Greenwich Time Signal

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Course of the six beeps

The Greenwich Time Signal ( GTS ) is a time signal with a series of six beeps or whistles that is broadcast by many BBC radio stations at one-second intervals. It was introduced in 1924 and has been produced by the BBC since 1990 to mark the exact start of the hour. The utility of the facility diminishes because digital broadcasting involves longer delays in signal processing.

structure

Five short and one long beeps

There are five short beeps in the five seconds before the hour and one long tone on the hour. Each beep is a one- k Hz tone (with a pitch between B5 and C6). The first five tones last a tenth of a second and the last tone half a second. The time at which the hour changes is the beginning of the last pulse.

If a leap second is inserted (exactly the second before midnight UTC ), a seventh beep is sent. The first beep occurs as usual at 23:59:55 and there is a sixth short beep at 23:59:60 followed by a long beep at 00:00:00. The extension of the last beep ensures that the long beep is always the hour change. Before the leap second was introduced, all beeps were the same length. Negative leap seconds are also possible to shorten the year. However, they have not yet occurred in practice.

Normally the signal is only broadcast on the BBC domestic radio on the hour. The BBC World Service also uses the signal at other times. The signal is transmitted every quarter of an hour.

use

The tone sequence is made available to the BBC radio stations every fifteen minutes. However, it is only broadcast on the hour before the news. When BBC Radio 4 it is sent every hour - except at 18:00 and 00:00 and on Sundays at 22:00 (at the beginning of Westminster Hour). Then it is replaced by the Westminster stroke of Big Ben of the Palace of Westminster . No time signal is broadcast on Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. This is due to the Saturday afternoon edition and the Sunday omnibus edition of the radio play The Archers . On BBC Radio 2 the time signal is at 7:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m., 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on weekdays, at 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on Saturdays and at 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Used on Sunday.

The beep is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 during The Chris Moyles Show at 6:30 a.m. shortly after the news, at 9:00 a.m. as part of the Tedious Link feature, at 10:00 a.m. (at the end of the show) and often before the newsbeat . While most stations only broadcast the tone sequence on the hour. was The Chris Moyles Show is the only show they aired on the half hour when.

BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Five Live do not currently use the time signal.

The BBC World Service sends the beeps every hour.

The BBC local radio stations can also use the time signal. However, this lies in your own decision-making power.

In 1999 the sound was recorded by composer David Lowe and the piece aired at the beginning of the BBC Television News program. Today it is still used on BBC One , BBC World News and BBC News .

BBC only allows the GTS to be broadcast as a time signal. Radio games and comedies with fictional news use different methods to avoid broadcasting the signal entirely. This can be achieved, for example, by fadeout or by playing intermediate tones between the signals.

history

This machine was used in 1970 to generate the signal.

The time signal has been broadcast since February 5, 1924. It was the brainchild of astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson and BBC chief John Reith . Initially it was controlled by two mechanical clocks with electrical contacts on the pendulum at the Royal Greenwich Observatory . Two clocks were used because of the reliability. Every second a signal was sent to the BBC and converted into an audio signal there.

In 1957 the Royal Greenwich Observatory moved to Herstmonceux Castle and a few years later broadcast the GTS using electronic clocks. Reliability has been improved by laying a second line between Herstmonceux and the BBC.

To further increase reliability, the signal level on the line was reversed. An error can be better recognized because the 1 kHz tone is now constantly present and a short interruption marks the signal. In the case of longer interruptions, a fault can be assumed.

The Greenwich Time signal was the first sound to be heard in Beijing during the handover ceremony for the Olympic Games in London .

The tone sequence was also broadcast on the BBC Television Service until the 1960s .

On the occasion of the 90th birthday of the GTS, on February 5, 2014, the daily program of BBC Radio 4 ran a clip about the time signal.

Similar time signals in other countries

Many radio stations around the world use the Greenwich Mean Time signal to mark the beginning of the hour. It is used domestically and abroad and by public and private broadcasters. Many broadcasters also use six tones similar to those used by the BBC World Service. Some shorten the tone sequence to five, four or three tones.

