Note:
When the battery is installed the second hand will advance eight seconds (two
seconds per step x four steps).
The clock is now searching for a signal. For the initial setting it is recommended to stand
the clock in an upright position near a window. Within five minutes the clock will either
receive the WWVB signal and set itself to the exact time, or it will determine that the
signal is not receivable at its current location and time of day. If a signal is not receivable
it will fast-forward the hands to the 4, 8, or 12 o'clock position and search for WWVB
each hour until a signal is received. If the time is manually set the clock will continue to
periodically search for a signal and automatically reset the hands when the signal
is received.
For a better understanding of how and why your
clock works please continue reading.
Nothing is more precisely measured than time!
Since the beginning of time, man has been fascinated with the measurement of time and
has devised more accurate machines to trap and measure time. Today, time is precisely
measured in the United States by the most accurate clock in North America, the Atomic
Clock of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, Time and Frequency
Division in Boulder, Colorado. A team of atomic physicists continually measures every
second of every day to an accuracy of ten billionths of a second per day. These physicists
have created an international standard, measuring a second as 9,192,631,770 vibrations of
a Cesium 133 atom in a vacuum. This atomic clock regulates the WWVB radio
transmitter located in Fort Collins, Colorado, where the exact time signal is continuously
broadcast throughout the United States at 60 kHz to take advantage of stable longwave
radio paths found in that frequency range. Radio waves at these low frequencies use the
earth and the ionosphere as a wave-guide and follow the curvature of the earth for long
distances.
The built in antenna system will receive the WWVB signal anywhere in North America
within 2000 miles of Fort Collins where long-wave radio reception is undisturbed. A
microprocessor activates the receiver and processes the time signal from Fort Collins
overnight.
Through the radio signals, Skyscan radio controlled clocks always keep precise time. The
changeover from standard time to daylight savings time, and vice versa, takes place
automatically with the same precision.
