10 June 2022
After more than 89 years of loyal service (for 32644 days, to be precise), the official Speaking Clock service accessible by 36 99 and operated by Orange since 1991, will be discontinued on 1 July 2022.
Photographic credits: P. Blondé (Observatoire de Paris, CNRS).
Paris Observatory remains the institution in charge of establishing the "legal base time", and providing it to users. Indeed, synchronisation is a scientific, societal and industrial issue for the economy and sovereignty, and in particular for the fields of telecommunications and navigation systems. SYRTE (research unit Observatoire Paris-Paris Sciences et Lettres, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université and Laboratoire National d’Essai) continues to make UTC(OP), the national (or local) value of UTC, called "basic legal time", available to users and continues to disseminate legal time by different means, which meet the needs of a very large number of users:
by NTP (Network Time Protocol, free of charge, about 1 million requests per hour);
by the reception of a time signal transmitted in wide waves (162 kHz): ALS162 (free of charge, 200,000 clocks);
by receiving satellite signals, in particular GNSS systems such as the US system GPS and the European systems GALILEO and EGNOS;
by using a service operated by a third party;
by calibration.
Did you know?
UTC(OP) is one of the top 3 best realization of Universal Time Coordinated in the world.
To get the legal time by NTP:
https://heurelegalefrancaise.fr/
For more information:
Visit the laboratory pages on the end of the talking clock and the services and means made available:
https://syrte.obspm.fr/spip/services/ref-temps/
https://syrte.obspm.fr/spip/services/ref-temps/article/deux-references-de-temps-sont-produites-et-diffusees-par-le-service-des-rnt
https://syrte.obspm.fr/spip/services/ref-temps/article/donnees-rnt
Some historical elements on the talking clock (Monthly Astronomy, February 2013)
© Société astronomique de France - L’Astronomie, February 2013, courtesy of the Société Astronomique de France.
Orange’s press release:
The talking clock at the Paris Observatory in 1991. Photo credits: P. Blondé (Observatoire de Paris, CNRS)