[time-nuts] Chinese Time Station

WB6BNQ wb6bnq at cox.net
Fri Aug 29 21:37:28 UTC 2008


Hello to All,

I live in San Diego, California, USA and normally do not get to bed until around
3 to 3:30pm.  I have an Amateur radio transceiver next to my bed and often listen
to Amateur conversations while falling asleep.  Besides my favorite listening
spots, I, of course, have the WWV time channels programmed into memory.

My experience with WWV is 15 and 10 MHz is good during the day while 5 and 2.5
MHz do well at night with 5 MHz usually being the best.  Sometimes I hear 10 MHz
but it is usually quite weak or nonexistent.

Until today I have never heard another time station on 10 MHz.

Early this morning, Friday, August 29, 2008, for the first time ever, I heard
another country’s time station besides WWV on the standard frequencies.  I
happened to flip to the WWV 10 MHz memory and heard what sounded like local
computer data spurts.  Thinking it could be the time rack in the back room or it
could be the cable modem or router, I decided to keep listening.  A CW ID,
repeated about twenty times, came next after which a voice announcement followed
by a tone at the bottom of the hour.  What continued was a one second pulse just
like WWV.

However, this one second pulse sounded more like a “TICK” sound of a narrower
pulse.  The US pulse sounds more like a “TOCK” sound.  So I listened for a one
minute announcement.  Oops, no 1, 5, 10 or 15 minute announcements.  Finally,
thirty minutes later (4:00am) it again went through computer sequence, ID, voice
and tone.

>From 3:38am to about 3:55am the foreign station started fading in and out.
Faintly the WWV signal was fading in and out as well. At times I could hear both
stations together.  Finally the foreign station became strong again at 3:57am.
Sure enough the announcement sequence started during the 3:58am minute.  This
time around I was ready for the voice.  The station ID was “BPM.”  Chinese
Amateur call signs start with the letter “B,” so I figure it is a Chinese time
station.  I did recognize the Chinese language at the top of the hour.

Trying to stay awake to see how long this propagation path would last, I fell
asleep after 4:30am leaving the receiver on while telling myself to check the
call sign later.  Several times I drifted into a semiconscious state hearing the
BPM station.  I could have been dreaming but I do not think so.  Very early
daylight might be a good time for propagation to Asia.

Of course I have Googled and sure enough BPM is the Chinese time station.
Haven’t chased after QSL cards in  a long time.  This is one I sure am going to
request and see what happens.

Bill....WB6BNQ





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