Greenwich Time Signal Greenwich Time Signal The Greenwich Time Signal (GTS), popularly known as the pips, is a series of six short tones broadcast at one-second intervals by many BBC Radio stations. The pips were introduced in 1924 and have been generated by the BBC since 1990 to mark the precise start of each hour. Their utility in calibration is diminishing as digital broadcasting entails time lags. There are six pips (short beeps) in total, which occur on each of the 5 seconds leading up to the hour and on the hour itself. Each pip is a 1 kHz tone (about halfway between
BBC Radio 4 Extra is broadcast over the internet on the BBC website, on services such as Radioplayer and TuneIn and for users of IPTV's. It is also available on digital radio (on which it is broadcast monophonically) and television services including digital terrestrial provider Freeview, cable television providers including Virgin Media and on satellite television providers Freesat and Sky who receive their signal from the Astra 2E satellite. The pan-European nature of this satellite means that the signal can be received across northern Europe. The controller of the station is Gwyneth Williams who is answerable to the Radio board in the BBC. BBC