Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term wireless telegraphy was also used for other experimental technologies for transmitting telegraph signals without wires. In radiotelegraphy, information is transmitted by pulses of radio waves of two different lengths called "dots" and "dashes", which spell out text messages, usually in Morse code. In a manual system, the sending operator taps on a switch called a telegraph key which turns the transmitter on and off, producing the pulses of radio waves. At the receiver the pulses are audible in the receiver's speaker as beeps, which are translated back to text by an operator who knows Morse code.
A radio clock or radio-controlled clock (RCC), and often colloquially referred to as an "atomic clock", is a type of quartz clock or watch that is automatically synchronized to a time code transmitted by a radio transmitter connected to a time standard such as an atomic clock. Such a clock may be synchronized to the time sent by a single transmitter, such as many national or regional time transmitters, or may use the multiple transmitters used by satellite navigation systems such as Global Positioning System. Such systems may be used to automatically set clocks or for any purpose where accurate time is needed. Radio clocks may include any feature available for a clock, such as alarm function, display of ambient temperature and humidity, broadcast radio reception, etc.
The Time from NPL is a radio signal broadcast from the Anthorn Radio Station near Anthorn, Cumbria, which serves as the United Kingdom's national time reference. The time signal is derived from three atomic clocks installed at the transmitter site, and is based on time standards maintained by the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington. The service is provided by Babcock International, under contract to the NPL. It was funded by the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; as of 2017 NPL Management Limited (NPLML) was owned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and NPL operated as a public corporation.
OMEGA was the first global-range radio navigation system, operated by the United States in cooperation with six partner nations. It was a hyperbolic navigation system, enabling ships and aircraft to determine their position by receiving very low frequency (VLF) radio signals in the range 10 to 14 kHz, transmitted by a global network of eight fixed terrestrial radio beacons, using a navigation receiver unit. It became operational around 1971 and was shut down in 1997 in favour of the Global Positioning System.
CHU is the call sign of a shortwave time signal radio station operated by the Institute for National Measurement Standards of the National Research Council. CHU's signal is used for continuous dissemination of official Canadian government time signals, derived from atomic clocks.
WWV is a shortwave radio station, located near Fort Collins, Colorado. It has broadcast a continuous time signal since 1945, and implements United States government frequency standards, with transmitters operating on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. WWV is operated by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), under the oversight of its Time and Frequency Division, which is part of NIST's Physical Measurement Laboratory based in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
WWVH is the callsign of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's shortwave radio time signal station located at the Barking Sands Missile Range, in Kekaha, on the island of Kauai in the state of Hawaii.
WWVB is a time signal radio station near Fort Collins, Colorado and is operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Most radio-controlled clocks in North America use WWVB's transmissions to set the correct time. The 70 kW ERP signal transmitted from WWVB is a continuous 60 kHz carrier wave, the frequency of which is derived from a set of atomic clocks located at the transmitter site, yielding a frequency uncertainty of less than 1 part in 1012. A one-bit-per-second time code, which is based on the IRIG "H" time code format and derived from the same set of atomic clocks, is then modulated onto the carrier wave using pulse-width modulation and amplitude-shift keying. A single complete frame of time code begins at the start of each minute, lasts one minute, and conveys the year, day of year, hour, minute, and other information as of the beginning of the minute.
RWM is the callsign of a high frequency (shortwave) standard frequency and time signal radio station in Moscow, Russia. It is controlled by All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Physical-Engineering and Radiotechnical Metrology, and operated by Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network. Transmitting frequencies are 4.996 MHz with 5 kW and on 9.996 and 14.996 MHz with 8 kW.
JJY is the call sign of a low frequency time signal radio station located in Japan.
DCF77 is a German longwave time signal and standard-frequency radio station. It started service as a standard-frequency station on 1 January 1959. In June 1973 date and time information was added. Its primary and backup transmitter are located at 50°0′56″N9°00′39″E in Mainflingen, about 25 km south-east of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The transmitter generates a nominal power of 50 kW, of which about 30 to 35 kW can be radiated via a T-antenna.
Grimeton Radio Station in southern Sweden, close to Varberg in Halland, is an early longwave transatlantic wireless telegraphy station built in 1922–1924, that has been preserved as a historical site. From the 1920s through the 1940s it was used to transmit telegram traffic by Morse code to North America and other countries, and during World War II was Sweden's only telecommunication link with the rest of the world. It is the only remaining example of an early pre-electronic radio transmitter technology called an Alexanderson alternator. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004, with the statement: "Grimeton Radio Station, Varberg is an outstanding monument representing the process of development of communication technology in the period following the First World War." The radio station is also an anchor site for the European Route of Industrial Heritage. The transmitter is still in operational condition, and each year on a day called Alexanderson Day is started up and transmits brief Morse code test transmissions, which can be received all over Europe.
Beta is a time signal service in the VLF range in Russia, operated by the Russian Navy. It is controlled by All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Physical-Engineering and Radiotechnical Metrology. There are 6 transmitter stations, which take turns transmitting time signals and other communications.
ALS162 is a French longwave time signal and standard-frequency radio station and is used for the dissemination of the Metropolitan French national legal time to the public. TéléDiffusion de France broadcast the ALS162 time signal, provided by LNE-SYRTE and LNE-LTFB time laboratories under ANFR responsibility, from the Allouis longwave transmitter at 162 kHz, with a power of 800 kW.
Goliath transmitter was a very low frequency (VLF) transmitter for communicating with submarines, built by Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine navy near Kalbe an der Milde in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, which was in service from 1943 to 1945. It was capable of transmission power of between 100 and 1000 kW and was the most powerful transmitter of its time.
HLA is a time signal radio station in Daejeon, South Korea, operated by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. Established on November 24, 1984, it transmits a 2 kW signal on 5 MHz (±0.01 Hz). Originally only transmitted for 7 hours per day (01:00–08:00), 5 days per week (M–F), it is continuous as of 2011. There are over 100 users of the signal in Korea.
RBU is a time code radio station located in Moscow. It transmits a continuous 10 kW time code on 66⅔ kHz. This is commonly written as 66.66 or 66.666 kHz, but is actually 200/3 kHz. Until 2008, the transmitter site was near Kupavna 55°44′04″N38°9′0″E and used as antenna three T-antennas spun between three 150 metres tall grounded masts. In 2008, it has been transferred to the Taldom transmitter at 56°44′00″N37°39′48″E.
The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the village centre of Emley, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.
RTZ is the callsign of the time signal transmitted on 50 kHz with 10 kW from a large transmission centre near Irkutsk, Russia. It is controlled by All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Physical-Engineering and Radiotechnical Metrology, operated by Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network, and situated at 52°26′10″N103°41′09″E. The transmitter is active 23 hours per day, from 22:00 to 21:00 UTC, except for the 3rd and 4th Monday of each month between 00:00 and 08:00 UTC, when it is switched off for maintenance. The station sends time signal similar to RBU.
BSF is the callsign of the time signal transmitter owned by the National Time and Frequency Standards Laboratory of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (Taiwan), which transmits time information on 77.5 kHz in the longwave range. It was launched on May 1, 1969 and is broadcast from Zhongli District in Taichung using a T-antenna located at 25°0′20″N121°21′54″E.
