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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: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28 2018, @01:06AM
I would not make it so sure. I was reviewing datasheets and modern GPS chips are falling into these 3 categories:
1. Blatantly informing about GSM modems in it,
2. Being versions of chips from point 1 with modem functions "reduced" what is marked in datasheet.
3. Being GPS-only for first sight, but then you find that company makes a very similar chip with point 1.
So, generally, I would assume that someone who knows what is in these chips and how to launch it, can track.