TO SET WORLD’S CLOCKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 232, 20 December 1927, Page 1

TO SET WORLD’S CLOCKS

NEW TIME BROADCAST SIGNALS FROM RUGBY British Wireless —Press Assn Copyright RUGBY, Sunday. Commencing to-morrow, December 19, a British time signal will be transmited from the wireless station it Rugby twice each day, during a are-minute period, and terminating a t 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., Greenwich mean time.

Each transmission, -which will be controlled from the standard clock at Greenwich Observatory, will be of the type proposed by the International Time Commission, 1925, and inown as the “international system of rhythmic wireless time signals.” The transmission will consist of a •eries of 306 signals, transmitted in irm „<•

mean time. Each minute will be clearly marked by a dash of twofifths of a second’s duration, beginning on the exact minute. The dashes at the 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th and 59th minute will be followed by a succession of 60 dots spaced at equal intervals following the commencement of the dashes at these minutes. The hour will be indicated by a dash of similar duration to the others and will commence on the exact hour. This arrangement provides an extremely accurate time check for geographers and surveyors. At the same time it is suitable for the use of ships at sea, and is sufficiently simple for more general application, since for ordinary purposes the dashes which give a clear indication of the minutes are all that need be noted. The times of the transmission have been selected with a view to reaching the largest possible portion of the globe at suitable periods of the day.

WORK OF THE STATION The Institution of this time signal from the Rugby station marks an addition to the services by which this station maintains contact with the most distant parts of the world, and with ships on every sea, many of which receive regularly private and press telegrams direct from Rugby. The new time signal will provide the means of checking chronometers and should, consequently, prove an additional aid to navigation. The transmissions will be effected oy means of continuous waves on a wave-length of 18,740 metres.—A. and NX