index

Master Clocks

The RV MClock is the same as the others. Just a different location and a beautiful age rotted band in the wood.

I designed a printed circuit board that contains components on one side and Displays and LEDs on the other side. With one board, I have both a Display Board and a Component Board. The printed circuit board then fits inside a box, which is the case. Most boxes are made of wood, but all of my cases at KHSL-TV and KNVN-TV were of polished aluminum. LEDs were recessed, counter sunk, into the wood to allow more room for exposure on the other side of the wood.

The long chip, 28 pin on your left, is the microprocessor.
The white dot signifies that it is a PIC18F2520, a yellow dot a PIC18F2523, and of course pin01.
All my chips have a colored tape at the back end. In this case green.

Green indicates a MasterClock.
Blue indicates an RVController or WaterController.
Yellow indicates a SolarController.
Orange indicates s SolarController.
Purple indicates a Speech Iterator.

ChipsDish.jpg, 109kB

The best way to talk about the Master Clock in the RV is to show how all the clocks work together. Also, to show the precision, demonstrated with synchronicity, as all are totally independent. They all figure out the Time, and other information such as the Month, and Day of the Week, totally on their own. But they can talk to each other, as well as other devices; And all on a Twisted-Pair.

A video showing all clocks together...

All clocks are synchronised with the "Beginning of the second" by utilising the front of the timing pulses from Fort Collins. I have set the internal accuracy of each clock to 10mS steps, except for this Front-of-the-second. It is less than 1 mS. RULERMAR.GIF, 1.6kB

All Master Clocks have a rotating display. Some have Green, Red, or Blue. But they all rotate CCW. When I invented the clocks, I choose CCW without hesitation. Although others have a CW rotation, I choose to stick to a Mathematical heritage. In mathematics all angle measurements are CCW by convention. I could see no president or reason for CW. But I knew that I could count on people to get it wrong; Including Microsoft with their little twirly thing that goes CW.

I have developed reservations sense then...

There is one argument, I suppose:
If English writing is from left to right, and if motion is more easily imagined from left to right, then if a car is traveling left to right, then the wheels turn CW. But it is hard to justify lateral motion into circular motion to prove a point. Besides, some written languages go right to left, just the opposite. I dought that there is an innate sociological or psychological preference for lateral motion or circular motion.

I have thought of another argument:
Clocks have established a strong president of running CW. And it spans forever back in time. But the argument falls apart when you consider shadows from a sundial travel CCW in the Southern Hemisphere. So it depends on where you live, just like tornados. So now it is back to 50/50.
The Northern Hemisphere derived clock has dominated clock manufacturing. So, it is a social event, dominated by numbers of people. Considerable manufacturing power in the Northern Hemisphere produced a physical clock. And it rotates CW. What gives it consideration merit is that it involves Time, just like my clocks.I

IMG_20240412_175901-ProTractor.jpg, 73kB

IMG_20240412_175901-ProTractor.jpg, 73kB

If you look at Protractors;
Protractors run in a positive direction both CW, and also CCW. That is no help at all.

If you look at Mother Earth it certainly has a specific rotation, as all solar systems and galaxies. But a reference point for CW or CCW is illusive. Even the magnetic field chaotically flips back and forth and does not point to a consistent direction of rotation.

The Compass is visually intuitive: Much like a SunDial.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun, and also shadows, follow an arc CW.
The further from the equator, the greater the curvature and circular nature.
The Sun rises in the East and circles around to the West in a ClockWise direction.
Shadows start in the West and circle around to the East in a ClockWise direction.
The Compass reflects this notion, and displays a connection with Nature.
I love Nature, and that resinates with me.
But is my allegiance with Nature or Mathematics?

But damn it, I have made my decision: My rotation is CCW!
Mathematics rules! Mathematics Convention is CCW.

There is a bonus to this decession: And actually the Mathematical reason involves biology and brain evolution. I have just now thought of this...

