CHU (radio station)
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| CHU | |
| City of license | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | North America |
| Frequency | 3330 kHz, 7335 kHz, 14670 kHz |
| First air date | 1929 |
| Format | Time |
| Power | 3 kW (3330, 14670 kHz), 10 kW (7335 kHz) |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 45°17′47″N, 75°45′22″W |
| Former callsigns | VE9OB |
| Owner | National Research Council of Canada |
| Website | http://inms-ienm.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/time_services/ shortwave_broadcasts_e.html |
CHU is the call sign of a shortwave time signal radio station operated by the Institute for National Measurement Standards of the National Research Council of Canada.
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[edit] History
The station was started in 1929 by the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was operated by the Observatory until 1970. The call letters CHU were assigned in 1938. Until then, the call was VE9OB.
[edit] Broadcast format
CHU's signal is used for continuous dissemination of official Canadian government time signals. Unlike other time stations, time signals are the only type of information broadcast from this station.
The CHU time signal and radio frequencies are derived from atomic clocks.
CHU will acknowledge listeners' reception reports.
A similar time signal from the National Research Council is used by CBC radio services daily at noon ET on Radio-Canada's La Première Chaîne, and 1pm ET on CBC Radio One.
[edit] Transmission system
CHU transmits 3 kW signals on 3330 and 14670 kHz, and a 10 kW signal on 7335 kHz. The signal is amplitude modulated, with the lower sideband suppressed (emission type H3E). The same information is carried on all three frequencies simultaneously.
The CHU transmitter is located at , near Barrhaven, Ontario, 15 km southwest of Ottawa's central business district.
The systems feeding the transmitters are duplicated for reliability, and have both battery and generator protection. The generator can also supply the transmitters. The announcements are made using digitally recorded voices. Individual vertical dipole antennas are used for each frequency.
CHU has long been licensed as "fixed service" within the band allocations of the International Telecommunications Union. Recently, allocation changes threatened CHU's use of 7.335 MHz. CHU was faced with either discontinuing the use of this frequency or relicensing it as a broadcast station by April 2007. CHU user input was sought with the following message transmitted each minute, alternating between English and French:[citation needed]
- "On April 1, 2007, CHU needs to stop operating, change frequencies, or relicense. Contact radio.chu@nrc.gc.ca or mail CHU Canada K1A 0R6."
On February 24, 2007, it was observed that the announcement had been updated to "CHU has been licensed to continue broadcasting on 7.335 MHz." This announcement alternated between English and French. (This was heard on CHU's operating frequency of 7.335 MHz.)
On February 26, 2007, it was observed that all announcements regarding relicensing had been discontinued. (This was heard on CHU's operating frequency of 7.335 MHz.)
[edit] Time signal format
The actual time signal is a series of 300 ms-long 1000 Hz tones, transmitted once per second, on the second. The top of the minute is marked by a half-second-long beep, and the top of the hour is marked with a one second-long beep, followed by nine seconds of silence. Thereafter, every second except for the 29th second past the minute, CHU transmits a 300-millisecond tone. Between one and sixteen seconds past the minute, CHU transmits the difference between UT1 and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by using split tones.
Between 31 and 39 seconds past the minute inclusive, the once-per-second tones are reduced to 10-millisecond "ticks" while a digital time code is transmitted. The digital time code used by CHU is unique, in that it is decodeable by a Bell 103-compatible modem.[1]
At ten seconds before each minute, the once-per-second tones are again cut to 10 milliseconds each, this time while CHU transmits a brief voice station identification, followed by voice announcements of the next minute in UTC, alternating between French and English. French announcements are transmitted first on the odd minutes, while English announcements come first on the even minutes.
[edit] Western Canada signal coverage
CHU often cannot be received in Western Canada, on any frequency. Sometimes this is simply because of the significant level of noise produced by the electrical wiring in a building. For most of Western Canada, terrestrial interference and weak signals make CHU practically unusable.
Subject to limitations of their own, WWV and WWVH are the fallback in Western Canada as far as getting time signals via shortwave is concerned.
A proposal has been published to create a companion time signal station for Western Canada.[2] Proposed coverage is shown in the graphic.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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