WaveCeptor won't sync

[Jim Youngmeyer]

My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch (model WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync
for the last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!. Before that
it would sync almost every day. I've tried placing it in every
conceivable position with a clear view to Fort Colins. This model is
solar powered and has a digital display (no analog hands). The display
shows that the battery is fully charged. Is anyone else having problems
with their atomic watches syncing? The watch's manual mentions that
syncing can be affected by seasonal variations. Is this
watch-non-syncing season?

Jim

[John Rowland]

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch (model
WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync for the
last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!.

That's terrible.

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
Before that it would sync almost every day. I've tried placing
it in every conceivable position with a clear view to Fort Colins.

As the proud owner of a WaveCeptor for the German signal, all I can say is
that mine will sync in any position unless I place it near a computer which
is switched on, in which case it generally fails. I've even synced it while
walking down the road with my arm swinging.

I don't think the Fort Collins transmitter has been down for 10 days, or I
would have heard before now. Do you live near the edge of the reception
area? Some models allow autosync to be disabled - are you sure that you
haven't disabled it accidentally, or set it to decode one of the Japanese
transmitters? Are you sure it is still set for the right timezone?

[Jim Youngmeyer]

John,

I live in Houston, and the time zone is set for Chicago (central time zone).
Autosync is enabled, and frequency is 60.

Jim

Post by John Rowland

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch (model
WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync for the
last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!.

That's terrible.

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
Before that it would sync almost every day. I've tried placing
it in every conceivable position with a clear view to Fort Colins.

As the proud owner of a WaveCeptor for the German signal, all I can say is
that mine will sync in any position unless I place it near a computer which
is switched on, in which case it generally fails. I've even synced it while
walking down the road with my arm swinging.
I don't think the Fort Collins transmitter has been down for 10 days, or I
would have heard before now. Do you live near the edge of the reception
area? Some models allow autosync to be disabled - are you sure that you
haven't disabled it accidentally, or set it to decode one of the Japanese
transmitters? Are you sure it is still set for the right timezone?
--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7069/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

[Bill Jameson]

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch (model WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync
for the last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!. Before that
it would sync almost every day. I've tried placing it in every
conceivable position with a clear view to Fort Colins. This model is
solar powered and has a digital display (no analog hands). The display
shows that the battery is fully charged. Is anyone else having problems
with their atomic watches syncing? The watch's manual mentions that
syncing can be affected by seasonal variations. Is this
watch-non-syncing season?
Jim

Jim,

I don't know where you are, but I'm in suburb 14 miles SSW of Philadelphia.
In the past couple of weeks my Casio gw300 has gone from 90%+ syncing to
about 10-15%, though it has synchronized the last two nights. (My
definition of syncing: the watch synchs at least one time during the 3, 4
or 5 AM auto receive. The 2 AM don't count because the indicator gets
cleared at 3 AM).

Hope this helps,

Bill Jameson

[Jim Youngmeyer]

Bill,

I'm in Houston, Texas. Maybe there are some problems with sunspots and/or the
ionosphere. I called Casio support and they said to keep trying a few more
days. They gave me a phone number for their repair department in case it still
doesn't sync.

Jim

Post by Bill Jameson

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch (model WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync
for the last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!. Before that
it would sync almost every day. I've tried placing it in every
conceivable position with a clear view to Fort Colins. This model is
solar powered and has a digital display (no analog hands). The display
shows that the battery is fully charged. Is anyone else having problems
with their atomic watches syncing? The watch's manual mentions that
syncing can be affected by seasonal variations. Is this
watch-non-syncing season?
Jim

Jim,
I don't know where you are, but I'm in suburb 14 miles SSW of Philadelphia.
In the past couple of weeks my Casio gw300 has gone from 90%+ syncing to
about 10-15%, though it has synchronized the last two nights. (My
definition of syncing: the watch synchs at least one time during the 3, 4
or 5 AM auto receive. The 2 AM don't count because the indicator gets
cleared at 3 AM).
Hope this helps,
Bill Jameson

[R.L. Horn]

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
I'm in Houston, Texas.

My el-cheapo La Crosse watch has been doing fine in Dallas, but the weather
to the south has been a little rough. Things like lightning, temperature
inversions, etc. can really play hob with LF (and, presumably, VLF)
groundwaves.

[d***@gmail.com]

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
Bill,
I'm in Houston, Texas. Maybe there are some problems with sunspots and/or the
ionosphere. I called Casio support and they said to keep trying a few more
days. They gave me a phone number for their repair department in case it still
doesn't sync.
Jim

Post by Bill Jameson

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch (model WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync
for the last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!. Before that
it would sync almost every day. I've tried placing it in every
conceivable position with a clear view to Fort Colins. This model is
solar powered and has a digital display (no analog hands). The display
shows that the battery is fully charged. Is anyone else having problems
with their atomic watches syncing? The watch's manual mentions that
syncing can be affected by seasonal variations. Is this
watch-non-syncing season?
Jim

Jim,
I don't know where you are, but I'm in suburb 14 miles SSW of Philadelphia.
In the past couple of weeks my Casio gw300 has gone from 90%+ syncing to
about 10-15%, though it has synchronized the last two nights. (My
definition of syncing: the watch synchs at least one time during the 3, 4
or 5 AM auto receive. The 2 AM don't count because the indicator gets
cleared at 3 AM).
Hope this helps,
Bill Jameson

I also live in Houston and having the same problem. Based on the spec, we have to live within 600 miles away from Port Collins. Since we are in Houston, 930+ miles away from the source, it may explains why it can't sync.

