# Radio control clock-help needed please



## Jaxx (Apr 21, 2010)

Hi there,

I have radio signal controlled clocks which i bought to Spain with me that keep setting themselves to GMT so are 1 hour behind at the moment. Is there a way of turning this facility off or changing it to European time???:confused2:


----------



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Jaxx said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I have radio signal controlled clocks which i bought to Spain with me that keep setting themselves to GMT so are 1 hour behind at the moment. Is there a way of turning this facility off or changing it to European time???:confused2:


If you don´t have the manual any more, you can usually find them by searching online?


----------



## PokAlice (Mar 8, 2011)

Unless this has changed, clocks that are automatically updated by a radio signal in Europe use one of two long wave radio signals, one is from Rugby, UK and the other one comes from Germany (I think Frankfurt). Assuming your device is getting a signal (generally better at night) - it sounds to me that your device is locking onto the UK signal from Rugby and hence displaying GMT (UTC) time.

Some devices have a switch which you can use to tell the device where to pull the signal from. Look for something like a UK/EU slider position and set it to the EU if available. Doing this should tell the clock to try to get the signal from Germany.
I have a few of these clocks, one has the UK/EU switch I mentioned and the other one does not (bought in the UK). Unfortunately I haven't found a way to set my UK model to use the frequency from Germany (I even took it apart to see if there was a way of doing this from inside the device). That clock always shows UK time 

If you don't have a selector switch to tell it to use the German signal, another option some clocks have is a time offset. With this option you can set the displayed time to offset by a specific number of hours (one in the case of Spain). The time is still accurate as the time still gets corrected, the clock just nows to add an hour to the resulting time when displaying it.

If you have one of the devices which doesn't have either option you may be out of luck, but it is worth looking for the instructions just in case.


----------



## Jaxx (Apr 21, 2010)

PokAlice said:


> Unless this has changed, clocks that are automatically updated by a radio signal in Europe use one of two long wave radio signals, one is from Rugby, UK and the other one comes from Germany (I think Frankfurt). Assuming your device is getting a signal (generally better at night) - it sounds to me that your device is locking onto the UK signal from Rugby and hence displaying GMT (UTC) time.
> 
> Some devices have a switch which you can use to tell the device where to pull the signal from. Look for something like a UK/EU slider position and set it to the EU if available. Doing this should tell the clock to try to get the signal from Germany.
> I have a few of these clocks, one has the UK/EU switch I mentioned and the other one does not (bought in the UK). Unfortunately I haven't found a way to set my UK model to use the frequency from Germany (I even took it apart to see if there was a way of doing this from inside the device). That clock always shows UK time
> ...


Many thanks for all your info but it looks like i am out of luck with the 2 i have, shame as great clocks! shall have to buy new here i think, thanks again x


----------



## morlandg (Jun 8, 2008)

Jaxx said:


> Many thanks for all your info but it looks like i am out of luck with the 2 i have, shame as great clocks! shall have to buy new here i think, thanks again x


I have a one of these metereological stations and it keeps losing time. I think it may be due to the rechargeable battery that I use. These batteries have a slightly lower voltage output and they also lose their charge and I think that to maintain correct time one needs to always have fully charged batteries inserted. Sorry this doesn't help the time offset problem but it is a general comment on these stations.


----------



## PokAlice (Mar 8, 2011)

morlandg said:


> I have a one of these metereological stations and it keeps losing time. I think it may be due to the rechargeable battery that I use. These batteries have a slightly lower voltage output and they also lose their charge and I think that to maintain correct time one needs to always have fully charged batteries inserted. Sorry this doesn't help the time offset problem but it is a general comment on these stations.


That sounds very unusual for a modern clock. How far behind does it run? I assume it's not getting updated by a radio signal as that should correct any minor time deviation (nightly).


----------



## PokAlice (Mar 8, 2011)

I'd also be surprised if a rechargeable battery would cause this as I'd have thought the difference in voltage is minimal. Have you tried with a normal battery for a period?


----------



## country boy (Mar 10, 2010)

Jaxx...what happened to your clocks on Sunday morning...did they change at all?


----------

