WWVB (60 kHz) Service Degradation 07 APR 2024

[~SIGINT~]

Caught the voice announcement earlier this morning on WWV with reference to WWVB's (60 kHz) antenna damage and service degradation. The station is currently operating on one antenna and at 30 kW vice 70 kW.

Notice: From approximately 0000 UTC on April 7, 2024 WWVB's south antenna has been disabled as a result of damage from wind gusts in excess of 90 MPH. WWVB continues to operate at reduced overall power using its north antenna only.

https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-distribution/radio-station-wwvb

[WA0093SWL]

According to the MARS announcement they aren't looking at replacing it. It's indefinitely running on 30kW

[autovon]

Will be interesting to see how much coverage changes.  One of my ‘atomic’ watches didn’t update yesterday evening.   Normally not an issue.

[NQC]

Hey All,

There doesn't SEEM to be any reduced reliability here at my QTH.I use two Radio Shack 63-968 clocks side by side ( with  the ends of ferrite touching each other ), in the HOPE that both bars couple and perhaps give a better receive signal level .I am not sure if this concept actually plays out in reality, but I had two of them anyways, so why not.

Years ago, I had a long conversation with the WWV engineers.They mentioned Florida and MA ( especially  EASTERN MA- where I live- it figures ) as "trouble spots ".

And   that was when 'VB was running at FULL  capability.

But under   the current reduced WWVB capability, I am having NO problems. So if I am doing well , in THEORY , I would THINK  the rest of the country
( expect maybe FL ?)  SHOULD be doing "OK".

Side note:   Years ago there was talk going around about establishing a second 60 Kc transmitter at the old VOA site in Greenville, NC. I  suggested that they use the old 20 KC WWVL call sign  , which I am sure they already thought of anyways. Obviously  that idea never got off the ground back then.Now WWV is barely getting funding and the WWVB antenna fix doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Nice.

Colorado can experience some VERY violent weather and this (IMHO) extremely important service is now only running on one lung. If the remaining array  goes down, do they just throw in the towel and render millions of clocks useless ?  This would have a VERY  LARGE negative impact .

NQC

[Charlie_Dont_Surf]

To the extent that I can tell, which admittedly isn't much, my weather station with a clock locked to WWVB has had no difficulty since this degradation in service.

[autovon]

From
https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-distribution/radio-station-wwvb

Update 20 May 2024:  The components necessary for the refurbishment of the southern antenna’s triatic are currently being manufactured and shipped. The projected timeline for the completion of these repairs is tentatively set for the latter part of June 2024. We would like to emphasize that this is an estimated timeline and may be subject to alterations based on a variety of factors. We greatly appreciate your understanding and patience during this process.

[autovon]

Saw this site posted on qrz.  Some great pictures and technical descriptions.
https://wwvarc.org/WWVB_wind_damage_2024

[RobRich]

I have not bothered checking my clock for a signal, but I did note WWVB with a S4 signal over an S1 noise floor this morning at 0908z via my usual Airspy HF+D and 31' vertical

Anyway, glad to know the south antenna is being fixed.

[NQC]

Hey All,

I may have spoken a “bit” too soon.

My dual clock set up has been missing lock up “ every now and then “ lately.

As a toy to play with,I just received a Stormwise “ WWVB” 7 inch ferrite coil , sealed in PVC.  It measures 17.4 mH, so  around 405 pf should get me to 60 Kc. I will mess with it later as time allows.


But the  clocks are   locking up enough recently that they probably are pretty still much on the money.

But they will drift a bit out of accuracy fairly quickly ( 3 to 7 days ? ) if they don’t get signal.

I actually kind of like it ( every once and a while anyways  ) if they actually don’t lock.It gives me a demonstration that 60 Kc had taken a bit of a roller coaster ride,which I find interesting.

After the transmit antenna gets  repaired and  'VB goes back to full power I may not need it too much on the clocks. I may try and take the coil  down to 20  Kc (with around 2000 pf ?) as a RF amp'ed lightning receiver -OR-  use as a passive WWVB booster coil to fool with. It would be nice to able to QSY between  20  and   60  Kc as  I want to.

Hopefully  20 Kc is low enough to get some “decent “ lightning range after experimentation.Anything over   100 or 200 miles daytime  would be nice, but  we’ll see about all of this.

Also  24 Kc US Navy NAA/ Maine may not be totally out of the question either.

FWIW ,The extremely long range “ 7.5” Kc receivers  get vaporized by 60 Hz in the apartment and would require outboard audio scrubbing gear that I don’t have anymore.I DID make it work way back in the day though.

K

[autovon]

From their website:
Update 11 October 2024: As of 10 October 2024, 2300 UTC, WWVB is operating at full power.

Tip-off from
https://youtu.be/S9BLKTovbc0?feature=shared