Can any of you well-informed guys help me out?
On a day trip to France the other day the RDS clock on my radion automatically set itself to european time; but it has notably failed to re-set itself on return to the UK. The BBC web site SAYS that they broadcast a time signal on RDS, so why aren't I picking it up?
I've tried Radio2 and Radio 4 but no joy on either.
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Terry,
on my Sony RDS radio I had to switch on the "feature" that adjusts the time, without refering to the manual I can't remember which buttons to press... Could you have inadvertantly switched off this feature? Check your manual.
BBC radio 2 do have the time signals (EON TA) which I usually get at about 5 to 6 in the evening, just in time to blank out, for a few seconds, Johnny Walkers mystery voice competition... Argh!...
CV
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Terry are you by any chance operating in the extreme south of the country? maybe picking up continental signals. Does the time signal come from the radio carrier wave or is it the general signal from the atomic clock in Gemany?
I have no other explanation except to observe a very similar phenomena.
Go abroad and in many countries mobile phone sets its time to the local time. It does depend upon the country and the service provider admittedly. Come back to UK does it reset? What d'ya fink?
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Not extreme south, Fif, Surrey.
As far as I can make out EON is on all the time but I'll turn on TA. I usually find it sooo annoying when the station "breaking in" doesn't turn off straight after the bulletin's over (BBC radio Reading take note) that I leave it off except on long journeys - like a day trip to France......
I'll try Claire's idea and leave it on between 5:45 and 6 tonight and see what happens.
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Terry,
Did your RDS radio set its clock yesterday evening?
CV
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No, Claire, afraid not. Looks like I'll have to keep it in "home clock" mode until the end of the month, then it'll be reading right!
When I go to forn parts after then, I'll see if it advances another hour. If it does it means the chip isn't blown and it's something about the UK.
Other replies here would indicate a trip north of London might help. Doing that at Easter.
I'll keep you posted.
Terry :~)
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The atomic clock that the BBC uses in based in Rugby UK and is known as the MSF signal. This VLF (Very Low Frequency) signal from the 820 feet masts that you see from J18 M1 is also the one that all the 'radio controlled' clocks use. Why all built in car clocks do not use this signal with a timezone/quartz backup I do not know as the cost would be minimal. That way you would always have an accurate clock.
Regards
Charles
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Take a look at
RDS ORG
CV
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Is your car a Vauxhall Terry at a guess?
The BBC broadcast an RDS signal and this is sent once every minute across all national BBC stations. Do make sure the radio is in "RDS mode" as I know on mine it will display say, BBC R2, for Radio 2, but won't actually be in RDS mode unless it's highlighted at the bottom of the display (press the RDS button to put it back into the correct mode).
No help at all unless you're radio is like mine but it's worth a bash!
Dan
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Thanks Dan I'll try that too.
No, it's not a Vauxhall, it's a Jeep Grand Cherokee, but I dunno what make the radio is
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At one of the clock changes in 2000 my Kenwood RDS radio didn't adjust itself on the day of the change. It stayed at the "wrong" time for about a week and then just changed without me noticing. All other time changes since then have been fine.
Wierd huh - (I'm in Surrey too.....)
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The continental and UK signals are not on the same frequency, so far as I know. I have a very gadegety Casio watch and you can tune it to Rugby, Frankfurt or Tokyo. It updates itself once a day, at about 2am I think, and then works as a quartz watch until the next check up. As ever, I think the answer must lie somewhere well hidden in the car handbook! -
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