[LEAPSECS] no more listening to leap seconds?

[Rob Seaman]

Whatever the outcome this year, the writing is on the wall. It seems
shortsighted, and unnecessarily cruel to 36 people and the pleasant town
of Fort Collins. The bit about the atomic spectra DB perhaps even more
so; their wide range of users themselves serve a much wider range of
communities. If it isn't the job of NIST to maintain and improve the
atomic spectra database, then who? Is there a spec-nuts list?

Presumably part of the thinking about WWVB is not NTP so much as CDMA.
In a world in which everybody carries cellphones why look to any other
technology? The answer is a few miles up the road from Fort Collins
where the cell signal vanishes in the mountains and high plains. The
transition is already underway as fitbits and other watches require
syncing to an app to reset the time, making crossing timezones in flight
a more awkward exercise while taxiing.

The "atomic clocks" on the shelves at Costco will eventually be replaced
by new-and-improved CDMA and GPS versions that won't work as well
interior to buildings. Maybe one of the POE clock vendors will release
an inexpensive wifi model.

Rob

--


On 8/10/18 8:43 PM, Brooks Harris wrote:
> NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS
> AND TECHNOLOGY
> NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION
> SERVICE
> FISCAL YEAR 2018
> BUDGET SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS
>
> http://www.osec.doc.gov/bmi/budget/FY18CBJ/FY%202018%20NIST-NTIS%20Cong%20Budget%20Request%20-%20508%20Compliant%20-%20FINAL.pdf
>
>
> pp31 -
>
> Time and Fundamental Measurement Dissemination (-$6.3 million and -36
> FTE) – NIST
> will continue to maintain the U.S. time standard, and continue to
> advance the development of
> best in the world atomic clocks as part of its core foundational work
> in this area, and
> disseminate standard time through the internet. However, NIST will
> discontinue the
> dissemination of the U.S. time and frequency via the NIST radio
> stations in Hawaii and
> Ft. Collins, CO. These radio stations transmit signals that are used
> to synchronize consumer
> electronic products like wall clocks, clock radios, and wristwatches,
> and may be used in other
> applications like appliances, cameras, and irrigation controllers.
> NIST will also scale back
> efforts to disseminate, and halt efforts to improve, and expand the
> atomic spectra database
> that serves a wide range of users.
>
> -Brooks
>
>
> On 2018-08-10 04:25 PM, Steve Allen wrote:
>> This crossing over from time-nuts list, but it may mean that
>> listening to leap seconds will become a thing of the past.
>> If I understand this summary of the NIST budget request then
>> radio stations WWV, and WWVH are set to be shut down.
>>
>> https://www.nist.gov/director/fy-2019-presidential-budget-request-summary/fundamental-measurement-quantum-science-and
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Steve Allen                    <sla at ucolick.org>              WGS-84
>> (GPS)
>> UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB 260  Natural Sciences II, Room 165  Lat 
>> +36.99855
>> 1156 High Street               Voice: +1 831 459 3046         Lng
>> -122.06015
>> Santa Cruz, CA 95064           http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/   Hgt +250 m