A Matter of Degrees, Pt. 2

[Michael Baum]

> I was a ham op as a child -- nothing else to do in the Nevada desert with
> the nearest neighbor miles down the dirt road -- and I used to listen to
> WWV for kicks sometimes. This is the shortwave station which broadcasts the
> time 24x7 at 2.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20  MHz (if I recall). The clock on which
> it is based is an atomic variety housed at Greenwich (tenuous P content
> here?), and the hour given is always Greenwich Mean Time. Anyway, they
> always recalibrate the  Greenwich clock on New Year's Eve, and for many
> years listening to the shift between the beeps was among the biggest hoots
> of my partying career. Of course, it would happen at like, 7 pm my time, so
> I still didn't have an excuse to stay up late...

<Digression>
I'm sorry. Professionally, I just can't let this go by. WWV and it's
sister station, WWVH, are operated by the U.S. National Institute of
Standards and Technology (my firm, hence the professional distress.)
WWV broadcasts from the thriving metropolis of Fort Collins,
Colorado.  The time it broadcasts is a scale called "Universal
Coordinated Time" (we are not responsible for the nomenclature)
which to the naked eye does look exactly like GMT. They have
different theoretical underpinings, however. UTC (the acronym
reflects the French version of the name)  is the resulted of the
weighted inputs of standard atomic clock ensembles in several
nations around the world.  Being an idealized "atomic" time scale, it 
will vary from astronomical time when the earth's rotation speeds up 
or slows down, hence the period adjustments. There. More than you 
ever wanted to know. 
</Digression>

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Michael Baum   <michael.baum at nist.gov>  (301) 975-2763
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