Data Collection from WWV, WWVH, and WWVB: A Histoanatomy of NIST's Radio Beacon Transmissions

Beacon radio stations WWV, WWVH, and WWVB are maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology for frequency and time of day distribution.  Their accuracy and power level are adequate to make the stations suitable for use as passive beacons in ionospheric sounding.  The signals' carriers are useful in measurements, and each of the modulation components has its own separate utility, as well. This poster describes several approaches to determining total path length rate of change from the stations to distant receivers through measurements of various signal parts. Tradeoffs for the several approaches in signal strength to noise ratio, ability to distinguish signals from multiple time standard stations, and other factors are discussed.