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GeneralRe: Just one well placed virtual function saves the day Pin
honey the codewitch28-Dec-20 5:33
mvahoney the codewitch28-Dec-20 5:33 
GeneralSynchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
GenJerDan28-Dec-20 0:11
GenJerDan28-Dec-20 0:11 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
Mircea Neacsu28-Dec-20 0:42
Mircea Neacsu28-Dec-20 0:42 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
GenJerDan28-Dec-20 1:05
GenJerDan28-Dec-20 1:05 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
glennPattonWork328-Dec-20 2:43
professionalglennPattonWork328-Dec-20 2:43 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
GenJerDan29-Dec-20 0:13
GenJerDan29-Dec-20 0:13 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
glennPattonWork329-Dec-20 1:14
professionalglennPattonWork329-Dec-20 1:14 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
trønderen28-Dec-20 4:08
trønderen28-Dec-20 4:08 
If you plan the clock for the Central European market, you are within the coverage of DCF77[^] - it reaches half way up Norway.

The DFC77 signals, at 77.5 kHz (really longwave!) are so primitive, both at the physical modulation level and the data format, that I often refer to them as 'Morse code Mark II'. The frequency is so low that you could probably sample the signal from the antenna directly (after a simple tuning circuit) using any standard microprocessor that can take an analog input.

(My PC sound card is capable of producing 192 kHz sample rate sound, sufficient for generating the right on-the-air waveforms. I have jokingly suggested that once I get myself a new stereo amp capable of handling analog 192 kHz, I will plug an antenna into the speaker connectors and have my PC generate DCF77 signals to adjust all the DCF77 clocks in my neighborhood by an hour or two Smile | :) .)

The DCF77 data gives you exact time and date directly in binary format. The simpler way to do it is to feed these digital values directly to a numeric LED display. If you very much want an analog clock, you would use a stepper motor (moving arms 6 degrees/pulse) that at reset moves the arms to 00:00:00, and then moves each arm as many steps as the digital time value indicates. After a power down, you would have to do a reset (which may cause each arm to move all the way around - in theory almost twice: One to go from 1 to 00, and then from 00 to 59, if the arms were at 01:01:01 and the correct time is 11:59:59), but you need not worry about anything else to keep it in sync.

If you have battery backup for the stepper motors and the (very simple) electronics - it is as if the smallest Arduino is overkill - the clock doesn't have to stop, unless you want it to. One of my DCF77 clocks says in the documentation that to save battery power, it turns on the receiver once an hour checking for drifts of the internal oscillator, possibly holding back one pulse or giving one extra to the seconds arm, but even the cheapest oscillators nowadays are so stable that hourly check is probably overkill. You can just turn off the receiver completely if external power goes out.

I haven't been using a soldering iron for years, so I never build a DCF77 clock like this (but I have come as far as to buy the stepper motors for it Smile | :) ) - I guess you know how to handle the electronics much better than I can. Now that you post at CP, I take it that you also handle the software part well Smile | :) .

ps. If you do this, write a CP article about it!
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
GenJerDan29-Dec-20 0:11
GenJerDan29-Dec-20 0:11 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
honey the codewitch28-Dec-20 5:50
mvahoney the codewitch28-Dec-20 5:50 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
GenJerDan29-Dec-20 0:13
GenJerDan29-Dec-20 0:13 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
RedDk28-Dec-20 6:59
RedDk28-Dec-20 6:59 
GeneralRe: Synchro/Servo? Stepper? What? Pin
Joan M28-Dec-20 10:34
professionalJoan M28-Dec-20 10:34 
GeneralA little light reading Pin
honey the codewitch27-Dec-20 13:05
mvahoney the codewitch27-Dec-20 13:05 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
PIEBALDconsult27-Dec-20 13:59
mvePIEBALDconsult27-Dec-20 13:59 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
Rick York27-Dec-20 17:09
mveRick York27-Dec-20 17:09 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
Chris Maunder27-Dec-20 14:46
cofounderChris Maunder27-Dec-20 14:46 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
honey the codewitch27-Dec-20 15:25
mvahoney the codewitch27-Dec-20 15:25 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
theoldfool28-Dec-20 3:33
professionaltheoldfool28-Dec-20 3:33 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
honey the codewitch28-Dec-20 3:45
mvahoney the codewitch28-Dec-20 3:45 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
trønderen28-Dec-20 4:19
trønderen28-Dec-20 4:19 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
Jörgen Andersson28-Dec-20 4:56
professionalJörgen Andersson28-Dec-20 4:56 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
W Balboos, GHB28-Dec-20 5:46
W Balboos, GHB28-Dec-20 5:46 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
Chris Maunder29-Dec-20 4:56
cofounderChris Maunder29-Dec-20 4:56 
GeneralRe: A little light reading Pin
W Balboos, GHB29-Dec-20 5:14
W Balboos, GHB29-Dec-20 5:14 

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