RIP: Canadian Broadcast Corporation's time signal announcement, just shy of its 84th anniversary

[thewayne]

The CBC began broadcasting a time signal on its shortwave station CHU on November 5th, 1939, the same year that it joined World War 1 and six years before the USA began broadcasting its time signal on their shortwave station WWV. The CBC Radio One time broadcast was discontinued unexpectedly earlier this month on October 9th. The reasons stated was that the Radio One broadcast is received through a number of means, including satellite reception, that can induce lag of several seconds, and in critical applications this cannot be relied upon.

You can still listen to CHU if you have a shortwave receiver and can pick up its signal, it broadcasts on 3.33, 7.85 and 14.67 MHz, and are heard through central/eastern Canada and the eastern United States. More info on the station at https://www.radioworld.com/global/chu-canadas-time-station. One thing that I find interesting is they regularly send out QSL cards! (something that only ham radio geeks would be interested in)

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/10/canadas-84-year-radio-time-check-has-stopped-because-of-accuracy-concerns/


For the science fiction geeks amongst us, the sound of CHU's time signal's Morse code broadcast was used for the sound of the Rebel's radar signal in The Empire Strike's Back! It's embedded in the Battle of Hoth scene.

https://swling.com/blog/tag/the-empire-strikes-back/

Comments

[graydon]

The thing nobody seems to mention is that GPS satellites are atomic clocks with a really excellent time correction facility in the receivers. EVERYBODY uses GPS for time coordination, to the point where many things would become unsafe without it.

[thewayne]

That is quite true, with a big HOWEVER.  You don't get coordinates from just one satellite, it takes being able to see three or four, and then doing some pretty crazy math to calculate coordinates and time.  Talking to just one satellite, whether it's a GPS or communications satellite, if it's in a geostationary orbit, induces enough lag that you can't use it for super-accurate time-keeping.

[disneydream06]

Nothing is sacred any more. :(
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

I think it's a sensible move.  They know that the way that people receive the information is potentially inaccurate, and it can be used in critical applications, and they don't want to be a potential source of critical failures.  There's many ways to get critically-accurate time information, broadcast radio isn't the best way.  My wife's laser at the observatory has its own cesium laser atomic clock!  They couldn't get sufficient accuracy from radio broadcast or the internet, getting their own atomic clock was the only solution!

[disneydream06]

WOW...

[rain_gryphon]

The CBC began broadcasting a time signal on its shortwave station CHU on November 5th, 1939, the same year that it joined World War 1

One sees why the Canadians needed a way to keep current on what time it was, eh?

[acelightning73]

I reset my wristwatch to the WWV time signal on the phone (there's too much lag in my internet connection for the website to be accurate). This wristwatch cost me US $12 in the drugstore, and it keeps pretty good time as long as I adjust it every once in a while (and replace the battery when necessary). It has a way to zero out the seconds, which is very good for making sure it's accurate. My bedside clock radio supposedly sets itself by synchronizing with the 60 HZ electrical power it's plugged into, and it will also automatically adjust for daylight and standard time. But the radio doesn't get AM very well, and I can't make the numerals of the time display dim enough. It has a USB port, but when I try to use it to charge my phone, it reduces the audio quality. And after I'd had it about one year, it stopped responding to any of the buttons or switches, and eventually just wouldn't work. I put it in a drawer and dug it out a year and a half later, when the replacement radio stopped working. I plugged the old radio in, and it's been working okay for eight months.

I don't have a shortwave receiver, except for a console radio that belonged to my great-aunt. It needs repairs that I don't have the equipment to repair. And since Radio Shack went out of business, I can't just go to the mall and buy a pocket shortwave radio.

[thewayne]

You can tell your computer to use NIST for its time source, which is pretty darn good.

[acelightning73]

I'm pretty sure it's already set to that. But I need to have my wristwatch as exact as I can get it. Working in radio, I needed to make sure we broadcast the network news precisely on the hour, when it was sent over the network. Joining it in progress sounded very sloppy even to the audience.

The trouble with the Canadian signal it it's not momentary, like a beep.

[silveradept]

That makes sense, honestly, to discontinue something that's supposed to be accurate if it no longer is accurate enough for purpose, but it definitely sounds like something that is a part of the tradition of radio and that it will be missed.

[darkoshi]

This inspired me to get out my old portable shortwave radio and try it out. I remember hearing stations like that back in the 80s and 90s. Alas, like the last times I tried, I get nothing but static and interference on all bands now. Next time I should unplug the other electronics in my house to see if that helps.
I was to delighted to get QSL cards from Deutsche Welle and Radio Cairo back in the day, but never made a hobby of it.

[thewayne]

QSL cards are cool things!  I might set up a shortwave shack, or even go for my full Extra class later.  I've been a licensed ham for over 25 years now but haven't done much with it for a while.