When Time and Frequency Standards moved from 59 Collins Street to Clayton, the control signals were duplicated and a second bank of Caesium Beam Primary standards installed so the cutover was transparent with no loss of service.
Assmann digital speaking clock at the Victorian Telecommunications Museum
This mechanical system was replaced with a digital system in 1990
Each speaking clock ensemble consisted of two announcing units (Zag 500), a supervisory unit (CCU 500), two phase-locked oscillators, two pulse distribution units, a Civil Time Receiver, (plus a spare) and two or four Computime 1200 baud modems
The voice was provided by Richard Peach, a former ABC broadcaster
The various components were sent for commercial production after a working prototype was built in the Telstra Research Laboratory (TRL)
Assmann Australia used a German announcing unit and built a supervisory unit to TRL specifications
Design 2000 incorporated TRL oscillators in the phase locked oscillator units designed at TRL and controlled by two tone from the Telstra Caesium beam frequency standards
Ged Company built civil time receivers
The civil time code generators and two tone generators were designed and built within TRL.
Each state capital had a digital speaking clock for the local time of day with one access number Australia wide, 1194
In 2002 the Telstra 1194 service was migrated to Informatel (who use their own digital technology, in conjunction with the National Measurement Institute — but kept the original voice of Richard Peach), whilst the other time services (e.g
hourly pips to radio stations) was retained as a service by Telstra
In May 2006 the remaining Telstra services were withdrawn and the digital hardware was decommissioned
The 1194 service, though no longer provided by Telstra, is still operated by Informatel in partnership with Telstra as of January, 2010.
In Austria, the speaking clock ("Zeitansage", which literally means "time announcement") can be reached at 0810 00 1503
A recorded female voice says (for instance): "Es wird mit dem Summerton 15 Uhr, 53 Minuten und 10 Sekunden", meaning "At the buzzing tone, the time will be 15 hours, 53 minutes and 10 seconds", followed by a short pause and a 1 kHz, 0.25 seconds long beep (even though the announcement "buzzing tone" suggests otherwise)
The time is announced in 10 second intervals.
In Belgium, de sprekende klok (speaking clock) can be reached on the number 1200.
In Canada, the National Research Council (NRC) is the federal agency responsible for official time.