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- DESCRIPTION OF THE
- AUTOMATED COMPUTER TELEPHONE SERVICE (ACTS)
-
-
- The following is transmitted (at 1200 Baud) after completion of the
- telephone connection.
-
- ? = HELP
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Telephone Time Service
-
- D L D
- MJD YR MO DA H M S ST S UT1 msADV <OTM>
- 47999 90-04-18 21:39:15 50 0 +.1 045.0 UTC(NIST) *
- 47999 90-04-18 21:39:16 50 0 +.1 045.0 UTC(NIST) *
- 47999 90-04-18 21:39:17 50 0 +.1 045.0 UTC(NIST) *
- 47999 90-04-18 21:39:18 50 0 +.1 045.0 UTC(NIST) *
- 47999 90-04-18 21:39:19 50 0 +.1 037.6 UTC(NIST) #
- 47999 90-04-18 21:39:20 50 0 +.1 037.6 UTC(NIST) #
- etc..etc...etc.......
-
- UTC = Universal Time Coordinated, the official world time referred to the
- zero meridian.
- _________________________________________________________________________
-
- DST = Daylight savings time characters, valid for the continental U.S., are
- set as follows:
- 00 = We are on standard time (ST). 50 = We are on DST.
- 99 to 51 = Now on ST, go to DST when your local time is 2:00 am and the
- count is 51. The count is decremented daily at 00 (UTC).
- 49 to 01 = Now on DST, go to ST when your local time is 2:00 am and the
- count is 01. The count is decremented daily at 00 (UTC).
- The two DST characters provide up to 48 days advance notice of a change in
- time. The count remains at 00 or 50 at other times.
- _________________________________________________________________________
-
- LS = Leap second flag is set to "1" to indicate that a leap second is to be
- added as 23:59:60 (UTC) on the last day of the current UTC month. The LS
- flag will be reset to "0" starting with 23:59:60 (UTC). The flag will
- remain on for the entire month before the second is added. Leap seconds
- are added as needed at the end of any month. Usually June and/or December
- are chosen.
-
- __________________________________________________________________________
-
- DUT1 = Approximate difference between earth rotation time (UT1) and UTC, in
- steps of 0.1 second. DUT1 = UT1 - UTC
- ___________________________________________________________________________
-
- MJD = Modified Julian Date, often used to tag certain scientific data.
- ___________________________________________________________________________
-
- The full time format is sent at 1200 Baud, 8 bit, 1 stop, no parity.
- The format at 300 Baud is also 8 bit, 1 stop, no parity.
- At 300 Baud the MJD and DUT1 values are deleted and the
- time is transmitted only on even seconds.
- ___________________________________________________________________________
-
- Maximum on line time will be 56 seconds. If all lines are busy at any time,
- the oldest call will be terminated if it has been on line more than 28
- seconds, else, the call that first reaches 28 seconds will be terminated.
- ___________________________________________________________________________
-
- Current time is valid at the "on-time" marker (OTM), either "*" or "#".
- The nominal on-time marker (*) will be transmitted 45 ms early to account
- for the 8 ms required to send 1 character at 1200 Baud, plus an additional
- 7 ms for delay from NIST to the user, and approximately 30 ms "scrambler"
- delay inherent in 1200 Baud modems. If the caller echoes all characters,
- NIST will measure the round trip delay and advance the on-time marker so
- that the midpoint of the stop bit arrives at the user on time. The amount
- of msADV will reflect the actual required advance in milliseconds and the
- OTM will be a "#". The NIST system requires 4 or 5 consecutive delay
- measurements which are consistent before switching from "*" to "#".
- If the user has a 1200 Baud modem with the same internal delay as that used
- by NIST, then the "#" OTM should arrive at the user within +-2 ms of the
- correct time. However, NIST has studied different brands of 1200 Baud
- modems and found internal delays from 24 ms to 40 ms and offsets of the
- "#" OTM of +-10 ms. For many computer users, +-10 ms accuracy should be
- more than adequate since many computer internal clocks can only be set with
- granularity of 20 to 50 ms. In any case, the repeatability of the offset
- for the "#" OTM should be within +-2 ms, if the dial-up path is reciprocal
- and the user doesn't change the brand or model of modem used. This should
- be true even if the dial-up path on one day is a land-line of less than
- 40 ms (one way) and on the next day is a satellite link of 260 to 300 ms.
- In the rare event that the path is one way by satellite and the other way
- by land line with a round trip measurement in the range of 90 to 260 ms,
- the OTM will remain a "*" indicating 45 ms advance.
- ___________________________________________________________________________
-
- For user comments write:
- NIST-ACTS
- Time and Frequency Division
- Mail Stop 524
- 325 Broadway
- Boulder, CO 80303
-
- Software for setting (PC)DOS compatable machines is available
- on a 360-kbyte diskette for $35.00 from:
- NIST Office of Standard Reference Materials
- B311-Chemistry Bldg, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, (301) 975-6776
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
- --------TIME CODE GENERATOR A
-