GM List, What has not been mentioned so far is national security needs of the democratic nations of the world for uninterrupted accurate time/frequency information that is not subject to interference or destruction by those nations diametrically opposed to personal freedom.
The United States GPS system is an unparalleled success providing inexpensive time and frequency standards worldwide and it is relied on for innumerable critical tasks. But it requires using satellites. They are subject to destruction or degradation from the ground over the sovereign territory by those rouge states that would be so inclined. The ability to destroy a satellite from the earth has already ben demonstrated by one nation. There are numerous reports of shall we say *Malicious Tinkering* on other satellites. Setting aside the enormous expense, technical difficulties such as the need for sophisticated and extremely limited amount of rocket launches available make the system unsustainable to GPS satellites continued destruction or degradation from a land based source. The need for a strong viable redundancy is totally unfathomed upon those in the current applicable leadership of the US government. One proof of this was the shutting down of Loran C to save $35 M a year in a spending amount of several trillion dollars a year. But Loran C gave us the best and cheapest redundant alternative to GPS and perhaps might be revived. A viable WWVB signal, while a very poor third choice, provides an alternate backup for GPS and in a strange way that could provide protection at least for the USA GPS system. Here’s why. It still is very difficult and expensive to damage/destroy satellites. That there are viable alternatives based on unassailable sovereign territory may discourage the rogue states from making such an effort. WWVB has a historically transmitted power of 50KW. This is the maximum AM broadcast band signal transmission power allowed in the USA IIRC for about 75 years. NIST sates the WWVB antennas having efficiencies of around 57 per cent. Improved transmitting tube technology would easily allow more output power. For example Riydah, Saudi Arabia transmits 2 MW on 1201 KHz and is heard often in North America with a R-390A receiver. So a massive increase from 50KW to say for example to 500KW and or the relocation of the transmitter and antennas to a more geographical central U.S. state location (such as Iowa) could extend the 100 micro-volt per meter signal level radiation pattern over the entire western hemisphere and provide a high enough micro-volt per meter signal that receivers could phase lock on the signal in North America and would not be subject to problems of diurnal shift or the new modulation scheme. Baring an improved WWVB signal strength us time nuts may be forced to install 20 to 30 ft. loop antennas when the new system is finalized for an adequate signal. Regards, Perry Sandeen _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
