WWV - 5,000

Probably one of the most popular shortwave stations in the continental United States and Canada is the U.S. Government's official time station - WWV. Broadcasting Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) out of Fort Collins, CO on five frequencies - 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz, it utilizes atomic clocks to keep extremely precise and accurate time readouts every minute, 24 hours a day/7 days a week. It's also the oldest continuously-operating radio station in the U.S., going on the air 89 years ago in 1920, though it only moved to Colorado is 1966, as it was originally in the Washington, DC area.

Up here at 45°N, 73°W, 5,000 kHz (5 MHz) comes through the clearest, and seems to be the only one to really come through, though this can possibly be due to the fact that we usually tune into this station late at night, and different frequency bands propagate through the ionosphere much differently depending on the time of day.

The station is extremely repetitive, as it should be, and to most would most likely seem boring and quite useless. After all, in a time of the internet, why would someone gather their time from a radio station? Despite how boring most people would probably find it, myself and Brian can't seem to get enough of it. There's something really exciting and intriguing about the station. From the monotonous ticking, repetitive male voice, and high pitched tones, it's just fun to listen to. When there's nothing else to listen to on the AM or SW band, we always know 5,000 will be there, ticking away. Also, it can broadcast storm warning, severe weather alerts, and other useful information when necessary.

Co-located with WWV, WWVB is a time station that broadcasts UTC time to radio-controlled clocks across North America. Its broadcast is not audible at 60 kHz, but clocks and electronic devices can receive the signal and convert it to local time.

In Hawaii, WWVB broadcasts time in a female voice on all the same frequencies as WWV with the exception of 20 MHz. If the atmospheric conditions are right, we can actually hear WWVB along with WWV, surprisingly well. Despite WWVB's directional antennas being pointed west to avoid North America, the properties of shortwave radio make this unavoidable at times. Though they broadcast simultaneously, no voices will ever speak at the same time (Hawaii gives the time readout first, in our experience).

So day or night, rain or shine, winter or summer, chances are you'll be able to pick up the time in probably the most accurate way possible with a single shortwave receiver. The only thing one should know is by how much your local time zone differs from UTC. For us on the East Coast it's -5, but -4 for Daylight Savings. Happy radioing.