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Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4408
Buried on page 25 of the 2019 budget proposal for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), under the heading "Fundamental Measurement, Quantum Science, and Measurement Dissemination", there's a short entry that has caused plenty of debate and even a fair deal of anger among those in the amateur radio scene:
NIST will discontinue the dissemination of the U.S. time and frequency via the NIST radio stations in Hawaii and Ft. Collins, CO. These radio stations transmit signals that are used to synchronize consumer electronic products like wall clocks, clock radios, and wristwatches, and may be used in other applications like appliances, cameras, and irrigation controllers.
The NIST stations in Hawaii and Colorado are the home of WWV, WWVH, and WWVB. The oldest of these stations, WWV, has been broadcasting in some form or another since 1920; making it the longest continually operating radio station in the United States. Yet in order to save approximately $6.3 million, these time and frequency standard stations are potentially on the chopping block.
Source: https://hackaday.com/2018/08/20/what-will-you-do-if-wwvb-goes-silent/
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday August 28 2018, @03:41PM
Apparently it's already down closer to $3 -- someone linked below to an article from HackADay showing how to build a transmitter which can overpower and replace the existing clock sync signals using a total of three parts: a $1 ATTiny chip, a length of wire, and a battery. That only broadcasts a pre-programmed time though, so you'd likely want to add either a USB-to-serial interface so it can sync from a computer that syncs through the internet (and then you can remove the battery too and get power from USB) or a GPS receiver. But in the end you could probably sell such a device retail for $20-$30, meaning every year that the transmitter is inactive would save enough money to buy about a quarter million of them.