On 09/05/18 07:15, Marcus Sutliff wrote:
That is a valid question to ask when someone it telling you to act on something. I'm struggling to understand why it still justifies spending x million per year. I set my clocks from GPS. I get propagation information by listening for beacons, PSKReporter, Tamitha Skov, NASA... there is an endless list (most produced for free) so I don't understand why it is still relevant at this cost of several millions per year. It comes across as someone arguing to keep horse stables open in New York City when most horses have been replaced by Fords.
Can we see a list of technical reasons it is worthy of this expense and reasons it is not worthy of this expense?
Hello Marcus,
GPS doesn't work well/at all in-doors due to the ~1.5 GHz L1 frequency that it uses.
WWVB, at 60 kHz, which isn't included in this shutdown proposal, contains ASK (Amplitude Shift Keyed) time and date information used to set "radio-atomic" clocks and can be received in nearly all of the CONUS. It also serves as a stable frequency reference.
Be careful with "free" services. You'll likely get what you pay for. A few million per year spread across everyone's tax bill to provide a stable, calibrated time and frequency reference seems like a good idea to me. Much better than some of the other uses of money that our government has invented.
--- Zach N0ZGO