  • Argentina - all news and voice channels (Radio Nacional, Radio Miter, Radio Continental, Radio 10, Cadena 3, etc.) broadcast six pipes every hour, similar to those of the BBC, and three pipes every half hour, similar to those from Catalonia.
  • Australia - Pipse are on ABC Radio National and ABC Local Radio at the top of each hour, as well as on Fairfax Media talkback stations- 2UE , 3AW , 4BC and 6PR .
  • Canada - The National Research Council Time Signal broadcasts daily at 12:00 p.m. on Ici Radio- Canada Première and on CBC Radio One at 1:00 p.m. EST / EDT. It is Canada's longest-running radio program and has been broadcast daily since November 5, 1939.
  • China - National Radio China and all local radio stations use a similar 6-tone time signal on the hour. Count down 5 short tones (0.25 s, 800 Hz) during the last 5 seconds of the old hour and a long, higher pitch (0.5 s, 1600 Hz) of the new hour.
  • Finland - On the radio stations YLE, the pipes are broadcast on the hour.
  • France - The France Inter station sends four very short pipes every hour. The last pip, which is the same length as the others and marks the hour change. Some France Bleu local stadiums also have four pips, which are slightly longer.
  • Germany - Deutschlandfunk sends five beeps every hour, the last being longer than the others. Between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, they are also broadcast every half hour and at 9:00 p.m. they are skipped more often if no messages are sent.
  • Hong Kong - A six-tone time signal is used on RTHK's radio channels . The signal will be broadcast from the Hong Kong Observatory every half hour during the day and hourly during the night in front of the news headlines.
  • Hungary - The national radio station Kossuth broadcasts five stereophonic pipes every hour on the hour, the fifth being longer than the others.
  • India - Six pipes are used by All India Radio prior to the start of its Delhi News Bulletin.
  • Ireland - Six Pipse will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 before the 7:00, 13:00 and 24:00 news.
  • Israel - Kol Israel hourly news broadcasts begin with six tones, with the sixth tone being longer.
  • Italy - The national Italian radio "Rai" uses 6 tones to signal the exact time in all stations. In the respective stations they are broadcast at different times: Rai Radio 1 signals the hour. Rai Radio 2 broadcasts every half hour. Rai Radio 3 signals the 45th minute of the respective hour. All signals come from the Istituto Metrologico di Torino, the national research institute for measures and time. At 6 a.m., Rai Radio 1, Rai Radio 2 and Rai Radio 3 send the signal at the start of the day.
  • Japan - NHK -Television used three short pips for the seconds: 57 to: 59 of the seconds display and a longer three-second pip from: 00 to: 03 shortly before the start of the news. The longer three-second pip could be used for special Events or, if time is short, shorter.
  • Malaysia - RTM radio stations use the pips every hour before the news broadcast. But only a tone sounds at the hour change. Until the end of 2012, the time signal is simply a short pip on the 59th second before the full hour and a longer pip when the hour changes. In a news report by Ides The Star on January 1, 1982, the Pipse was used to resemble the BBC.
  • Netherlands - only three pipes are used (up to 1991 there were six).
  • New Zealand - The BBC Radio 4 tone sequence is used. Radio New Zealand National plays the six pipes at the beginning of each hour.
  • North Korea - The pipse can be heard on the voice of Korea before the start at 5:00 p.m.
  • Poland - Polish radio has 5 beeps and 1 beep before the hour.
  • Sindh - The Sindhi-language news channel KTN News plays 5 pipse at the beginning of the News.
  • Spain - The signal is broadcast by almost all radio stations, including music stations. The frequency of broadcasting varies, however: music stations usually use pipes on the hour. Most non-musical broadcasters send the signal every 30 minutes. 40 Principales , the most important music radio in Spain, broadcast a different version of GTS: first the two beeps, then music is added in the background. In particular, this station only uses 4 pipes. Typically, two different frequencies are used for the last two (resulting in a modern rhythm). Other music radios such as Máxima FM and M80 Radio , both owned by PRISA , and Europa FM use a similar effect.
    • Catalonia , Spain - the dance music station Flaix FM and the hot air station Ràdio Flaixbac, both owned by the same media group, broadcast a very short sequence of two very short tones followed by a longer one every half hour, the whole thing lasting no more than one and a half Seconds. Els 40 Principals, the Catalan edition of the Spanish broadcaster Los 40 Principales , use the same jingle with a mix of GTS and corporate music.
  • Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation uses GTS pips on its radio channels to mark the start of the hour before each major newscast. Other stations don't use pips.
  • Switzerland - The first channel on Swiss radio used to play six short pips, the last was higher than the others.
  • United States - The Pipse can be heard on Middlebury College radio station WRMC .
  • Formerly Yugoslavia JRT broadcast the six pipse before the news (every hour) on the radio as well as on television before the start of TV-Dnevnik at 8:00 p.m. The broadcast was stopped in 1974 when the program was postponed to its current broadcast time (7:30 p.m.).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jim McIlroy: Network Radio: New Time and Frequency distribution system Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. (PDF) In: Eng Inf . No. 40, Spring 1990. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  2. ↑ What's the time? . In: Astronomy & Time . Royal Museum Greenwich. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  3. ^ Leap second: Keeper of the pips . December 30, 2008. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  4. ↑ The comforting tone of the hourly radio pips . February 5, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  5. ^ Leap years and leap seconds . Royal Museum Greenwich. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014.
  6. ^ Adjusting after a 'long' weekend at the Royal Observatory - Precision clocks and the leap second . Royal Museum Greenwich. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  7. ^ Sci / Tech - Six pip salute . BBC News . February 5, 1999. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
  8. ^ Peter Simpson: Baton Passed to London for 2012 . In: South China Morning Post , August 25, 2008. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2011. 
  9. ^ Charles Lister: The 'time pips' at 90 . February 5, 2014. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  10. ^ Time Synchronization with Hong Kong Time System. Retrieved October 19, 2017 (English).
  11. ↑ forest TV: 時報 (TV Clock). June 9, 2015, accessed October 19, 2017 .
  12. ↑ YouTube. Retrieved October 19, 2017 .
  13. ↑ De-rode-Lopers-van-de-radio. Retrieved October 19, 2017 .
  14. ↑ 92 years ago today: The time of the time signal on the radio begins. srf.ch, February 5, 2016.

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