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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @07:09PM (2 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz_clock [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Monday August 27 2018, @07:31PM (1 child)
Like I said, wildly inaccurate. Expecting an off the shelf consumer grade clock to maintain minute per month accuracy is overly optimistic. Being more accurate than most mechanical clocks is a low bar and a lot of the crap on the shelves barely clear it.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 27 2018, @08:57PM
Right but I don't care about a wall clock losing/gaining a minute per month. To the nearest quarter hour is granular enough for most things and for those it's not there's my phone or any of the other Internet connected devices I own.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.