[time-nuts] Leap-second on DCF-77

[Paul Boven]

Hi folks,

The leap second was of course broadcast by the German DCF-77 station, 
and this went perfectly, as expected. At 1AM (CEST) the 'Leap Second 
Announcement' bit was set to high in the 19th second of the datagram. 
The leapsecond itself was broadcast by not modulating[1] the 59th second 
(which is normally silent to mark the end of the minute), and instead 
the carrier was silent on the 60th second. And in the 19th second of the 
new minute, the leap second announcement was gone again.

Recorded all this on a DCF-receiver I designed and built over a decade 
ago, and still works great. Might even get around to putting it in an 
enclosure before the next leap-second ;-)

Small movie: http://epboven.home.xs4all.nl/ls-2012.html

Regards, Paul Boven - 73 de PEaNUT

[1] DCF-77 seconds are transmitted by reducing the output power of the 
transmitter for 1/10th (a zero) or 2/10th (a one). There is also a 
phase-modulation on the signal which my receiver doesn't use.
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