Hi, im looking for a way to use the MSF broadcast from rugby in a 7-segment clock project im working on. However i cannot seem to find modules for decoding it nor the antenna. I belive Maplins used to stock them but no longer do. I was wondering if there is any circuit i could build inorder to receive the signal and send it to my PIC micro controller I came across this while looking on Google http://www.eix.co.uk/Articles/Radio/Welcome.htm There is a ciruit posted (fig6) which looks very interesting but i dont really understand the article? Thanks
Maplin have indeed discontinued their 3 MSF items (aerial, receiver, decoder) and my 2003-04 paper catalogue with them in doesn't give any help on the makers, apart from the decoder, marked HKW-Electronik MCM FBM 04000. This page may help, and the NPL site has other odd bits of info. edit: http://www.atomic-clock.galleon.eu.com/msf-receiver/msf-receiver.htm seem to have the same Maplin bits.
Just got a price list from galleon and they want £15 for an antenna, £27 for the receiver and £29 for the decoder!!!!! I was looking for a cheaper solution than that?
I'm hoping to do this for my A2 coursework. veryevil, you can do it all with a <£2 PIC, except for the tuning part. I have yet to find a circuit that's confirmed to work for this purpose - thank's for the links cp, I'll have a look. You can buy complete GPS chips for £40, so that may well be an alternative to £15+27+29. ch424
Hey, i was thinking GPS but its pretty expensive and isnt great at picking up signal inside buildings. Is there not some way to use an antenna and get the PIC to decode the signal?
Another thing to look into is RDS-EON. I understand that this is the technology that sends the name of the radio station with the radio sound. On my radio/alarm clock it also sets the clock. I beleive that it is sent with the radio station as opposed to Rugby because you have to be tuned into a station in order for the clock to update. Where I am going with this is that the baseband RF kit you need may be cheaper and more avalible at typical FM frequencies. You may even be able to reverse engineer a standard radio. However I have no idea how this information is encoded into the signal or how a receiver will give you access to this data. Rod
A quick google on 'MSF clock decoder' will give you the EPE forum with some info on a PIC program. I've also found an old Maplin mag "Rugby Clock Receiver" project from '91 using a few common chips and a standard MW/LW ferrite rod aerial that Maplin still sell (for £1.73). The project includes a Basic program to decode the signal fed to an IBM-PC PP, so I guess that can be ported to PIC with help from the EPE link. Anyway, I'll scan the article. Main Receiver parts - BF244A FET, TL081 opamp, NE567 PLL tone decoder, 4093BE quad nand, couple of BC548 NPNs. Regulators to give 9V and 5V supplies.
http://www.cpemma.co.uk/bit/map_msf.zip (5.3Mb) Maplin prices for exactly the same aerial, receiver and decoder were £5, £20 and £25 in 2003. Maplin had an analogue MSF clock on clearance at £10 a month ago. Still do an LCD one at £20, maybe the display driver could be changed to LED? But I bet it's just a black blob chip doing everything.
Hey, ive had a look at that article and it looks great thanks ever so much just gonna print it off now and take a closer look! Thanks
Any updates? I'm going to try the link in the original post when I can get a 60kHz resonator, so it'd be nice to know if it works.
Hey, gave up with the idea in the end the made up units where too expensive and the circuits seem rather over the top and very hard to fix if something goes wrong. I do have a clock project on the go at the mo which ill post up when i have had some more success with it. Good luck with it let me know if you get one working. Plus if you find a 60khz let me know where you got it from.
Ah, well. It's not as though the MSF decoding is needed. Damn, I was hoping to ask you that. There are loads of them on farnell, but they wanted £14 to import one from the US! Presumably that makes sense if you want 1000 of them, but I don't! Does anyone know? Cpemma? I'll keep you posted... ch424
If you really want i found this bloke on ebay he sells nixie clocks but also sells an addon module for them which is an MSF receiver! I spoke to him and he said he would sell us one on the antennas and receiver chips for £25 See http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nixie-Clock-C...66QQihZ013QQcategoryZ3284QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I have built a MSF decoder using a ByPic micro and a Symtrik receiver module. The Symtrik module (search on Ebay) is cheap and effective, but needs positioning to get a good signal. The ByPic controller is a minimum parts system which is self-programming (see www.bypic.co.uk). My decoder displays on a 20 x 4 LCD, but it would be a simple change to drive LEDS - there are tutorials on the ByPic site, also my source code (look under DCF in Projects). There is nothing particularly difficult in this design, but the idea of updating the time on the next minute count gets over a significant problem in these types of decoder which have a running seconds count.
