What is a radio controlled clock? Simply put, radio controlled or atomic clocks receive coded time signals from a radio station, which, in turn, derives the time from a true atomic clock.  The most popular type of radio controlled clocks in the UK are the radio controlled wall clock and the radio controlled alarm clock.  The atomic clocks in the UK receive the MSF or DCF time signals.  The MSF time signal is transmitted from Anthorne in Cumbria

Radio Controlled Clock Coverage

and the DCF time signal is transmitted from Frankfurt in Germany.  On the ClocksDepot.co.uk website we only sell clocks which use the MSF atomic time signal as these do not require a time zone change before the correct UK time is displayed.

Radio Controlled Clocks

On clocksdepot we sell both analogue and digital radio controlled clocks. The analogue radio controlled wall clock and the analogue radio controlled  alarm clock have a small receiver attached to the quartz movement on the back of the clock face. The digital radio controlled wall clock and the digital radio controlled alarm clock have the receiver on a circuit board behind the screen of their displays.

In the last four years we have seen an increase in the popularity of the radio controlled mantel clock and radio controlled grandfather clock ranges.  On the other hand we have seen a decrease in the popularity of the outdoor and larger faced analogue clocks. We believe this is due to the extra effort it takes for large hands to be turned during the time correction process and the limit this puts on the battery life.

Radio controlled clock user complaints seem to be down after this change. Does that mean the MSF time signal has finally become reliable, or, does it mean that RC clock users know they have to wait for a few more hours?