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Time Station Emulator

github.com

31–40 of 62 posts

Re: Time Station Emulator

#31

This is pretty darn cool, but I have to say I was somewhat let down by the WWVB signal. I was expecting the entire audible range instead of simply the extracted data. That being said, that's also really darn cool. I find the WWV/WWVB droning soothing somehow.

Err… WWVB has no audio range. The carrier frequency is only 60 kHz. It’s effectively a CW signal since the amplitude is only modulated once per second.

There’s a voice mode station that mixes time signals and voice messages together during broadcast. This station also includes GPS errata from time to time, which in my head canon, are received by solo sailors crossing the Atlantic.

I thought this was Boulder, but I assume not?

Re: Time Station Emulator

#32

This is pretty darn cool, but I have to say I was somewhat let down by the WWVB signal. I was expecting the entire audible range instead of simply the extracted data. That being said, that's also really darn cool. I find the WWV/WWVB droning soothing somehow.

> I find the WWV/WWVB droning soothing somehow.

Me too. I had a Hallicrafter S-38 as a kid and used fall asleep by WWV & CHU. It felt like a private space that only nerds could find.

Re: Time Station Emulator

#33
I have a big old analog radio-controlled clock in my classroom, and it's always about 4 minutes fast, which would drive me nuts except most of my students can't read analog time so they're never confused by it.

Regardless, I'm excited to try this out next time I'm in the classroom. I'm a little confused by time zones, however. My clock has no controls on the back whatsoever (at least that I can find, I haven't opened it up), so I assume it doesn't know what time zone I'm in.

So do I need to set the time zone on the station emulator? There's an "offset" setting, but it says it's only for correcting "minor errors."

Re: Time Station Emulator

#34
It says it doesn't work on iOS Safari, but iOS users can get the "Clock Wave" app from the app store which does the same thing. (And allows fun time zone tricks with clocks from other countries.)

Re: Time Station Emulator

#35
post #33

I have a big old analog radio-controlled clock in my classroom, and it's always about 4 minutes fast, which would drive me nuts except most of my students can't read analog time so they're never confused by it. Regardless, I'm excited to try this out next time I'm in the classroom. I'm a little confused by time zones, however. My clock has no controls on the back whatsoever (at least that I can find, I haven't opened…

If you are in the USA, your clock must have a time zone control (or be fixed to one time zone), because the WWVB signal broadcasts UTC.

Re: Time Station Emulator

#36

It says it doesn't work on iOS Safari, but iOS users can get the "Clock Wave" app from the app store which does the same thing. (And allows fun time zone tricks with clocks from other countries.)

thank you for this reply! i've got 6x CASIO watches and have struggled to the time on them synced for over a decade. a quick [small] purchase later and every single one of my CASIOs are synced. i'm so happy. its the little things that matter. thanks again.

Re: Time Station Emulator

#37
post #4

“One of the higher-frequency harmonics inevitably created by any real-world DAC during playback will then be the original fundamental, which should leak to the environment as a short-range radio transmission via the ad-hoc antenna formed by the physical wires and circuit traces in the audio output path.” Sometimes I think I’m a smart guy…and then I read of people doing shit like this.

Van Eck Phreaking dates back to 1982, which used CRTs, and if you're aware of that, it's not an insurmountably huge logical leap to realize that modern hardware can be exploited the same way (thanks to greater sensitivity in receiving devices). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking

I first learned about this while reading Cryptonomicon. It seemed too fantastical to be a real thing.

Re: Time Station Emulator

#38
post #18
post #4

“One of the higher-frequency harmonics inevitably created by any real-world DAC during playback will then be the original fundamental, which should leak to the environment as a short-range radio transmission via the ad-hoc antenna formed by the physical wires and circuit traces in the audio output path.” Sometimes I think I’m a smart guy…and then I read of people doing shit like this.

Came here to say this, I literally can't believe this works. It's like a couple of years ago where someone showed a proof of concept of turning a HDD into a microphone

It turns out those shopping car wheel locks use the same kind of low-frequency RF that can leak from your phone speaker. Someone made an app that allows you to lock or unlock certain shopping carts.

Re: Time Station Emulator

#39
post #4

“One of the higher-frequency harmonics inevitably created by any real-world DAC during playback will then be the original fundamental, which should leak to the environment as a short-range radio transmission via the ad-hoc antenna formed by the physical wires and circuit traces in the audio output path.” Sometimes I think I’m a smart guy…and then I read of people doing shit like this.

THIS is what you call hacking
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