What time is it? GPS?

[dkcorlfla]

Hi all, last night I was clicking away on youtube and ran across a video about the GPS time synchronize and that the US does not have a backup if the GPS system stopped working. The video went on about all kinds of bad things would follow. This got me thinking is it really true there is no backup? What about WWV?

Here is the youtube link:

Got me thinking about SDR and a decoder for WWV so I started running some searches and ran across:
index

Looks like F6CTE has written a program called clock that can decode the digital signal from WWV and synchronized the computer clock.

Curious if anyone has setup this software?

Seems like the youtube video overlooked this and it just might be good for plan B

I don't use Windows but do have access to a dual boot box that has Windows 10 on it so I might have to give it a go.

 

[nd5y]

This got me thinking is it really true there is no backup?

GPS isn't the only time source and not even the primary one. There are sources like NIST in other countries. They are all coordinated. They are what GPS, internet time servers and radio stations (WWV, CHU, etc.) are synced to. There are stations like WWV, WWVB, WWVH in other countries. If somebody claims there is no backup it is because they failed to plan for it.

 

[jwt873]

If you really need an independent and accurate time source, you can buy your own cesium clock (similar to what WWV uses)..

Several companies make them.---> 5071A Cesium Clock - Chronos Technology

 

[rf_patriot200]

Unfortunately, China has more of a robust GPS Infrastructure than the United States does. We have 31 Sats, and that's it I think.

 

[vagrant]

My uncle worked on Cesium clocks 50 years ago. My father and I got to visit the lab on the grounds of the Vice President‘s residence. He said there were five or six back then and he showed one he was working on. I had many questions, but he could only say so much. There was an armed escort with us as well.

This was also the first time I saw a painted circle on the side of a computer that said ”Shoot Here”. He did explain that.

 

[dkcorlfla]

If you really need an independent and accurate time source, you can buy your own cesium clock (similar to what WWV uses)..

Several companies make them.---> 5071A Cesium Clock - Chronos Technology

That thing looks expensive! For my own personal use I was interested in being able to syn the computer time for FT-8 without Internet or GPS. Guess the cheapo ham radio way to do that would be to get the time command ready and hit the enter key at the instant of the tone from WWV.

The much bigger consern as pointed out in the video is lots of stuff is likely to break if the GPS system goes down.

 

[mmckenna]

Hi all, last night I was clicking away on youtube and ran across a video about the GPS time synchronize and that the US does not have a backup if the GPS system stopped working.

Keep in mind that most of the GPS receivers will support more than just GPS. So if the US GPS system ever went "down", these receivers will pull time off other systems, like GLONASS or Galileo. Each satellite has their own internal clock, so they'll run just fine for quite a while.

WWV and WWVB are always there, and not going anywhere. Add in CHU and some of the others, and you do have options. Just depends on how hard you are willing to work for it. Occasionally I've seen WWV or WWVB based network clocks on E-Bay. WWV also publishes the time coding thing they use, so it's easy to build your own if you really wanted to.

Personally, I'm from the generation where paper maps were a thing and setting my watch to WWV or "POP-CORN" was pretty high tech.

 

[sallen07]

Several companies make them.---> 5071A Cesium Clock - Chronos Technology

I think this rule applies here: "If you need to ask how much it costs, you can't afford one."