Most humans are right handed. Most humans, once given an Origin, will naturally draw a line to the Right, representing increasing value, or time progression.
And this also preferentially determines the x coordinate over the up-down y coordinate direction. But paper is two dimensional, and the second dimension was chosen as up. The down counterpart would come later.
In two dimensions with only positive numbers, the operating quadrant is the First quadrant.
Early work by the ancients was done in the First quadrant.

This included Angles.
Angles were drawn using the long established Origin,
referencing the long established Horizontal Line to the Right,
and lifting up, subtending an arc on the circumference.
Early simple angles were necessarily drawn in the first quadrant.
Thus the angle of rotation was established as CCW!
And, as a bonus, with a biological preference! Howbeit, by this time, transparent.
A precedent was established. Innocently established but quite indelible.

The SunDial and compass direction is more visually intuitive, and socially accepted.
The Mathematical is more formally established, and generalised.
Do I go with a powerful king or a beautiful queen?
My conclusion: It makes no difference. It is a stupid discussion.

Now I will show you my Master Clocks

MClock-10

Master Clock-10

I choose to use Green Leds in Master Clock-10. No matter the color, and you can not tell in the picture, but they rotate CCW. ...incase you were interested.

The yellow LED at the extreme right is the raw feed from the antenna. It can flicker wildly with noise, or it can pulse with precise timings, or anything in between.

There is an LED between the Yellow and the Wheel. It is the "Correction Pulse". This LED is very important, but is almost too fast to see with the human eye. This LED indicates the beginning of the second, and only flashes if there is perfect copy. This LED also pulls the rotating circle CW or CCW a tiny tiny amount.

The three decimal LEDS indicate different degrees of Signal Confidence. The third place Decimal on the left indicates good copy, and excellent confidence, and good history. Even without this LED, the clock can have perfect accuracy. This LED is also "history" of the last 10 minutes.

MClock-10 Antenna

The antenna is hard wire wound on a short ferrite core. MClock-10Ant.jpg, 47kB

The antenna should to be separated from the clock because a clock does produce some noise in the 60kHz region. A tiny tiny bit; well below -120dBm. I normally attach about two or three feet of wire between the clock and the antenna. Here, the antenna is sitting on top of the cabinet. Works good, except sometimes around noon.

IMG_20240412_112448-Case.jpg, 72kB

Here I have decided to upgrade the case. Working in Broadcasting has accustomed me to have everything in 19 inch RackMount size. Which is 19 inches wide. There is nothing wrong with the old case. It is just too short. Also, I switched over to yellow. There is no such thing as this yellow wood in nature.

IMG_20240412_130248-MC10.jpg, 56kB

Here is the new MClock-10
Still does not have a lot grain character. But it is now yellow.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

MClock-11

Master Clock-11

Master Clock-11 is in Popular Wood with red numerical display and red rotating LEDs.

MClock-11 Antenna

Antenna for MClock-11
I am using a 602 op amp for the final output drive to the clock. I also have an LED indicating raw pulses.
I am keeping the electronics as far from the ferrite core as possible, about two inches.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

MClock-12

Master Clock-12

Master Clock-12

Everything in red except the Correction Pulse LED; It is in high intensity green. The Correction Pulse has to be a different color than the wheel otherwise you can not see it.

MClock-12 Antenna

MClock-12 antenna

IMG_20240412_130336-MC12.jpg, 48kB

I added Black Cherry artificial streaks to give it more grain character. I am not the greatest at woodworking and varnish, perhaps I should have left it a natural color for Popular Wood.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

MClock-13

Master Clock-13

Master Clock-13 is mounted at the top of the rack.
Done in Oak, which is hard to work with. It splinters and chips, and is a hard wood which is hard to file and sand.

MClock-13 Antenna

MClock-14

Master Clock-14

Master Clock-14
Located on top of a cabinet in the computer room.

