3 ms·

Sometimes I can’t even get it on the East Coast!

TMWNN 5y ago
I couldn't even get it on the West Coast. When I owned a wristwatch that synced to the time signal, twice a year I'd have to put it in on the windowsill the night of the daylight savings change; otherwise, it never received the signal.
- jmcphers 5y ago
  It's kind of miraculous that wristwatches can pick it up at all given how little space they can dedicate to an antenna. I live at the very outer Northwestern edge of WWVB's coverage, in the Seattle area, and my similarly equipped wristwatch reliably gets the signal -- but only at night, and, curiously, only if I'm wearing it! My theory, which I've never done any research on, is that the conductive metal backing of the watch allows some of my own body to serve as an antenna.
- FredPret 5y ago
  I'm in the same boat - my WWVB wristwatch needs a nightly spot near a window to make it work
jgrahamc 5y ago
Take a look at NIST's propagation charts for WWVB. You can clearly see the US East Coast getting little signal at certain times during the day: https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/radio-stations/wwvb/help-wwvb-radio-controlled-clocks https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/radio-s... You're actually getting the best coverage at about the same time my clock was hearing its first signal in 15 years.
- politelemon 5y ago
  Why is the propagation different during different times of day? On that page, it says > WWVB radio controlled clocks should be able to work in most places in North America. The red areas on the coverage maps below show where a WWVB radio controlled clock should be able to synchronize. Note that the red area is largest at night, and smallest in the daytime (click on the map to see a larger image). For example, 0600 UTC is about midnight in the central United States.
  - jgrahamc 5y ago
    Why is the propagation different during different times of day? Welcome to the wonderful world of radio propagation. Different radio signals at different frequencies "bounce around" the world in different ways. LF (low frequency) which is where the WWVB beacon operates bounces off the ionosphere (refracts) and can bounce very long distances. But the bouncing depends on conditions in the ionosphere which are affected by day/night cycles and sun cycles. Start here for some information: http://rsgb.org/main/files/2012/10/Understanding_LF_and_HF_propagation.pdf http://rsgb.org/main/files/2012/10/Understanding_LF_and_HF_p...

I couldn't even get it on the West Coast. When I owned a wristwatch that synced to the time signal, twice a year I'd have to put it in on the windowsill the night of the daylight savings change; otherwise, it never received the signal.

jmcphers 5y ago
It's kind of miraculous that wristwatches can pick it up at all given how little space they can dedicate to an antenna. I live at the very outer Northwestern edge of WWVB's coverage, in the Seattle area, and my similarly equipped wristwatch reliably gets the signal -- but only at night, and, curiously, only if I'm wearing it! My theory, which I've never done any research on, is that the conductive metal backing of the watch allows some of my own body to serve as an antenna.
FredPret 5y ago
I'm in the same boat - my WWVB wristwatch needs a nightly spot near a window to make it work

jgrahamc 5y ago

Take a look at NIST's propagation charts for WWVB. You can clearly see the US East Coast getting little signal at certain times during the day: https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/radio-stations/wwvb/help-wwvb-radio-controlled-clocks https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/radio-s... You're actually getting the best coverage at about the same time my clock was hearing its first signal in 15 years.

politelemon 5y ago
Why is the propagation different during different times of day? On that page, it says > WWVB radio controlled clocks should be able to work in most places in North America. The red areas on the coverage maps below show where a WWVB radio controlled clock should be able to synchronize. Note that the red area is largest at night, and smallest in the daytime (click on the map to see a larger image). For example, 0600 UTC is about midnight in the central United States.
- jgrahamc 5y ago
  Why is the propagation different during different times of day? Welcome to the wonderful world of radio propagation. Different radio signals at different frequencies "bounce around" the world in different ways. LF (low frequency) which is where the WWVB beacon operates bounces off the ionosphere (refracts) and can bounce very long distances. But the bouncing depends on conditions in the ionosphere which are affected by day/night cycles and sun cycles. Start here for some information: http://rsgb.org/main/files/2012/10/Understanding_LF_and_HF_propagation.pdf http://rsgb.org/main/files/2012/10/Understanding_LF_and_HF_p...