Time Beacons

A time beacon is a special type of beacon that transmits time data on a continuous basis. Time data is derived from atomic clocks - clocks that maintain an accuracy to within one billionth of a second per day. A number of time scales are generated, including UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) often of most use to radio amateurs.

Use for Amateurs

 * Calibrating local VFO frequencies for receivers and transmitters (WWV is an exact, precise 10MHz reference frequency)
 * Aligning SSTV software to computer clock speed so as to reduce/eliminate slant on received pictures.

Canada

 * CHU in Canada (3.330MHz, 7.85MHz, 14.670 MHz)

China

 * BPC in China (68.5kHz)

France

 * TDF in France (162kHz)

Germany

 * DCF77 in Germany (77.5kHz)

Japan

 * JJY in Japan (Frequency 40kHz and 60kHz)

Switzerland

 * HBG Switzerland (75kHz)

United Kingdom

 * MSF in the United Kingdom (60kHz)

USA

 * NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technlogy); WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado and WWVH in Hawaii USA. (2.5 MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz)
 * NIST also operates WWVB (60kHz) from the Colorado location only

Related pages

 * Bands
 * Beacons