MClock-14Front.jpg, 42kB

Master Clock-14
Done in Popular Wood. Made the wood look "oak" with either dye or stain, can't remember.

MClock-14 Antenna

Here is the antenna. This antenna feeds also two other clocks: MClock-18 and MClock-19 with a wire. Master Clocks are normally isolated, one per site. But in the computer room, they are just my personal vanity items. And can easily share physical resources.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

MClock-RV
MClock-15

Master Clock

Located above the bed in the RV. And I have already mentioned the beautiful rotten band. I found the Hobby board at Home Depot. The last one, hidden under a lot of dirt and sawdust. Something nobody else wanted, was a gold mind in the rough.

I have laid in bed, looking at the clock, and thinking that all my MClocks are pulsing their LEDs together, exactly at the same time, accurate to 10mS, where ever they are. Joined in life as one. They are one! And something bigger than the sum of their parts.

"Where ever they are" needs a comment...
The Fort Collins signal reaches all MClocks at different times. So for an Earth-Time or GMT, the delay should be taken into account. For example, on the West Coast, there is about an 8mS delay. But out in the RV, the RV does not care. And I do not loose any sleep over it.

This Master Clock sends Time Information to several RV devices: Three Solar Controllers, a Water and Environment Controller, and a Speech Enunciator. Records are kept for Maximums and Minimums with the Time. All devices have other Time Information such as Day of the Week DOW, Day of the Month DOM, Day of the Year DOY, the Year, and the Month. This information is refreshed constantly, every ten minutes, from the MasterClock. SunSet and SunRise times are not contained in other devices, and are natively known only to a MasterClock. Instead, this information is "squawked", and globally distributed as a beacon to all devices. And this information is useful to Solar Controllers as well as the RV water generation and Inside temperature distribution.

MClock-15 RV Antenna

The 60kHz WWVB signal affords the antenna for the RV MasterClock to be located close to the ground. It seems shocking and counter intuitive, but it is true! Lower frequencies can penetrate UNDER the ground. In 10 years, I have had no trouble receiving a signal. Nothing unusual. So, don't let anyone tell you that an antenna this close to the ground won't work. Because it does work!

I still choose to not have the antenna located inside the RV, which with metal roof and sides is of course a good simulation of a Faraday Shield. Still works, but not nearly as good.

What is more important is the antenna orientation to Fort Collins Colorado. At some camp sites, the antenna is not orthogonal to a line to Fort Collins. For example, in Northern California a line to Fort Collins is East-West, and broadside is North-South. The antenna, and coincidently the RV, must be "broadside" to the signal.

So far the antenna has not been hit by a rock. There are a lot of rocks coming from my truck tires. But almost all are hitting the front of the trailer. Not that that is a good thing either. In fact, I have lost a lot of paint on the front, with bare aluminum showing through in circles. But none have hit the antenna in about 10,000 miles of pulling. Maybe luck.

However, the antenna can be hit by passing vehicles, if they illegally pass on the right. The RV and the truck have more side hits on the left. So far, I have been lucky.

There is another access path to the roof that RVers are not aware. I was lubricating the gears on my crank up TV mast, and I noticed that a cable could be passed through the base. Unfortunately I used the discovery to pass some coax for a nice WiFi antenna that I had mounted to the same TV mast. I am now wondering if I have any more room left to roof mount my WWVB antenna?

Then again, it is hotter than hell up there.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

MClock-16

Master Clock

Master Clock-16 is located in the bedroom on the wall.

It is easy to put clocks in cabinets, but quite something else to mount to the wall of the house.
I have kept the placement of the clock level with the top of the closet door, and also close to even with the bedroom door.
Linda was happy with the way it looked, and I only have three tiny 1/4 inch holes to patch if I want to remove it.

