I have done quite a bit of research into finding a good and cheap radio controlled clock. Initially i did it to be able to strip out the decoding chip from the PCB and find out how this works. They all use a special decoder chip called the HKW581 developed by HKW. This chip takes the information from the receiver and decodes it so that it is possible to translate to human readible form. Eventually i found a source of the chip the HKW581. You can also buy them directly from the webshop. If you have come here to look for a ready made clock then the best value for money one i could find is from TFA 35.1080. The unit costs only 34.95€ plus postage but unfortunately it is now no longer made.

The manual can be downloaded here for the following languages: EN, DE, FR, HU, IT, NL, CZ, ES, PT, DK, SE, PO

The salespitch for the TFA 35.1080 says:

The Meteotronic START Weather Forecast Center provides a professional weather forecast for the current and the next three days. The weather forecasts are made by professional meteorologists and are sent out with the radio-time signal generator DCF77 in Germany and can be received in almost all of Europe. The reception area for the radio-time signal generator is divided into a  total of 90 meteorological regions (60 regions with 4 day forecast, 30 regions with 2 day forecast). The desired region for the local or holiday location is simply selected and the respectively current weather
forecast is shown on the display. This gives you a quick overview of the weather situation for the following days at any time. Updating the weather data is done every day.
This weather station allows the reception of weather data of the private provider Meteotime via DCF signal without time limit and additional costs.
Meteotime is responsible for the dispatch and the correctness of the transmitted data.

– weather forecast via DCF signal for 90 meteorological weather regions in Europe,
– weather forecast is made by professional meteorologists
– 60 regions with 4 days forecast (today + 3 days)
– 30 regions with 2 days forecast
– separate forecastfor day and night,
– expected highest and lowest temperatures for every day,
– indoor temperature,
– radio controlled clock with alarm function and date,
– batteries 3 x 1,5 V AA
– 140 x 118 x 47 mm, 315 g
– There is selection possibility for 12 languanges.

 

 

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