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From: merlyn@digibd.com (Brian Westley (Merlyn LeRoy))
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind
Message-ID: <14168@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 30 Oct 90 16:33:20 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 777, Message 9 of 10


>try calling 1-202-653-1800 Sunday morning at 1:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time
> ... after the talking clock reaches 1:59:50 Eastern Daylight Time, it
>will tell you the time is 1:00:00 Eastern Standard Time ...

When they insert leap-seconds at the end of the year, does it state
the time as 11:59:50 ... 11:59:60 ... 12:00:00 ?

Just Wondering,

Merlyn LeRoy


[Moderator's Note: No they don't, but that is due to the message
length. They actually only give the time twice every fifteen seconds,
at ten and then five second intervals. The entire fifteen second
message goes like this:

(in the first nine seconds) "US Naval Observatory Master Clock: At the
tone, Eastern Standard (Daylight) Time, H hours, M minutes, S seconds."
Or the word 'exactly' in lieu of zero seconds.

Then a one second signal tone, followed by (in the next four seconds)
"Universal Time, H hours, M minutes, S seconds." In this rendition,
S has been incremented by 5. Another one second signal tone, then back
to the first message. 

There isn't enough time to speak the entire message every five
seconds, let alone every second. On ocassions of adding a leap-second, 
they simply stall the rendition for an additional second.   This
organization, the US NAVOSY, was responsible for setting all the
Western Union master clocks throughout the USA for a half-century. Ask
me about the Western Union Clock Service sometime. :)   PAT]