(10-04-2018, 01:48 AM)craigsl Wrote: Atomic clocks, like the ones we have on the wall, are great. The only problem I heard, but don't know for a fact, is that about 800 miles away from land they are useless.
Joe, you've got the right idea for local "GMT". We do have it, sort of, it's called Zone time....and there are 24 of them. Of course, your zone time is better than mine!
... Since China is really the "rising star" so to speak of countries I would expect that they have a time broadcast. However, after locating the frequency(s) they're supposedly transmitting on I've never heard them once.
If some amateur radio operator took over the transmission of time signals it frankly wouldn't be difficult. In CN we work with what's called UT1 which can be off by plus or minus 1 second. Big deal.
Shipmates,
I suppose that certain ideas Ive suggested in this thread several times now are so foreign to most people that the concept just bounces off the grey matter without penetration... or so some of the responses would suggest; either that or I'm just a horrible writer incapable of expressing same.
I am not suggesting that Hams (of which group I also belong as an extra class) rebroadcast GMT, or UT, or UTC, or whatever the governments agree to call zero time zone (although such a contingency is laudable even if the time hack broadcasts were limited to a few times a day).
Several institutions in the US including (I think) the Naval Observatory and numerous institutions of higher learning own and operate transit telescopes, exactly aligned with their meridian, with which they observe the passage of pertinent stars to facilitate the keeping of time. I have merely suggested that local CN or astronomy enthusiasts obtain some sort of transit instrument no matter how primitive and start keeping time as though that person's home (or that group's position) in their city is the zero meridian. The exact location would be well known and the time hack from THAT location could easily be adjusted to GMT in order to facilitate the use of contemporary almanacs. I hope that was clear.
What I am suggesting is that we incorporate our own amateur observatories and keep our own time - such as is done by the Naval Observatory and others who coordinate with Greenwich - so that in case of Nat'l emergency we wont need to count on some government agency or sponsored facility to keep time... We would have our own time keepers of whom we could rely to facilitate the process of celestial navigation.... I hope that was more clear.
Here is an example:
BigBill has a transit instrument at his house with which he observes the passing of certain stars over his meridian. He keeps a well maintained clock in his house updated with that sidereal star data... he or his friend then periodically broadcast time hacks over selected HF bands for the rest of us who then adjust our own clocks and verify the accuracy of other transit instruments across the states and hopefully the globe. Understanding and applying proper time altering phenomena to coordinate with GMT (mean time) would be easy... And I believe the learning curve would be a short one as more time keepers (as in people who volunteer to make star observations) get involved and the practice is refined. I hope this was very very clear.
This is a grass roots effort to ensure we have a method of keeping time in the event Government GMT time signals disappear either permanently or temporarily. Besides, Astronomy clubs might relish the idea so as to improve their own education and sense of local importance. There are a hundred reasons why local groups should desire to participate... There might be Boy Scout badges awarded for time keeping. I hope this was very very very clear.
I recently contacted an Astronomy society asking for advice and procedures concerning amateur timekeeping.. Im confident they will provide good instruction or relay my questions to someone who can.
Moving on:
I have an Atomic wrist watch that I use for a chrono... it does not automatically update probably due to my distance from WWV which is about 8000 miles.
Next time I take my Yaesu FT 897D out of the box Ill hunt for those Chinese time transmitters.
Fair Winds, Shipmates; keep the ideas a-comin!!!
Joe