[time-nuts] WWVB Antenna revisited/Spectracom 8182

[Tom Van Baak]

Donald,

Your Skyscan radio clock, as well as all other consumer-grade WWVB clocks & watches, will continue to work. The new format was designed to be compatible with the old format so any receiver that gets time only from the AM subcode will continue to work.

It's the commercial time & *frequency* receivers that don't work anymore. This is because the new format creates rapid phase shifts in the 60 kHz carrier which break the PLL design used in legacy receivers.

There's tons of time-nuts postings over the years on the subject. If you want a fun h/w and s/w project you can solve the problem for your receiver. Or google a bit and find some WWVB emulator projects which mimic the old signal well enough to keep receivers like Spectracom happy. Plus you won't need to hunt for a loop antenna for your 8182.

If you just want a home clock that's accurate at the sub-second level, consider a computer (NTP) or time.gov or GPS or GPSDO or smart phone or even NIST dial-up. Over the decades we've lost Omega, GOES, Loran-C and the carrier part of WWVB. But when you think of it, cell phones, the internet, and GPS (and GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou) are a pretty good replacement for those vintage time services.

/tvb

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "D. Resor" <organlists at pacbell.net>
To: "'Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement'" <time-nuts at febo.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2018 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] WWVB Antenna revisited/Spectracom 8182


I remember being told about this years ago, but it had not registered in my mind recently that it was the format which had changed.  For some reason I thought it was the transmission frequency.

I'm a little baffled though, I purchased both of my SkyScan clocks, prior to these changes.  Yet they both still set themselves (when propagation allows) correctly.   One would think inexpensive products would be sacrificed verses the more expensive equipment.

What are example(s) of the "gizmo" which will convert the new format to the old one?

I realized later after reading more about the antenna I am looking at that it has a DC blocking capacitor built in, therefore it should be fine.  This is what happens when I spend too much time during the wee hours of the night/morning with a mind which becomes even more cloudy.

Thanks

Donald Resor
N6KAW



-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts <time-nuts-bounces at febo.com> On Behalf Of Bob kb8tq
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2018 8:13 AM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement <time-nuts at febo.com>
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] WWVB Antenna revisited/Spectracom 8182

Hi

You should DC block the output of the 8182 if you are going to run it straight to an antenna. 

The bigger issue is that WWVB changed their transmit format a couple years ago. The signal they now send is not compatible with a lot of gear out there. 
It turns out that the 8182 is included on that list:

https://spectracom.com/support/retired-products/netclock?field_product_availability_ref_tid=94 <https://spectracom.com/support/retired-products/netclock?field_product_availability_ref_tid=94>

There are gizmos you can build to convert the new transmit format to the old one, I’m not sure if you are interested in going to that extreme. 

Bob



_______________________________________________
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
and follow the instructions there.