|GG| Dpreview wants to cater to the simple people

On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:01:53 +0200, "Tzortzakakis Dimitrios"
wrote in :

Ï "HEMI-Powered" Ýãñáøå óôï ìÞíõìá
. ..

To have set the clock automatically would have required a computer,
or a more capable computer, than the early VCRs had OR some means
of communicating with a cable or satellite system to actually pick
up the time.

In Europe, there is such a system. From a central long wave transmitter, in
Frankfurt/Main (germany) the time is being transmitted. I have a "weather
station" with such a clock, even in Crete I can receive the signal and the
clock shows (usually) the correct time

There is such a system here too, but radio clocks only became affordable
more recently, and have their own issues (signal strength, time zone).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWV_(radio_station)
--
Best regards,
John
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Tzortzakakis Dimitrios wrote:
Ï "HEMI-Powered" Ýãñáøå óôï ìÞíõìá
...
John Navas added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

But tell me this, Jerry: why is it that kids have the
reputation of being able to operate all these gadgets?

Unlike us they don't have better things to do with their time
than read arcane manuals?

See my longer reply to David on this, John. You are certainly
right, though. If young people can't find it on the Web they aren't
interested in it. Try and get a young person to actually sit down
and read ANY book!

The video recorder flashing 12:00 used to be the classic
example.

The clock can now be set automatically, which should have been
done from the beginning.

To have set the clock automatically would have required a computer,
or a more capable computer, than the early VCRs had OR some means
of communicating with a cable or satellite system to actually pick
up the time.
In Europe, there is such a system. From a central long wave
transmitter, in Frankfurt/Main (germany) the time is being
transmitted. I have a "weather station" with such a clock, even in
Crete I can receive the signal and the clock shows (usually) the
correct time

The US has had time signals from the Bureau of Standards (now "NIST")
station WWV available since 1923. The first edition of the Radio
Amateur's Handbook I ever saw told how to use those signals to obtain
a frequency reference. For some reason (possibly the difficulty of
effective testing when the signals were not available in Japan, and
possibly the need for an additional receiver) the Japanese decided not
to make use of them.

Clocks which use those signals are readily available in the US--I have
a Casio watch that charges itself off of any available light and sets
itself by the time signals, and an alarm clock and a couple of wall
clocks that all use the signals. Most such devices sold in the US are
using the signals from WWVB, though, which transmits on higher
frequencies and which went online in 1956 with major power boost in
1999 (which it needed badly to cover the whole country).

Of course there is also worldwide coverage now using the GPS
satellites.

Current US VCRs though set their clocks using a signal transmitted by
PBS stations on the broadcast television bands and so have no need for
a separate receiver. This system works well when they are connected
to an OTA antenna and less well if they are connected only to cable.

Our current age is such that few under 30 can even
imagine what it was like to play with the first Betamax and some
can't even fathom the first commercial digital cameras, and NONE
have any clue what an Apple ][ or Imsai 8080 was!

--

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:46:34 -0500, "J. Clarke"
wrote in :

The US has had time signals from the Bureau of Standards (now "NIST")
station WWV available since 1923. The first edition of the Radio
Amateur's Handbook I ever saw told how to use those signals to obtain
a frequency reference. For some reason (possibly the difficulty of
effective testing when the signals were not available in Japan, and
possibly the need for an additional receiver) the Japanese decided not
to make use of them.

Clocks which use those signals are readily available in the US--I have
a Casio watch that charges itself off of any available light and sets
itself by the time signals, and an alarm clock and a couple of wall
clocks that all use the signals. Most such devices sold in the US are
using the signals from WWVB, though, which transmits on higher
frequencies and which went online in 1956 with major power boost in
1999 (which it needed badly to cover the whole country).

WWVB is actually lower frequency, 60 kHz.
WWV is on 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz.
WWVH is on the same frequencies, except for 20 MHz.
http://tf.nist.gov/timefreq/stations/wwvb.htm
WWVL, broadcast from 1963-1972, was even lower than WWVB, 20 kHz.
Discontinuance of WWVL facilitated the higher power of WWVB.
--
Best regards,
John
[Please Note: Ads belong *only* in rec.photo.marketplace.digital, as per
http://bobatkins.photo.net/info/charter.htm http://rpdfaq.50megs.com/]