"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
They replaced all the transmitters and towers at WWVB a few years ago
to improve service. It now reaches Central Florida without a long wire
antenna & tuner. Why would they spend millions and take a couple years
to do the update if they were planning to shut it down?

They will shut it down eventually because of the cost. NTP servers cost
almost nothing, GPS is "free" because there are no incremental costs for
providing the time signals.

Eventually someone will figure out that a 75kW transmitter has both a
significant expense and a large "carbon footprint".


The receivers run on one or two AA cells for over a year. A GPS
system would use a lot more than 75 KW to power an equal number of GPS
based clocks.


The upgrade was thought to be needed because of a satellite time system
that was dropped due to GPS was thought to be unable to fit the needs of
the common user. Now GPS units are almost throw away "toys", being used in
almost every cell phone, and for all sorts of SATNAV devices.


Everything will die, some day including the earth itself.

Shutting down WWVB, with the large number of people using the 'Atomic
clocks' that sync to it would cause a real stink. You can buy 'Atomic
clocks' for under $20. Try replacing 75 cents worth of parts in a WWVB
receiver & decoder with a GPS based clock for the same price.

VLF can be received under water, as well. Try using GPS for a
submarine without surfacing, or raising a buoy with the antennas. Even
better, try using that floating buoy in rough waters.



--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!