(Email from CHU):


About the New Messages on CHU - October, 2006

The added messages on CHU a

"On April 1, 2007, CHU needs to stop operating, change frequencies,
or re-licence. Contact
or mail CHU Canada K1A 0R6," and

« En avril 2007, CHU doit soit cesser ses opérations, soit changer de
fréquence, soit renouveler sa licence. Contactez
ou écrivez à CHU Canada, Conseil national de recherches, K1A 0R6. »

This outreach is to collect information from users of CHU to help shape
recommendations concerning what should be done concerning changes to
CHU that will have to be in place by April 2007.


In April 2007 the licence on 7.335 MHz will have to be modified to
reflect changes on the status of the band allocation by the
International Telecommunications Union. This frequency has been changed
from "fixed service" to "broadcast". (The ITU decision does not
affect the frequencies 3.33 MHz and 14.67 MHz.) Some alternatives a

Re-licencing just might be possible, calling the 7.335 MHz a
"broadcast".
It is also possible to stop using that frequency (the most useful of
the three we use). Stopping one signal is the easiest solution but
could create problems for some clients who are counting on this
particular signal.
Change the frequency from 7.335 MHz to a nearby fixed-service
frequency. It would need some investment from our part in new hardware
and in manpower. It could also create problems for clients, and likely
not all radios will be able to tune to the new frequency.


To be seriously considered, any of the above alternatives will need to
have a zero-based budgeting justification prepared, comparing it
against the least expensive alternative of closing CHU entirely. CHU is
entering a phase where major investment in new transmitters will be
required if it is to be kept operating. In the absence of input from
the CHU user community, concerning the importance of CHU's
contribution in the modern world, this last option is an inescapable
recommendation.


The CHU code is also used as a radio clock, which can be used as a
reference clock for an NTP time server. Software drivers have been
written that can obtain the date and time from the code and that tune a
digitally tuned radio to one of our 3 frequencies, to get the best
signal. Users of this service generally don't listen to the audio
broadcast. So we cannot gauge the usage by sending this announcement.


Please, if you know of anyone using CHU but not aware of the possible
changes to its frequency usage, let them know and ask them to contact
us. Also if you have an important use for CHU signals, please tell us
how you use our signals.


Be assured that we will try our best to maintain the CHU service as it
is, keeping the three frequencies as they are.


Thank you for your support.

Raymond Pelletier
============================================
Frequency and Time
Institute for National Measurement Standards
National Research Council Canada
M-36, room 1026
1200 Montreal Road
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0R6
Tel: (613) 993-3430
Fax: (613) 952-1394

Government of Canada
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