Logo of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
View of the Mainflingen long-wave radio station for transmission of the DCF77 signal:  transmitter building (in the back), antenna building (yellow bricks) and antenna masts.

Dissemination of legal time

By the Time Act of the Federal Republic of Germany of 1978, the Central European Time (CET) or the Central European Summer Time (CEST) has been defined as legal time for our country and its realization and dissemination have been assigned to PTB. For this purpose, PTB offers three different services:

Mast of an antenna for the long-wave transmitter DCF77 at the broadcasting station Mainflingen
Artist's view of time services via the internet

At present, frequency comparisons via LORAN und TV are of secondary importance.

 Hablamos español: nuestro servicio de tiempo por medio de DCF77 es ahora disponible en español.