[AMRadio] CHU has to move?


Mark Foltarz Foltarz at rocketmail.com
Wed Oct 18 21:15:23 EDT 2006


The response I received from Raymond Pelletier of the Institute for National
Measurement Standards states just that. They have to either move, redefine the
CHU service on 7335 or close up shop there.

The message follows :


This outreach is to collect information from users of CHU to help shape
recommendations concerning what should be done concerning changes to CHU that
will have to be in place by April 2007. 

 

In April 2007 the licence on 7.335 MHz will have to be modified to reflect
changes on the status of the band allocation by the International
Telecommunications Union. This frequency has been changed from “fixed service”
to “broadcast”. (The ITU decision does not affect the frequencies 3.33 MHz and
14.67 MHz.) Some alternatives are:

Re-licencing just might be possible, calling the 7.335 MHz a “broadcast”.  
It is also possible to stop using that frequency (the most useful of the three
we use). Stopping one signal is the easiest solution but could create problems
for some clients who are counting on this particular signal. 
Change the frequency from 7.335 MHz to a nearby fixed-service frequency. It
would need some investment from our part in new hardware and in manpower. It
could also create problems for clients, and likely not all radios will be able
to tune to the new frequency.
 

To be seriously considered, any of the above alternatives will need to have a
zero-based budgeting justification prepared, comparing it against the least
expensive alternative of closing CHU entirely. CHU is entering a phase where
major investment in new transmitters will be required if it is to be kept
operating. In the absence of input from the CHU user community, concerning the
importance of CHU’s contribution in the modern world, this last option is an
inescapable recommendation. 

 

The CHU code is also used as a radio clock, which can be used as a reference
clock for an NTP time server. Software drivers have been written that can
obtain the date and time from the code and that tune a digitally tuned radio to
one of our 3 frequencies, to get the best signal. Users of this service
generally don’t listen to the audio broadcast. So we cannot gauge the usage by
sending this announcement. 

 

Please, if you know of anyone using CHU but not aware of the possible changes
to its frequency usage, let them know and ask them to contact us. Also if you
have an important use for CHU signals, please tell us how you use our signals.

 

Be assured that we will try our best to maintain the CHU service as it is,
keeping the three frequencies as they are.

 

Thank you for your support.
Raymond Pelletier
============================================
Frequency and Time
Institute for National Measurement Standards
National Research Council Canada
M-36, room 1026
1200 Montreal Road
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0R6
Tel: (613) 993-3430
Fax: (613) 952-1394
raymond.pelletier at nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Government of Canada

--- Bob Bruhns <bbruhns at erols.com> wrote:

> I read on the RX-320 group that Canadian time station CHU has been
> announcing that they have to do something, either move or relicense
> as a broadcaster, because ITU has allocated their 7.335 MHz
> frequency to broadcasting.  Evidently they are looking for feedback
> as to how this will affect listeners and users.
> 
> I think the Canadian time broadcasts are primarily for Canadian
> users - but  the exact frequency is not important to me, so the
> 7335 KHz outlet could move anywhere in the approximate 6 to 8 MHz
> range, and I would not be adversely affected.  The WWV
> transmissions are especially useful because they are on even-MHz
> frequencies, so if CHU moved to 8.000 MHz, that might be good.
> 
> I grew up with CHU and WWV all over shortwave, pretty much as they
> are now.  I think that the shortwave era will be officially over
> when they cease transmissions.  I don't want to see that happen.
> 
>   Bacon, WA3WDR
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