On 08/02/2012 22:52, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Wed, 8 Feb 2012 19:32:28 -0000, "James Heaton"
wrote:
"Charles wrote in message
...
On Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:13:50 +0000,
wrote:
Basil wrote:
On 2012\02\07 19:41, Star Fury wrote:
I wonder what the source of the authoritative time for the UK Railway
actually is, now?
At least one railway company gave its staff Eurochron radio controlled
watches which got their signal from Mainflingen, Germany.
Surely from the atomic clocks at Anthorn, Cumbria? The UK's radio
time signal was formerly transmitted from the BBC Long Wave
transmitter near Rugby, but moved to Anthorn in 2007.
MSF was formerly transmitted from the GPO/PO/BT site at Rugby from
1926-2007.
The BBC transmitter is at Droitwich (with two other LW transmitters at
Burghead and Westerglen) and carries an embedded time signal used by
electricity companies to control tariff-switching and by the
Environment Agency:-
http://www.alancordwell.co.uk/radio/teleswitch1.html
http://79.171.36.154/rts/tech_aspects.asp
Does anyone know how this will be managed when the LW signal ends? Cannot
remember exactly when, but 2015 or 2016 is ringing large bells in my mind.
Apparently the transmitter kit is pretty much life expired.
AFAICT the LW service will be ending around the same time that nuclear
electricity becomes too cheap to meter.
Now I can remember some politician, though I cannot remember which one,
saying that around 1965, probably as a way to sell nuclear to the
public, words to the effect of "The electricity generated will be so
plentiful it will not be worth metering it." However it does not seem to
have come about just yet. Not long after that ISTR a report for the GLC
that said that it cost more to collect their rents than they actually
collected and it would be cheaper to let people live rent free, that
never happened either
Newspapers seem to have
announcing the end since at least 2004 (Daily Torygraph) but the
official version seems to be no more definite than e.g. "There will
also be no reinvestment in long wave, which will lead to the end of
Radio 4 on LW in the long term."
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15165926]
--
Martin
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