we can use to transmit a clock signal (from the NTP server or a GPS clock). My goal is to provide the infrastructure to allow us to use these cheap $20-$50 radio clocks on our buildings. Our buildings are spread around an area of around 5km sq/m
from the top of my head, i need help with:

1-equipment types/models radio transmitter models and how it interfaces with the clock source (GPS,NTP)
2-i need to tackle the radio frequency issue that can be used on our relatively small area
3- need to find Radio clocks that will work on our +3:00GMT time zone and that radio trasmitter. the $15-$80 ones i saw online only support the 4 US timezones and im not sure if they will work on the radio transmitter that will be installed

not sure what else im missing
Click to expand...

dunno how it is in saudi arabia, but in the US you need a license to broadcast at any frequency aside from CB. (and i think to an extent in FM)
 
Other countries besides the U.S. provide short wave radio time signals.
Might want to check with some local Saudi ham radio people about that.
So your choices for time signal would be:

1. Re-broadcast to a small group of radio controlled clocks, of a time signal sourced from:
A. Short wave radio; B. Telephone; C. GPS satellite; or: D. NTP server via internet
GPS wall clock: http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/515389
You'd need to use a radio frequency that can easily pass through buildings.
The link in vulcanman's post (above) shows NTP-based wall clocks that use 902 -> 928 MHz radio control.

2. Each clock having it's own radio receiver for either shortwave or GPS time signals.

I'd recommend emailing NIST with your question:
http://physics.nist.gov/GenInt/Time/boulder.html

Edit: I wonder if there might be wall clocks with an onboard dialup telephone capability, that could automatically call in to some local time server once daily?
Edit 2: Find out what they use at McMurdo Station Antarctica, and use that?
 
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