[time-nuts] Italian Time Station on 10 MHz ?

Azelio Boriani azelio.boriani at screen.it
Sun Apr 28 09:35:58 EDT 2013


That audio signal was broadcast in the nineties by our state radio and TV
provider RAI. The signal was from the IEN now INRIM (http://www.inrim.it)
and directed to the RAI facilities. Nowadays it can be heard on the medium
wave RAI transmissions or by connecting to this italian site "
http://www.dimenticatoio.it/index.php?title=Segnale_Orario_Rai" where the
italian word "dimenticatoio" means "place for the forgotten things".
The signal details can be found at the link posted by Graham.
Useful terms:
preavviso cambio ora solare/estiva           daylight savings about to start
preavviso secondo intercalare                  leapsecond notice


On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 3:16 PM, Graham <planophore at aei.ca> wrote:

>
> I hear this Italian time station quite often here in Ottawa Canada. At
> those times it is almost as strong as WWV.
>
> http://www.**associazioneitalcable.it/<http://www.associazioneitalcable.it/> has some info in Italian
>
>
> Some details of the time signal can be found here:
>
> http://www.inrim.it/res/tf/**immagini/src.jpg<http://www.inrim.it/res/tf/immagini/src.jpg>
>
> /and, this is a good email address for the operator:
> into at associazioneitalcable.it
>
> They also transmits on 15000 Khz as well
>
> cheers, Graham ve3gtc
> /
>
> On 13-04-28 12:43 PM, Iain Young wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> A friend of mine sent me a You Tube recording of an unidentified Time
>> Station on 10MHz, possibly from Italy or Brazil. Further work seems to
>> suggest it is indeed an experimental time station from Italy.
>>
>> Below is a (modified for context) version of the email I sent him:
>>
>> --BEGIN INCLUDE MESSAGE---
>>
>> At first look, I tend to agree with others that it's a new
>> experimental Italian Time Signal. It is also shown on this
>> You Tube link:
>>
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?**v=VSQyKh694RU<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSQyKh694RU>
>>
>> Video claims to be: Experimental Time Signal from the italian private
>> socitey Italcable transmitting at 10000KHz
>>
>> Three observations from this recording:
>>
>> a) The "pips" are about ~1k up from the main carrier on 10MHz.
>> Probably a little higher, maybe 1.1k
>>
>> b) Right at the beginning, there is a burst of digital comms, that
>> to my ear sounded similar to 300 baud packet. Checking the Frequency
>> vs Amplitude display in the bottom left again, it appears that that
>> burst is up at ~2k+ from the 10MHz centre
>>
>> Now...a PK232 running 300 baud uses the following frequencies:
>>
>> 2110 Mark, and 2310 space tones as a PK-232, with the center of the
>> tones being 2210 Hz, and going fullscreen on the video suggests that
>> the spikes during that burst are smack where we would see them for
>> 300 baud packet when using a PK-232.
>>
>> (With the resolution of the youtube video and the screen, thats as
>> accurate as I can get)
>>
>> c) The burst does appear to repeat later in the recording, which
>> suggests it may be part of the time code, rather than some
>> Italian APRS station being a tad off frequency
>>
>>
>> I would suggest that the next step would be to put a 300 baud
>> PK232 MODEM on 10 MHz, and record anything that gets decoded.
>>
>> If its ASCII (highly unlikely to be KISS Frames unless it is someone
>> way off frequency, and c) above would seem to suggest that's less
>> likely, then it may well be the time of day.
>>
>> In that case, in order to use it, we need to work out the reference
>> point. There seems to be six pips 1 second apart, a gap of a two
>> seconds, followed by a final seventh pip.
>>
>> While different to Radio 4's longer final pip, this is similar
>> to DCF where the final second of the minute is not modulated (MSF
>> does something similar with a 500mS "carrier off" at the beginning
>> of the minute.
>>
>> My guess is the seventh pip identifies the start of the minute,
>> with the 6 pips beforehand being used for receivers to lock on,
>> and identify the 2 second gap, with the 300 baud packet being
>> used to carry the time information itself for the next minute.
>>
>> Now, do you have the ability to listen on 10MHz with a PK232
>> tones sound MODEM ? :)
>>
>> ---END INCLUDE MESSAGE---
>>
>> I am hoping to get a recording or two of it (I don't have HF
>> RF capability right now, but do have replay and 300 baud decode
>> capability), to see if it really is 300 baud packet, but have any
>> (Probably European) time-nuts hear this signal ?
>>
>> Anyone have any details on the time code ? I'm going to hope it
>> might be possible to decode the time from the packet burst, but
>> if anyone has any prior knowledge, then a head start is never a
>> bad thing when trying to decode these things :)
>>
>> (BTW, the station seems to play music most of the minute, which
>> quietens during the packet burst and pips)
>>
>>
>> All the Best
>>
>> Iain
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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