Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!stout!cook
From: cook@stout.ucar.edu (Forrest Cook)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: NBS time broadcast
Message-ID: <3799@ncar.ucar.edu>
Date: 27 Jul 89 19:32:42 GMT
References: <8720@kean.mun.ca>
Sender: news@ncar.ucar.edu
Reply-To: cook@stout.UCAR.EDU (Forrest Cook)
Organization: Field Observing Facility, NCAR, Boulder, CO
Lines: 36

In article <8720@kean.mun.ca> andrew@kean.mun.ca writes:
>I can't really speak for anyone else on the net, but one of the things that I 
>really hate is clocks that are "just a little bit off".  
...
>So the question... anyone know how this works and how/where it is broadcast?

You are in luck, Andrew.  NIST (the National Institute of Science
and Technology, formerly NBS) has a telephone number that you can dial
up with your modem and get accurate time info from.  For more
info write to:

NBS-ACTS Time and Frequency Division
Mail Stop 524
325 Broadway
Boulder, Co.  80303

They also distribute a DOS compatible 360K 5 1/4" disk that can be used
to set your PC.  The cost: $35.00 from:

NBS Office of Standard Reference Materials
B311-Chemistry Bldg, NBS
Gaithersburg, MD, 20899
(301) 975-6776

I wrote a simple program on our local VAX/VMS system that calls NIST once
every night and corrects the system clock.  Our time is usually within
+- 1 second of NIST time.

The last report I heard (about a year ago) was that they were talking
about adding a 900 number.


 ^   ^  Forrest Cook - Beware of programmers who carry screwdrivers - LB
/|\ /|\ cook@stout.ucar.edu (The preceeding was all my OPINION)
/|\ /|\ {husc6|rutgers|ames|gatech}!ncar!stout!cook
/|\ /|\ {uunet|ucbvax|allegra|cbosgd}!nbires!ncar!stout!cook