ROA Time


ROA Time is the official time of Spain. It is established by ROA, the Royal Institute and Observatory of the Armada, at San [Fernando, Cádiz|San Fernando], Cádiz.

Broadcasting methods

ROA broadcasts the official time in Spain using the following methods:
  1. Transmission of time signals in HF in two daily intervals of 25 minutes. From 10:00 UTC to 10:25 UTC on 15.006 MHz and from 10:30 UTC to 10:55 UTC on 4.998 MHz. The station is a Harris RF-130 with 1kW of power broadcasting from San Fernando. This is the only radio broadcast of official time in Spain as there is no longwave station broadcasting time signals such as DCF77 from Germany or MSF60 from the United Kingdom.
  2. Via hotline, using a time information broadcasting protocol widely used in Europe. Access is limited to two minutes per call and admits international calls.
  3. NTP Protocol, through two Internet servers placed in San Fernando and a third one placed in Madrid.
  4. Timestamping. The ROA, as a TSA, provides a timestamping server for official certifications through a standard digital certificate x509 v3. This system is used by the whole public administration in Spain for timestamping their transactions. This service is available through the SARA Network.