Originally published at: You can still call a phone number and be told the time by the U.S. Naval Observatory | Boing Boing
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Master Clock,“Eight Bells, it be, shipmate; and cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, yarrr!”
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Before all these fancy computing machines, we used to wait for the National Research Council official time signal at 13:00 EST.
“One of the first announcers of what was then the Dominion Observatory Time Signal on CBC was Lorne Greene, while he was a staff announcer at CBO.”
At other times, there are two numbers you can call, one for English and one for French. Long distance charges may apply.
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Or drive by the USNO clock on Mass Ave…
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In the UK you dial 123. Very handy if you need to test your phone line.
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This concept is familiar if you grew up in the US during the first 90 years of the 20th century. And apparently, a few local numbers still exist.
Growing up in rural Alabama, I remember calling our local time and temperature number…on a party line (every now and then you’d pick up the phone in the middle of some other household’s conversation. It was a VERY different time.)
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And if hearing a spoken rendition of accurate time is your deepest desire let it not be forgot that despite recent efforts (~2018) to defund it the spoken time (and solar interference announcements) shortwave stations WWV (various locations) ‘live’ on!
| Frequency (MHz) | Latitude | Longitude |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5 | 40° 40’ 55.2 N | 105° 02’ 31.3 W |
| 5 | 40° 40’ 42.1 N | 105° 02’ 24.9 W |
| 10 | 40° 40’ 47.8 N | 105° 02’ 25.1 W |
| 15 | 40° 40’ 45.0 N | 105° 02’ 24.5 W |
| 20 | 40° 40’ 53.1 N | 105° 02’ 28.5 W |
(and they’re working on a 25MHz station …sqwee!)
serious nerds of a shortwave bent (“bent what?”) can adjust their cheap Casio_s with just a twist of the shortwave dial. (one link)
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“For a good time, call 202-762-1401”
Best bathroom graffitti ever.
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303-499-7111 WWV land line, Bolder CO.
It’s just not the same. Please bring back “At the tone the time will be 5:15 AM and 50 seconds.”
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