John Dang

[b***@gmail.com]

Dang John, Where'd you get that spec?!? That would be a VERY small market for the watch. I've had these syncing perfectly for 10 years in California and never heard that they weren't for the whole planet as claimed.

[Norman Schwartz]

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch (model WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync
for the last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!. Before that
it would sync almost every day. I've tried placing it in every
conceivable position with a clear view to Fort Colins. This model is
solar powered and has a digital display (no analog hands). The display
shows that the battery is fully charged. Is anyone else having problems
with their atomic watches syncing? The watch's manual mentions that
syncing can be affected by seasonal variations. Is this
watch-non-syncing season?

I own a Casio Waveceptor and never dreamed at looking for deviations that
small. What is your reference for 1/2 second?
It takes me about that long to switch my eyesight from the reference to any
other timesource under test. I'm sure you have one, so I'm interesting in
learning about it! TIA.
Norman

[Jim Youngmeyer]

Norman,

I was being facetious about the 1/2 second -- it really doesn't bother me. But
I am concerned that the watch is not syncing when it should.

Jim

Post by Norman Schwartz

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch (model WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync
for the last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!. Before that
it would sync almost every day. I've tried placing it in every
conceivable position with a clear view to Fort Colins. This model is
solar powered and has a digital display (no analog hands). The display
shows that the battery is fully charged. Is anyone else having problems
with their atomic watches syncing? The watch's manual mentions that
syncing can be affected by seasonal variations. Is this
watch-non-syncing season?

I own a Casio Waveceptor and never dreamed at looking for deviations that
small. What is your reference for 1/2 second?
It takes me about that long to switch my eyesight from the reference to any
other timesource under test. I'm sure you have one, so I'm interesting in
learning about it! TIA.
Norman

[Jim Youngmeyer]

Post by Norman Schwartz
I own a Casio Waveceptor and never dreamed at looking for deviations that
small. What is your reference for 1/2 second?
It takes me about that long to switch my eyesight from the reference to any
other timesource under test. I'm sure you have one, so I'm interesting in
learning about it! TIA.
Norman

Norman,

To answer your question, I use this web site to check the time:

http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Central/d/-6/java

By holding my watch in front of my monitor I can see both clocks change at the same
time. Right now the web site is accurate within .4 second, yesterday the accuracy
was .2 second.

Jim

[Norman Schwartz]

Post by Jim Youngmeyer

Post by Norman Schwartz
I own a Casio Waveceptor and never dreamed at looking for deviations that
small. What is your reference for 1/2 second?
It takes me about that long to switch my eyesight from the reference to any
other timesource under test. I'm sure you have one, so I'm interesting in
learning about it! TIA.
Norman

Norman,
http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Central/d/-6/java
By holding my watch in front of my monitor I can see both clocks change at the same
time. Right now the web site is accurate within .4 second, yesterday the accuracy
was .2 second.

Doesn't Breitling's Superquartz watches e.g., Aerospace do better than that?

[R.L. Horn]

What is your reference for 1/2 second? It takes me about that long to
switch my eyesight from the reference to any other timesource under test.

I can easily see differences of less than 1/4 sec listening to WWV.

[Norman Schwartz]

Post by R.L. Horn

What is your reference for 1/2 second? It takes me about that long to
switch my eyesight from the reference to any other timesource under test.

I can easily see differences of less than 1/4 sec listening to WWV.

Isn't that see or see and hear?

[R.L. Horn]

Post by Norman Schwartz

Post by R.L. Horn
I can easily see differences of less than 1/4 sec listening to WWV.

Isn't that see or see and hear?

I was less than thrilled with the sentence when I wrote it. :-)

[John Rowland]

Post by Jim Youngmeyer
My Casio WaveCeptor atomic watch

(model WV100DA-7BV) has refused to sync for
the last 10 days, and now it is 1/2 second too fast!.
I own a Casio Waveceptor and never dreamed at looking for
deviations that small. What is your reference for 1/2 second?
It takes me about that long to switch my eyesight from the
reference to any other timesource under test.

a) If you stare at a digital watch with a digital clock behind it, you can
easily see both digits changing, and can resolve as little as a tenth of a
second discrepancy between them (so long as neither displays fractions of a
second).

b) Even with two clocks fixed on facing walls, you can use the changing
digit of the first clock as if it was a musical beat in your head, and
quickly look at the other clock to see whether it is keeping to the same
beat. I think you could easily resolve a quarter of a second discrepancy in
this way, but getting a tenth might be difficult.

[Norman Schwartz]

Post by John Rowland
b) Even with two clocks fixed on facing walls, you can use the changing
digit of the first clock as if it was a musical beat in your head, and
quickly look at the other clock to see whether it is keeping to the same
beat. I think you could easily resolve a quarter of a second discrepancy in
this way, but getting a tenth might be difficult.

Should they differ, which one is correct? Perhaps they are both off. A
Breitling Super Quartz is said to be within +/- 1 second/month. What if
anything beats that?

[John Rowland]

Post by Norman Schwartz
Should they differ, which one is correct?

Generally, the one which has most recently received a radio signal will be
the most correct one, unless it has a high drift rate, about which the owner
would already know. When testing the accuracy of my RC watch, I compare it
with my RC clock, which has a terrible drift (something like 0.25 seconds
per hour) but does sync every hour, so is spot on in the early part of each
hour.