Chaney clocks receive an updated signal five times a day. The company claims the clocks are so accurate that they will be off by only a second or so in the next 20 million years. Some are fast and some are slow-but I always know that my atomic clock has the correct time.
Travelers can also adjust the clock to a new time zone by pressing a button.
The NIST also has a station on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Since missile attacks, rocket launches and television programming can't be off by even a few seconds, accurate atomic time from NIST and the U.S. Naval Observatory has been used for years by NASA, the military, and the aviation and broadcasting industries. Improvements by NIST to the atomic clock systems and radio station have now made precise timekeeping more available to the general public. In the fall of 1998, the institute increased the radio signal from 13 to 27 Kilowatts, and in December 1999, increased it again from 27 to 50 kilowatts, greatly improving the accuracy of the radio-controlled atomic clocks. Also, the transmitting facilities at WWVB were redesigned and rebuilt.