WWV – The Tick!

As a former Coast Guard Radio operator who spent many minutes synchronizing clocks, I find this pretty funny:

The funding for WWV may be cut out of this years budget or next.  Take a few minutes on 5, 10 or 15 MHz to reminisce.  Then turn that thing off, it gets annoying after a while.

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6 thoughts on “WWV – The Tick!”

  1. I hate to see it go. But I always wondered why they won’t put the WWVB timecode on all the NOAA weather radio stations? Sure it would not be dead on to the micro second but who cares?
    That signal is much easier to get in most places.

  2. Yeah, that kinda pisses me off. But I wonder if the threat is a serious play or just a way to strong-arm some money from ‘Uncle Sugar’?

    And boy, the HF transmissions made for a quick-and-dirty ‘signal generator’ for aligning old shortwave radios when you have no test gear.

    Not that I would ever do that…

    *cough*

  3. The real risk is that the Russians will take over the frequencies with their time signals, most likely at much higher power than WWV. We’ll all become dependent on Russian accuracy (or lack thereof).

  4. ” We’ll all become dependent on Russian accuracy (or lack thereof).”

    Huh?

    GPS has a timecode on it, just as accurate as WWV.

    Doesn’t it?

  5. Yes, the GPS signal includes time coding. But without WWV to calibrate the dial on older ham rigs, it will be necessary to use a GPS-disciplined signal generator to locally generate a 10 Mhz signal in the ham shack.

    Admittedly, such equipment has become quite affordable nowadays. And if WWV shuts down, it will give me an excuse to buy one of these:
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-10MHz-Sinwave-PLL-GPSDO-GPS-DISCIPLINED-OSCILLATOR-adapter-GPS-ANT/262038924752?hash=item3d02bcadd0:g:ZmsAAOSwkvFafGgr

  6. This parody was created around the same time as a mock press release stating that Clear Channel had purchased WWV. I recall reading that the director of WWV actually had to issue a notice denying that the station had been sold.

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