My atomic clocks didn't reset themselves for Daylight Savings last night. What's going on?

Question

My atomic clocks didn't reset themselves for Daylight Savings last night. What's going on?

Answer 1

I don't know why yours didn't--mine did! Perhaps it's your particular clock, location or provider. I feel you're right about it being known for such a long time that provisions should have been made to compensate for the early change.

I'll be interested to see if anyone else has your problem.

Answer 2

Most "atomic" clocks aren't. They're normal clocks that get synchronized to a government maintained standard clock. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) radio sync did the DST correction at about 1 am this morning; I just happened to be going to bed at that time.

Answer 3

It is 1:44 PM on 3/11/07 and my three atomic clocks have not yet changed to DST in Bradenton, FL. I too would like to know why they did not change.



When I awoke on the 12th, my clocks had changed.

Answer 4

Yes! Give your atomic clock a kick. (But not too hard. Who wants to have to explain a mushroom cloud over the ruins of your city just because you're upset about the time change!) (giggles)

Answer 5

it's a glitch because of changing time 3 weeks early. i just looked at my atomic clock and it has now changed. maybe yours has too?

Answer 6

Why would they, a cesium standard based atomic clock is based on the transition of the cesium-133 atom for synchronization not telling time.

Atomic clocks are installed at each site of time signal, LORAN-C,and Alpha Navigation transmitters. They are also installed at some long-wave and medium-wave broadcasting/telecommunications stations/companies to deliver a very precise carrier frequency, which also has its usage as standard frequency.



Further, atomic clocks are used for long-baseline interferometry in radioastronomy.



Atomic clocks are the basis of the GPS navigation system. The GPS master clocks are Atomic clocks at the ground stations, and each of the GPS satellites has an on-board atomic clock.



Atomic clocks are not sold to the public consumer, they do not display the time, they are usally rack mounted in a 19" rack!!!



What you think is 'your atomic clock' is a A radio clock, a radio clock is a clock that is synchronized by a time code bit stream transmitted by a radio transmitter connected to a time standard such as an atomic clock.



Unbelievable!!!

Answer 7

I think you probably have a "radio clock" rather than an "atomic clock". You should check with the manufacturer to find out if they have appropriately changed the information they transmit.



Edit.

"We switched to Daylight Saving Time, and my clock didn’t change



This is probably due to a reception problem. Your clock hasn’t received the signal recently, so it didn’t know about the time change. Most digital radio controlled clocks have an indicator on the display that tells you if the signal is being received properly. Some analog clocks have an audio indication (a button you can push that indicates through a series of tones or beeps if the signal is there). If you are not sure if the signal is being received, try powering down the clock (unplug it or remove the batteries), then turn it on again to see if it can synchronize."

http://tf.nist.gov/stations/radioclocks.htm