I like this clock because I never ever have to touch this clock for any reason. And all my clocks can run a week without power. The displays blank out automatically if power drops much below 12.6 volts. This is to conserve power. But it is not necessary, as I can reach up and readjust the display blanker for a bright display for anything above 11 volts. And I suspect the battery power to still last a week or more, even with a couple of my clocks at full display brightness.

The power comes from an eighty Amp Hour automotive battery in the computer room. One of the four wires on the RS485 cable, which goes to all devices, carries a 12 volt emergency back up power line. The limited current keeps alive the critical internal chips of all devices. I designed all my controller boards to require external relays to have their own power. I keep my boards isolated from the external world as much as possible, and never allow external equipment to use my control system power. For output control, I start with onboard Reed relays. Solid state relays have failed during lightning hits. I cascade up with larger and larger relays or Contactors. At KHSL, I have controled several 6,000 volt 8 amp contactors.
I know what I am doing, and I thrill to hear those big contactors slam, and clack to life from commands of my little microprocessors.

Its a trip. Ya, I have it bad...

MClock-16.jpg, 19kB

The case is painted Popular. The color is the same as the walls, a slightly pastel gold.

Although the brightness is adjustable, it only applies to the display itself and the circulating display, which are both chip-derived. The individual LEDs are not adjustable. I have had to cover with tape at times to please Linda, as these LEDs are bright in the bedroom. And they flash too; one of three colors every second. I have already designed the clock. It is hard to go back and dim the LEDs. Although, if I did, I would probably use a photocell to automatically dim the display according to the bedroom lighting.

Tape has a lot of uses, I think I will keep using tape.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

MClock-17

Master Clock-17

Master Clock-17
In painted black. Located in the computer desk.

The clock below, in green display, is not a Master Clock; It is a Slave. Being in metal, it was once located at one of the Broadcast sites. One of the first clocks that I ever made. In fact, it is hardwired. And it has a ZIF, Zero insertion force, socket for experimentation. It uses an oscillator that is synced to the 60 Hz AC power. It never worked out as a Master Clock, although it told its time to all devices on the NET. The communication was great, that was not the problem.

The problem is that all Broadcast sites have diesel generators, and with mechanical governors on the engines for speed control. As a result, you were lucky to keep the generator withen a half Hz of 60 Hz. My Generation Controller, which controlled the Generator, informed all devices when their AC power was Generator Power. The problem was that AC-Clocks, after being informed, would be too slow to get off incoming power. I could have gotten around the problem by investing more effort on AC-Clocks. I could have done it, I am good at what I do.

Instead, I decided to abandon the idea of an AC-Clock completely as a MasterClock. With the success of my WWVB-Clocks, and with just a few lines of code, I changed the AC-Clocks into Slaves. They were relegated to a subservient role. A role that did nothing but display the time to people. Their time was updated automatically, and synced to a real Master Clock.

IMG_20240412_093011-MC17.jpg, 27kB

Here is Master Clock number 17 You can not quite see it, but I have added a number "17" on it, upper right. The number of the picture 20240412_093011-MC17 is from the cell phone. It "numbers" the picture with the time. I am amazed the picture number is the same as the picture displayed of the MClock. Accurate to the second, an "11".

Cell phones are never this accurate. I guess it just got lucky.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

MClock-18

Master Clock-18

MasterClocks 17 and 18 are both mounted in the computer desk.
17 on the left and 18 on the right.
I did it for symmetry and esthetics.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

Audio Sample

Audio anouncing the time... You can hear five Clocks: Clock12, Clock14, Clock13, Clock11, and Clock10 announcing the time.

You can hear five Clocks: Clock12, Clock14, Clock13, Clock11, and Clock10 announcing the time.
MClocks-BotHr.mp3
MClocks-TopHr.mp3
What is not shown, or heard, is the fact that all devices, in this case 5 clocks, are talking at, or nearly at, the same time.
All Master Clocks, as part of their nature, "squawk" the Time every 10 minutes. This is to keep all devices synchronised, and has nothing to do with people.

