Shortwave Radio Time Broadcasts from WWV and WWVH Simultaneously
Channel: Michael Cowden
Date: 2022-01-25

With my antenna turned toward the west, I frequently pick up the NIST time broadcast stations WWV from Ft. Collins, CO and WWVH from Hawaii simultaneously.  Their time sources are extremely precise and perfectly synchronized, so the overlapping signals can't be distinguished except that announcements from WWVH start before WWV.  The voice of WWVH is the famous Jane Barbe, who did voice recordings for the Bell telephone system and AT&T for many years (remember landline phone recordings? That was Jane Barbe) as well as many time and temperature recordings for a company called Audichron. The Audichron equipment was used for many local area telephone time and temperature systems across the country, so nearly everyone who ever used a landline phone heard Jane Barbe's voice at some point. The man's voice from WWV in Colorado has changed a few times over the years, but is currently professional broadcaster John Doyle.  You can (and possibly should) set your clocks to this highly accurate NIST time, but you can also do it by calling to hear the broadcast over the phone. You can call 303-499-7111 for WWV, 808-335-4363 for WWVH, and 202-762-1401 for the US Naval Observatory time service, or check the NIST web time service at https://www.time.gov.

Post any questions or comments below and thank you for watching!

More information available here:
WWV Colorado info:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWV_(radio_station)

WWVH Hawaii info:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWVH

Jane Barbe's voice:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Barbe

NIST time web site:  https://www.time.gov

Where the highly accurate time comes from:  https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-realization/primary-standard-nist-f1