[Members] CHU time signal

[rattray]

I emailed CHU when I heard the rumours that there might be changes and the
reply is posted below  - 73 Bruce.

72/73 - Bruce ve5rc/ve5qrp - QRP-C#1, QRP-L#886, A1 Operator
            Enter QRP-Canada's "RUN with RAC" contest -            
            details - http://www.qrp-canada.com <http://www.qrp-canada.com/>

 



-----Original Message-----
From: INMS, Radio.CHU [mailto:Radio.CHU.INMS at nrc-cnrc.gc.ca] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 3:12 PM
To: rattray
Subject: RE: Rumours?



About the New Messages on CHU – October, 2006

 

The added messages on CHU are:

“On April 1, 2007, CHU needs to stop operating, change frequencies, or
re-licence. Contact radio.chu at nrc.gc.ca or mail CHU Canada K1A 0R6,” and

 « En avril 2007, CHU doit soit cesser ses opérations, soit changer de
fréquence, soit renouveler sa licence. Contactez radio at chu.cnrc.gc.ca ou
écrivez à CHU Canada, Conseil national de recherches, K1A 0R6. »

 

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
 <mailto:raymond.pelletier at nrc-cnrc.gc.ca> raymond.pelletier at nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Government of Canada
========================================



-----Original Message-----
From: rattray [mailto:rattray at accesscomm.ca]
Sent: October 16, 2006 11:26
To: INMS, Radio.CHU
Subject: Rumours?



I'm hearing rumours that CHU might go off the air - as an individual who has
used CHU's time signals many, many times over the span of 44 years as an
amateur radio operator, I hope it isn't true - as well, wherever I worked in
the broadcasting industry, CHU time signals were and are in use daily -
please keep this service going! - thank you - Bruce Rattray.

72/73 - Bruce ve5rc/ve5qrp - QRP-C#1, QRP-L#886, A1 Operator
            Enter QRP-Canada's "RUN with RAC" contest -            
            details - http://www.qrp-canada.com
 




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