Is there an atomic clock nearby or in Taiwan that a clock in my house can use to synchronize with? The ones in the US are too far away. What about ones in Japan? Are they too far away too?
This one from the US bureau of standards has some elaborate software you can download to make sure your computer is synchronized to UTC (formerly GMT).
Sorry, I hit the submit button too soon.
If you bought the clock in the US, it is probably designed to synchronize with WWWV on 5, 10, 15, 0r 20 megahertz. Other standard time and frequency signals from Japan, Canada, and elsewhere are on different frequencies and probably use different signal protocols. So, they won’t be able to set your clock automatically even if you can receive them. WWV can sometimes be heard in Taiwan, but I doubt if the signal strength will be enough to do the job. The best signals will occur just before sunrise.
If the clock can be set manually, you’ll be just as accurate (for all practical purposes) by using one of the sources already posted.
Hobart,
I have a small digital weather station I bought in the US with this function and it doesn’t work here. The manual even says the atomic function will not work outside the US and there doesn’t appear to be a way to change the place it looks for the signal.
I am not sure if your clock at home is atomic or not, if it is and you bought it in the US then it may not work here…
Simple solution: buy a handheld GPS receiver. A GPS’s internal clock is constantly updated from up to 12 satellites containing multiple atomic clocks. UTC is shown on the device, or a local time offset, plus daylight savings, as you wish. Cheap too at about USD150 for a basic non-mapping device. Lots of data output formats to inface with other devices.
But a GPS needs line of sight, i.e. a clear view towards the sky. Just for checking the time in the early morning this seems to be too much effort … 
Most units have a BNC connector for an external antenna. Run the cable outside. Of course if you live on the ground floor in a little alley you’re screwed.
The atomic clocks in the USA are adjusted for the weight of the population on a daily basis, and calculated to offset the pull of the sun and the moon. This is actually a simpler task that it might seem, since the calcuation of “population density” is used, along with average body weights, to calcuate a weight factor per square mile for the 48 continental states. Even with our increased immigration figures, when considered against the declining birthrate, this figure can be remarkably stable over time.
Next, an allowance for the tilt of the earth’s axis must be taken into account, as well as seasonal variations in the Atlantic and Pacific tide patterns.
As you can well imagine, since Taiwan sits in the western Pacific, is at a different location (as calculated from the equator), and since the population density in Taiwan is significantly different, so USA atomic clocks, even if brought to Taiwan, would not be accurate here – the situation in Taiwan would cause them to speed up. In other words, for two boy twins born in the USA, if each had an atomic clock, and one moved to Taiwan at the age of two, then when the USA twin was 75 years old (by the USA-made atomic clock in his possession), the twin in Taiwan would already be 210 (by the USA-made atomic clock in his possession).
I hope that this clarifies any confusion you might have had.
I detect a heavy tone of sarcasm. 
I detect a heavy tone of sarcasm. [/quote]
Sarcasm? SARCASM? Reprimand this shameless sarcasm! I fail to see the benefit of such posts to the Forumosa community.
I fail to see that advantage of anyone making such comments as these in this forumosa forum (oriented, segue, etc). Ill-thought-out comments such as these detract from the legitimate efforts of battle-hard posters such as myself to offer illumination and guidance to many poor wayward souls, and moreover sandman’s posting total of 3300 posts (approx.) is clearly excessive.
Turf war alert! 
(with apologies for flippant posting)
Hee-hee! 
:mrgreen:
Well that explains why my watch is always wrong. They’ve failed to take into account the increasing obesity of the average American citizen.
Brian