CHU Time Signal To Cease Operations

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StereoScout

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After 77 years of operation it has been announced on the air on CHU that it
is permanently leaving the air effective April 1,2007. That announcment is
being broadcast every minute alternating between English and French.
The frequencies as usual have been 3330, 7335,& 14670 Khz.
 

K2KOH

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Jeez...what the hell is that all about? I guess they don't want to spend any more money for the time standard.
 

wa8pyr

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RayK said:
CHU and even the US broadcast time standards are outdated. They are no longer needed.

On the contrary.... where do you think that "atomic clock" you may have hanging in your shack gets it's time sync signal??? I have two of them in my house, one in the shack and one in the kitchen. There are thousands of dedicated-use WWV receivers out there, too, used by public safety and support organizations. Ever try to get a time hack when you have a portable SW receiver but no internet connection and computer to get the time hack from? Kind of difficult without that broadcast. And the voice broadcast signals are still used regularly for a variety of other things, including as frequency standards for tuneup of radio equipment. That's how I tuned up my receivers last time...

As far as CHU ceasing operation, I suppose I can see that being a logical move on their part; I suspect WWV and WWVH are perfectly readable in most parts of Canada, so why should they shell out the bucks to run one in the Great White North when the one south of the border works equally well? Interestingly enough, however, there is no mention of this on the CHU web page....

Tom WA8PYR
 
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RayK

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wa8pyr said:
On the contrary.... where do you think that "atomic clock" you may have hanging in your shack gets it's time sync signal??? Tom WA8PYR
Tom WWv,WWVH and CHU only works if you are able to receive thier siginals.
But put on your thinking cap , today we have the capacity to receive a timing siginal any where on the earth. Today in the age of digital communications where do you think the telephone , cable and internet compaines get thier timing signals .What satellite put out such a accurate timing siginal that 2 are available one for the military and one for commerical applications . That's right ,we take for granted the GPS satellites.
Ray
 

radioscan

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RayK said:
What satellite put out such a accurate timing siginal that 2 are available one for the military and one for commerical applications . That's right ,we take for granted the GPS satellites.
Ray

Yeah, that's a smart thing to do! Let us rely on one sole source for a needed service.
Let's throw all of the back-ups away. Don't worry, the GPS system will never fail or falter.
We don't need any other source for ultimate timing, the GPS will satisfy our every need!

Riiiiiight! :roll:
 

RayK

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radioscan said:
Yeah, that's a smart thing to do! Let us rely on one sole source for a needed service.
Let's throw all of the back-ups away. Riiiiiight! :roll:

Do a google search for GPS , you might get educated , they have failed and have been replaced ,right now there are 24 gps satellite in orbit with more planned .
 

mkh

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RayK said:
CHU and even the US broadcast time standards are outdated .They are no longer needed.
Ray

Outdated - maybe. No longer needed - you can't speak for everyone.

When ever I'm testing a new radio or antenna I look to WWV\WWVH or CHU for calibration. In fact I consider a radio to be deaf if I can't hear CHU. It's been that much a part of my life and brings back lots of great memories.

And you are wrong about the GPS satellites filling the bill for all of those atomic watches and clocks. If they don't broadcast on a frequency that they can use. Let's just obsolete everything we have so we can buy new stuff.

I for one will miss CHU.
 

Yokoshibu

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there are only 24 in orbit?.... I think there are 30 currently operational
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/gps-ops.txt

Things to consider... The time clock was the old standard for the military, now with GPS timming embedded into so many applications there is really no need for the military to support the time clock function on hf. Consumer products alone hardly even justify continuing to fund the time clock. Now that motorola has integrated the gps reciever into a single IC the technology of gps timing will get cheaper and be more readily available. Besides its more accurate....

However, how much money did the dod put into the wwv wwvb wwvh within the last 6 years? That is part of the reason why it is not going anywhere soon.

Technology has changed a lot in the military... most of the new guys dont even know how to slave off of the time clock for setting timming in their equipment cause they all use gps...


so in 10 years I think they'll still be tickin 20-30yrs not so much.
 

edftc

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And then there is more to the message-after the time check-the solar flux reports, for propagation info. The US Navy subs use that info......
Ed..N0ihb
 
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Last I knew US Naval vessels still required celestial navigation be as a backup. Yup. That's right the old naval sextant and related gear be used as well as all the whizzbang electronics.

It's only a matter of time before an enemy decides to invest in the necessary technology to defeat the force multipliers the US enjoys such as GPS. China was reportedly just recently conducting tests of directing high energy lasers at US satellites. I'm sure the Russians and Chinese and others have thought of ways to disable the US GPS system via killsats ground bases systems or some sort of jamming. Not to mention the fact that there could be some sort of stellar event which could disable satellites.

Everyone is quick to discard “legacy” equipment that is supposedly obsolete as the new whizzbang latest and greatest comes on line and supersedes all. Well, once the excrements hits the air handling system, the whizzbang latest and greatest isn't booting up and you're left standing there with nothing but your unit in your hand all of a sudden everyone is wondering which bone yard that useless “legacy” gear is in.
 
N

N_Jay

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Lets all play "Jump to Conclusions".

The discussion was about CHU, not WWV.

And yes, it will go away some day, just like LORAN.
 

scansomd

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Declared_Hostile said:
Last I knew US Naval vessels still required celestial navigation be as a backup. Yup. That's right the old naval sextant and related gear be used as well as all the whizzbang electronics.

As of late 2004 (when I was last qualified to be an Officer Of the Deck Underway) the Sextant and celestial navigation were still required to be demonstrated prior to qualification. As a matter of practice, however, a combination of Dead Reckoning and GPS were the order of the day.

In order to keep this on topic, I hope CHU stays on the air - although I am sure it, along with WWV, will go away someday. IHMO, it has less than 10 years left.
 

gcgrotz

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Often during times of bad propagation I can't hear WWV at all and I will tune in CHU. I think CHU might have been the first DX I ever heard as a 9 year old many decades ago.
 

mkh

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gcgrotz said:
Often during times of bad propagation I can't hear WWV at all and I will tune in CHU. I think CHU might have been the first DX I ever heard as a 9 year old many decades ago.

Yeah, I still remember the magic of listening to CHU back in the mid '70s.
 

DaveIN

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There goes the sound effect for the Imperial signal on Hoth in Empire Strikes Back...
 

N4UYV_Al

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Those HF time broadcasts saved me on road trips makin' QSO's with my HF gear when I didnt trust the digital clock in my jeep...Always use 'em to set all the clocks for HF contests like Field Day...
 
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you people need to actually **L I S T E N** to the CHU message and comprehend what it's actually saying !!!!!!

and then WRITE your support/preferences/suggestions to them !!!!!
 
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