This Squawk is different. This particular Squawk is only broadcast once an hour. And it is not Global; It is only directed to any Speech devices that are on the NET.
This particular Squawk occurs at the top of the hour, except at night. And the time is "spoken", or verbalized to humans in the form of spoken speech. A reoccurring function in the RV and in my house. And Linda is kinda ambivalent about "jibber jabber".

A generic Squawk to all devices, and if from a Master Clock includes everything about time.
This includes all aspects of the time: Day of the Week DOW, Day of the Year DOY, Day of the Month DOM, the Month, LeapYear, etc.
My communications system is very unique. Devices can talk at the same time, and nearly at the same time, all on a single "Twisted Pair". This is a type of wire. Both transmit and receive at the same time. And no que or hierarchy, except at the bit level. Originally, in the 1990s, I had other lines (wires) to help to Coordinate traffic. But I discovered other ways, that do not require timing lines or coordination lines.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

Audio Sample

Audio anouncing the time... Clocks12,14,11,16,13,10,Q,Q.mp3 You can hear five Clocks: Clock12, Clock14, Clock13, Clock11, Clock16, Clock13, Clock10, Squak announcing the time.

(Disregard one of the Solar Controllers talking about something.)

Here, there are more than six Clocks announcing the time.
You can hear Clock12, Clock14, Clock11, Clock16, Clock13, and Clock10.
At the end you will hear two quacks; like from a duck. A quack sound represents an overrun of the speech buffer.
The buffer can only hold 100 words. And if more than 100 words are attempted to be stored, a special word - a quack - is inserted. A single quack may represent a single word or many dozens. All that is known is that some words could not be spoken and were ignored; Forever lost.

Also, I have the "Attention Sound". The Attention Sound for Master Clocks is a "Dong" sound from a GrandFather pendulum clock. In addition, there is a human vocal in the foreground. In this case it is a female voice saying "Master Clock". The number of the clock follows, as well as a "clearing of the throat". Then the Message, or intelligence of that specific clock.

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

Audio Sample

ClocksSunUp1329.mp3

Here the clocks at the house discus "Sun Up".
This is just a portion of the verbose discussion, as there are many Master Clocks.

In the RV, other Modules such as the three SolarControllers and the WaterController monitor communication traffic. And I told them to comment on the Master Clocks SunUp and SunDown communication. It is just a personal assurance to me, that they heard it, and are paying attention. ...And they, without fail, always have.

All of the SolarControllers know when the sun is coming up and how bright the ambient sky is.
They know in two ways:

They know and measure and communicate the Voltage coming from the SolarPanels.

The voltage is dependent on Loading, especially voltages above 12 volts.
Voltages below 12 are not loaded. That is because usage is prioritized. All consumers must wait their turn.

But I am off the subject. The point is, by the actual panel voltage of even less than a volt, sunrise and sundown can be inferred.

A Power Solar Controllers have three ways to identify SunRise and Sunset.

Combiner Panel Voltage. The useful Input Source voltage to every Controller.

A dedicated Solar Flux Sensor. This signal does not depend on Loading, and is a linear representation of the sun's power.
This is FYI information fed to every Controller.

Master Clocks

So, they do not need a MasterClock telling them when it is time for that. They already can see it themselves.
But it is personally reassuring and personally satisfying for me to hear them paying attention.
Second hand communication... Microprocessor Socialisation...
This type of communication is at the heart of my Autonomous Devices. And, in this particular case, serves no purpose. But the device Socialization gives me immeasurable joy.

All Master Clocks know when it is time for Sun Up and Sun Down, and thus Official DayTime and NightTime.
I was probably the first, if not only, person to monitor and supervise the conventional automatic tower light operation as used for Broadcasters.

My system knows when the Tower Lights must be on.
An on site MasterClock would talk to the TowerLight Control/Monitor Module, conveying this information. All Modules have their own thing; Division of labor. Communication is vital. The Tower Monitor would then have all the information necessary to monitor and alarm the Operator working many miles away in a city.

