Atomic/Radio Controlled Clocks in HK

[Lootoo]

I like clocks I don't ever have to set or re-set. Read into that what you will!

Apparently, not many people in HK are as concerned, because I've never seen one for sale here. Of course, a prerequisite for them to work is an appropriate radio signal for them to receive and synchronise with, and I'm not aware of any such signal being broadcast in Hong Kong.

However, I did bring with me from London an old Oregon Scientific world traveller projection alarm clock, which I had purchased ca. 2007, which, unlike most of these kinds of devices, has the ability to receive several different synchronisation frequencies, including US, UK, EU and Japanese... A review of the relevant Wikipedia page suggested that one of the frequencies in China might be the same as one of these frequencies, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my clock can receive one of the Japanese signals with no difficulty at all. Cool!

But I want more. Now I want radio controlled clocks in every room in the house! I suppose I could buy one in Japan? But the Japanese aren't very good with foreign mail-ordering (as my experience with Yahoo! Japan Auctions can attest)... I've always wanted to visit Japan, but it is a little far for a shopping trip! Any ideas? Cheers.

[climber07]

Amazon.com

[jgl]

So you're sure that you're picking up the Japanese signal rather than the Chinese one? (According to Wikipedia, they are 60 and 68.5, so fairly different.) That's a little surprising, but quite impressive.

[dumbdonkey]

But I want more. Now I want radio controlled clocks in every room in the house! I suppose I could buy one in Japan? But the Japanese aren't very good with foreign mail-ordering (as my experience with Yahoo! Japan Auctions can attest)... I've always wanted to visit Japan, but it is a little far for a shopping trip! Any ideas? Cheers.

so you want all your clocks in your house to be in japanese time zone?

[Lootoo]

I wouldn't expect amazon.com to have Japanese-spec radio controlled clocks, but I'll have a look.

Good point, dd, but my Oregon Scientific travel clock has the ability to "offset" by any number of hours, so all I need is the signal--the zone it's in is not relevant. However, I don't know if other such clocks have the ability to offset.

Another good point--I could be receiving one of the Chinese signals. With the offset, though, it wouldn't really matter. I'll have another look this weekend to see which time zone the signal is coming from--I think I had to offset it by one hour, but I may not have. The OS clock actually has two Japanese settings, as well as the ability to select both at the same time (which is the setting I think I'm using).

[climber07]

I wouldn't expect amazon.com to have Japanese-spec radio controlled clocks

Then you'd be wrong....they sell world travel atomic clocks which pick up all international signals.

[jgl]

so you want all your clocks in your house to be in japanese time zone?

The same logic would dictate that people using these clocks on the US mainland could be off by three hours.

Any device that takes external time signals (network devices, computers, GPSes) take UTC offsets, otherwise the world would fall apart.

[dot.zen]

Not directly related, but...

Before I moved to HK I had an 'atomic' clock' set up and running in my garage.
This was a L1/L2 GPS receiver connected to a caesium oscillator and rubidium oscillator.
One of my mates saw it one day and the conversation went like this...

Him: What's that?
Me: Oh, that's just my atomic clock.
Him: F***! Is it radioactive?
Me: No, it doesn't work that way.
Him: Oh.
Him: Well, what time is it?
Me: ummm....

An actual atomic clock does not tell you the time, it is a frequency or time interval reference standard. It's only in the past few years that that the largest supplier of caesium clocks put a time display on the front panel.

Radio referenced clocks are pretty easy to get these days,the Oregon Sci ones are pretty good, but many countries are shutting down the LW & MW time reference signals as GPS is more common.

dot.zen

[jgl]

Before I moved to HK I had an 'atomic' clock' set up and running in my garage.
This was a L1/L2 GPS receiver connected to a caesium oscillator and rubidium oscillator.
One of my mates saw it one day and the conversation went like this...

Okay, someone has to ask it:

Why?!?

[Lootoo]

Then you'd be wrong....they sell world travel atomic clocks which pick up all international signals.

Well, I have been wrong before...

Perhaps I should have been more clear: I don't want another travel alarm clock, I want a proper wall clock with a radio-control feature, and these are (in my experience) generally not multi-zone--you have to buy them in the intended time zone or they won't receive the signal and therefore won't work. At least 90% of the atomic clocks for sale on Amazon.com are WWVB-only, though I did find a few travel-type clocks and a Sangean clock radio with global reception.

However, I see that Amazon.co.jp is full of Seiko, Citizen and Casio radio-controlled wall clocks. The only question is whether they have offset capabilities, given that they are designed to work in Japan, which only has one time zone (the world is trembling as I type). I'd need a shopping service to purchase it for me and ship it, though, as they won't ship outside of Japan. More research required!