Spring Forward, Fall Back? New Clocks May End Chore Transmitter Will Signal Exact Time Special Timepieces

Did daylight-saving time end before you knew it? Did you put a sticky note on your bedside radio reminding you to set the clock back one hour by 2 a.m. today?

Not to worry. Soon “falling back” and “springing forward” one hour could be outdated adages.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a branch of the Commerce Department, is preparing to send such a powerful radio signal of the exact time from a transmitter in Fort Collins, Colo., that resetting clocks could become a hassle of the past.

The intensified broadcast is projected to hit national airwaves in September.

NIST, once known as the National Bureau of Standards, has been broadcasting the time since March 1923. The agency transmits Coordinated Universal Time, a form of atomic time adjusted to keep pace with the irregular spin of the earth.

Anyone with a digital clock, the right receiving computer chip and a big enough antenna can keep perfect time with the help of the NIST broadcast.

But, up to now, commercial applications have been costly and few.

A mantle clock able to receive the signal in Dallas might need a larger antenna to pick up the signal in New York, so only a few clock makers have ventured into the “true time” market.

NIST is hoping its super signal will change all that. The signal will be at least four times stronger, enabling tiny receivers, clocks and wristwatches to pick it up from coast to coast.

The receivers should add less than $10 to the price of a product, said Don Sullivan, chief of NIST’s Time and Frequency Division.

Imagine. No more resetting clocks on microwave ovens, videocassette recorders, bedside radios or automobile dashboards.

Daylight-saving time, different time zones and power outages could all be accounted for.