NavList:

David P   

Listening to domestic BBC you may not have heard an international BBC tradition. Many years ago I could tell the time by tuning in to the BBC on shortwave and listening for Lily Bolero (instead of the pips) before the news. I think that that tradition went years ago. I have Lily Bolero on my phone but unfortnately it is not the same as the brief BBC version.

I have just carried out a test. In NZ the pips are currently seven seconds ahead of NTP:

17th March  2024  1700 NZST on AM steam wireless (567 kc/s) the  long pip was  at  16 59 53  NTP. I first noticed this a few weeks ago. You are of the vintage and nationality to (probably) understand the reference to steam wireless, so called because it used valves and condensors. For those who are puzzled this pre-dated Monty Python in the 1950s.

A few years ago there was a leap second. It was  publicised in NZ that an extra pip would be added. Near the appropriate time I turned on the recorder on my phone and waited with anticipation. I was very disappointed when I heard the normal number of pips. I emailed the time service and complained. I received a prompt reply along the lines " We are sorry. We forgot."  What a great advert for the accuracy of the time service!!!!  . I think that details of this non-event are in the Navlist archives but last time I looked  I could not find them. A quick scan through the International Code of Signals and I came up with AEH  GLH as the hoist from a time ball station.

Ying tong ying tong.........

David C