Radio Time

I was in the chat room of the OfficialSWLChannel on YouTube when someone commented that the clock on their radio wasn’t accurate. I got out a few of mine and observed some a minute or so off, some more, but my Eton Elite Executive had the correct time and a couple of weeks later it still had the time within a few seconds.

Today I got out my Grundig G4000A that I seldom use, and that probably hasn’t had its clock set since I bought it 7 months ago. It was accurate at least to the minute. And later today I read a comment on the XHDATA Facebook group saying that the D-808 is well known for clock problems (consider the source).

This seems like a question worth researching. All I need is pile of radios and some spare time. Now where in the world could I find a pile of radios? Hmmm.

The methodology is simple. First I’ll set the clock on the radio to some close approximation of the correct time and then record the exact time when it switches to the next minute. The exact time will come from the time.gov website. After a while the radio time and the real time can be compared. RDS Time setting will be set off (as I do with all my radios with the option).

A few of my radios have an app that simplifies setting the exact time based on my phone’s time, which I observe is accurate to the second; unfortunately, it only sets local time, not UTC.

I’m excluding radios like the Deepelec DP-666 that synchronize with an internet time server.

It will be a month or so before I have any data. Based on some preliminary observations, I think some radios will prove surprisingly accurate.

If you have a radio of interest that’s been previously covered on the blog, but not on the list, leave a comment.