My system knows the electrical current of Beacons and Side Lights, and thus the NUMBER of Bulbs lit and operating. Also the frequency of blinking. In the early 1990s, I was probably the first to have ALL this information.

In the early 1990's my system logged this information on official FCC logs.
The logging is required, and I supplied it.

My system talked to the human Operators if there was a problem.

I did not use this type type of speech nor my speech boards there. Instead, I used dedicated full blown computers and storebought synthetic speech cards. My system could only speak 255 words. Computer's Text to Speech could speak ANY word. An intire computer just for speech! ...And kinda sounded better too.
Overkill? No. I had so many old junked, and outdated, 286 and 386 computers in Chico, RedBluff, and Redding. And many would, and did, still work great for "speech computers".

RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

Audio Sample

I made the girls voice younger, and then made her voice slower and calmer.
Name of Audio File: MClockTop-13,18,12,10,11,14,16,17,Q.mp3

The squak at the end means the buffer was over ran.

The clocks are reporting the time at the top of every hour, except at night. These are the clocks that are heard from. MClocks: 13,18,12,10,11,14,16,17,Q
But I was surprised. There is a missing clock! Where is MClock-15?
Simple. It is out in the RV. RULERYEL.GIF, 4.2kB

A microprocessor makes easy work of analysing the WWVB signal.
A microprocessor running at 4MHz has time to analyses each bit-length in great detail.
Each bit is a second long, and that is an eternity for a microprocessor.
In fact, there is so much unused time, that one microprocessor runs the intire clock, including all communication to the NET, and display duties. Also, there is the speech to humans.

I wrote the code for the analysis decades ago, and I have never changed it. It is perfect and beautiful as I wrote it. The code is very critical of noise, but can anticipate, and handle probabilities. For example, on a higher level, the code knows that each minute will be one more than the last. And for low level logic, the mechanics of time durations are easy to measure, and can be teased out in the noise. These are the "natural" work, and capabilities, of a microprocessor.

MClock-Schem.gif, 401kB

Old schematic, and the microprossesor is no longer a 16C. Now 18F. But are compatible. Crystal no longer used.

The secret to the great accuracy is the "Flywheel". The Flywheel is located on the bottom right of the schematic, and is a bunch of gates.

It is impossible to change the time on this clock instantly. The Flywheel happens to be electronic, but it is just like a big heavy mechanical flywheel with a lot of inertia. In fact, it takes about a minute to bring my clock Flywheel into sync, and only then can the time be changed. A short pulse comes from RC6, and it will either advance or retard the clock. A few 16kHz pulses during this RC6 pulse, will be added or taken away. This will shift the phase of the clock without effecting the accuracy.

When I was in the AirForce, I noticed our clocks could be changed instantly. I thought it odd. It was crude. And it cheapened Time. Time became fanciful and not real. It even caused problems. I could do better.

But it is not my idea; I got the notion from my friend Howard, who worked down in the power generating plant. Where there were several big massive generators, all in a row; And a heavy smell of oil and ozone. It is not easy to bring a big generator into sync with the Power Grid, or with each other. Generators are massive, but are stable, and don't change power or speed easily. My friend's power plant is a nice "visual" that brings home the importance of Time. To hear the rumble, and feel the floor vibrate, to the tune of highly stable "Clocks". Don't think it is a subtle idea without a literal corollary. My friend showed me that it is quite real and physical.

A WWVB clock: independent, on its own, but with sovereignty.

Even in pure noise, you know exactly the area where the transitions are. I will not say the SNR has improved in this smaller window gap - that was predetermined in the antenna and receiver. But Information has improved, in the narrow band, in the microprocessor analytics. So, SNR or Signal to Noise Ratio, is very similar or analagous in operation.

RULERMAR.GIF, 1.6kB

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