WWV Briefly Returns to 25 MHz

Time and frequency station WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado.
(Photo via NIST website)

Responding to an e-mail from an Illinois amateur, the lead electrical engineer at time and frequency standard station WWV briefly returned the station's 25 MHz transmitter to the air in early April. WWV stopped regular transmissions on 25 MHz in 1977, according to the ARRL Letter, and said the surprise reactivation came after Dean Lewis, W9WGV, of Palatine, Illinois, lamented its loss in an e-mail toe WWV's Matt Deutch, N0RGT. Lewis reportedly told Deutch he relied on WWV's signals as propagation beacons and missed having the 25 MHz signal to let him know if 10 meters was open. Deutch responded by firing up the old transmitter for a series of tests, receiving reception reports from as far away as Scotland. No word on whether those tests may be repeated in the future.