You are standing at the foot of Big Ben, The clock strikes it's first bell, up in scotland a guy listens?

Question

To this via a Radio. Who hears the bell 1st???

Answer 1

The microphone in St. Stephens Tower is probably connected by land line to the BBC.

The BBC then distributes their country wide signals via terrestrial microwave using digital modulation.

The transmitter in Scotland receives this digital signal and converts in to AM or FM.

Jock then picks it up on his radio.

There will be a delay due to the path length of the radio signal, BUT the majority of the delay will be due to the processing in the digital circuits of the microwave distribution system.

So the guy in Westminster hears it first.

Answer 2

Whether or not this is a deliberate trick question, you can't stand at the foot of Big Ben. Big Ben is the large bell that strikes the hours in the clock at the top of St. Stephen's clock tower which stands at the east end of the Palace of Westminster, commonly called the Houses of Parliament. As a member of the public, the closest that you can stand to the foot of St. Stephen's clock tower is on the approach to Westminster Bridge. From this position, compared to someone listening to a radio somewhere in Scotland, you would be the first to hear Big Ben's chime for the reasons of delays in the radio signal explained in previous answers.

Answer 3

The person standing at the foot of big ben.
Radio waves travel faster through the wires but there is usually an electronic relay between the Radio station and Transmitter / Reciever. This being sound travelling approx 90 -120 feet at 724 MPH would cover the small distance quickest.

Answer 4

It depends on where the microphone is that is used to feed the transmitter. If the mic is in the bell fry and the signal doesn't get fed through a communications satellite he'll hear it first. Also, if you are on the ground, the street there is so noisy from the traffic, you'll probably never hear the bell anyways.

Answer 5

I would, unless somehow the microphone/receiver that was the source of the radio transmission was closer to Big Ben than I am. Which would probably not be the case because the signal would be too loud for reasonable broadcast if for example, the audio pickup was at the top of the tower.

Didn't think of that, did'ya, smart guy?

Answer 6

Me ... I was thinking; I believe that loud noises take longer to hear and that Bong of the bell would be truly loud, because to be stood at the foot of Big Ben you would need to be in the bell tower itself. Not a place I would like to be.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Hi,
A quick pressing of the calculator tells my that your man in Scotland would hear it 0.0016 secs later, assuming he had his lugs to the speaker.
Your bloke at the foot of the tower in Westminster would hear it 0.012 secs after the instant of the chime.
So Scotland would hear it 1st by about 1/100th of a sec.
Whew, that was fun.
If not exactly accurate perhaps, but near enough.
Bong !
Bob.

Answer 9

The guy standing at the clock because the radio station has a 10 second delay so they can bleep any inappropriate language!

Answer 10

This is a trick question i believe, if "this" is a new band then i would hear it first if i'm stood at the foot of big ben.