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

Graham planophore at aei.ca
Sun Apr 28 13:16:32 UTC 2013


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/  has some info in Italian


Some details of the time signal can be found here:

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
>
> 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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