[time-nuts] Spectracom 8170 -> SWCC clock #2

Brooke Clarke brooke at pacific.net
Sun Jan 22 02:42:00 UTC 2012


Hi again:

Sorry sent too soon.

The time constant of the loop is L/R.  By increasing R the loop runs faster.
Western Union ran the clocks from 200 Volts with a dropping resistor to get the desired current.

When driven form say 12 Volts the clock response is sluggish, but when driven from higher voltages the response is very 
snappy.

I think a simple blocking oscillator could be used to charge up a photo cap and dump it into one or more series 
connected clocks.
http://www.prc68.com/I/SWCC.shtml
http://www.prc68.com/I/SWCC2.shtml
http://www.prc68.com/I/SETSC.shtml#IMP2
http://www.prc68.com/I/SWCC.shtml#L

Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke
http://www.PRC68.com
http://www.end2partygovernment.com/Brooke4Congress.html


Brooke Clarke wrote:
> Hi Jim:
>
> There are a number of options.
>
> Ken's clock clinic sells what appears to be a No. 6 Battery that has a synchronization function for the Western Union 
> clocks.
> But the problem with it and the drivers for slave clocks is that they use fairly low voltage circuitry.
>
> Stock Tickers and Teletype machines are tpically run with loop voltages in the 60 to 200 Volt range.
>
> Have Fun,
>
> Brooke Clarke
> http://www.PRC68.com
> http://www.end2partygovernment.com/Brooke4Congress.html
>
>
> Jim Hickstein wrote:
>> I have a Spectracom 8170 in the living room (who doesn't?), and a Western Union time-service clock, a.k.a SWCC clock 
>> -- a nice one, in a 3-foot-high wood case.  I've been watching TV with this combination for years and years but never 
>> got around to feeding a pulse from the 8170 to discipline the other one. Now that Western Union no longer provides 
>> the service. :-)  But it just begs to be done.
>>
>> I did draw up a TTL circuit, once (on a napkin, naturally, which I have now misplaced), that could live inside the 
>> 8170.  I figured out the minimum number of inputs needed to detect when the MM:SS LED displays said 00:00 (for one 
>> second).  It would close a relay, which could feed the winding-battery power to the hour-set solenoid down a pair of 
>> wires from 10 feet away.  But I never built it.
>>
>> A little over a year ago the TS clock was getting gummy and free-running slower and slower, so I sent it to the clock 
>> hospital.  It's back and free-running nicely, so maybe it's finally time I did this.  Anyone got a better idea than 
>> my little TTL circuit, on a breadboard inside the 8170?  I'd like to get it across the rear panel without cutting a 
>> new hole, if I can avoid it.  But maybe the right connector would do.  Another time-code receiver in the TS clock, 
>> e.g. a GPS module that provides a relay closure for 1 second on the hour (if such exists) might be neater.  But the 
>> living room faces north.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
>> To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
>> and follow the instructions there.
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
> and follow the instructions there.
>
>



More information about the time-nuts mailing list