Propagation of 60KHZ RF 1

[dicer]

I recently got a wrist watch that automaticly updates time by communicating with WWVB. Between the dates of 10-29-12
and 11-9-12 it did not recieve anything. Then skipped till 11-12-12, and so far every early morning it has be working fine.
Does anyone know why? Has WWVB been having problems? Solar activity or what?

 

[VEBill]

We have several such "Atomic" (WWVB) radio controlled clocks in our household. It seems normal that the reception is intermittent from one night to the next due to external propagation conditions.

I doubt that they have very many unannounced outages. It would be rare.

Also, if the positioning or orientation of the clock is just right (just wrong) it'll never ever get a signal. I assume they have some sort of loop stick antenna (ferrite rod, coil, with two nulls off the ends) but I've never confirmed this assumption.

 

[dicer]

I put it in the same spot on the window sill. So far its been working okay. Just curious why it wouldn't work for such a long time?

 

[VEBill]

October 29... Maybe this explains it:

http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/wwvb-station-outages.cfm