[Swprograms] CHU changes

[Ricky Leong <rleong@xxxxxxx>]

The National Research Council has updated the CHU website with some 
information relevant to the messages currently being relayed on the time 
station. The text is repeated below the link

Ricky Leong
Calgary, Alta.

==========
http://inms-ienm.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/time_services/shortwave_broadcasts_e.html
OR http://makeashorterlink.com/?M4C61200E

NOTICE:

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@xxxxxxxxx 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 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.
* Closure of the entire CHU operation, as discussed below.

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 
about any essential uses. Also if you have an important use for CHU 
signals, please tell us how you use our signals.

We are quite prepared to keep CHU in operation, and we will try and make 
the best case possible to present to all decision makers.

(...Normal homepage then continues ...)
_______________________________________________
Swprograms mailing list
Swprograms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms

To unsubscribe:  Send an E-mail to  swprograms-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above.