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 Solent and on 103.8 FM and 1359 AM for western Dorset; on DAB (NOW South Hampshire and NOW Bournemouth); and via its website using Flash and Windows Media streaming formats. The signal for Hampshire on 96.1 FM from Rowridge on the Isle of Wight is less clearly audible north of Winchester than the transmissions from other BBC Local Radio stations, so that the north Hampshire town of Basingstoke is officially looked after by BBC Radio Berkshire (on 104.1 FM from Hannington), while towns such as Aldershot, Farnborough and Fleet in the north-east of the county are served by BBC Surrey via