The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Time signal station CHU to close

andysradio · May 23, 2026 5:55 am

Canada's shortwave time signal station, CHU will close June 22.

https://nrc.canada.ca/en/certifications-evaluations-standards/canadas-official-time/nrc-shortwave-station-broadcasts-chu
[Tony Pavick through WoR]

This reminds me on the Weatheradio closure back in March. Little warning, no opportunity for feedback and now it's gone.
Once its leaves air, this will leave CFRX as Canada's only shortwave station.

Last edited by andysradio (May 23, 2026 6:01 am)

Hansa · May 23, 2026 6:31 am

The end of time.

andysradio · May 23, 2026 6:50 am

Hansa wrote:
The end of time.

I wish I had of thought of that.

Stacks of wax · May 23, 2026 1:18 pm

Time waits for no man.

turkeytop · May 23, 2026 3:57 pm

So now we've lost RCI, the long wave navigation beacons, the weather radio network and,soon CHU.
Then what? Scrap the CBC?

We have a government that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Chrisphen · May 23, 2026 5:14 pm

When I worked in TV I would use it to sync the master clock of the studio.

I certainly don't agree with it, but I understand it.

turkeytop · May 23, 2026 6:23 pm

I'll miss it to reset the clocks at the start and end of DST and on New Years Eve. It's also useful check out propagation conditions on the various bands.

newsguy1 · May 23, 2026 7:57 pm

My father once beat a traffic ticket because of the six o'clock time signal from the atomic clock broadcast on CBC radio.
He was making a left turn on a street in Vancouver when a cop pulled him over.
The cop said he was getting a ticket because left turns were not legal after a certain time in the morning.
As he was talking to the cop he said listen, the CBC is about to announce the news based on the reading from the atomic clock in Ottawa.
he turned up the radio so the cop could hear the CBC announcing the time for the news.
My dad pointed out that he was making the left turn before the cutoff time when the cop pulled him over.
The cop listened to the CBC broadcast time signal, proving that my dad was making the left turn before the deadline.
The cop let him off.

Radiowiz · May 23, 2026 8:55 pm

turkeytop wrote:
Then what? Scrap the CBC?

It's the CONservatives that would like to do that, not the current Liberals.

turkeytop · May 23, 2026 9:37 pm

Sure, we can still listen to WWV, but if our government finds out we're doing it, they'll want to either jam the WWV frequencies or confiscate our radios (whichever costs less).

Evuguy · May 23, 2026 10:06 pm

I guess the question becomes how many are listening to SW these days to continue to justify the cost to operate the SW transmissions. Having WWV so close by doesn't help matters. WWV was going to shutter aparently in 2018 but there were howls of protest. It would of had a broad impact, as some consumer clocks make use of the VLF 60kHz WWVB time signal to synchronize with. As well, BBC is switching off its Radio 4 LW transmissions on June 27th. Again, so few now listening to LW in Europe these days to justify its upkeep and running costs. A number of European LW services have closed in recent years due to high electricity costs and declining listenership.

RadioActive · May 23, 2026 10:10 pm

Even with the slight Internet lag, I find this to be pretty accurate.

turkeytop · May 23, 2026 10:24 pm

Americans can be glad they elected the progressive government they did. They don't have to put up with this kind of garbage. Sure, Keri Lake tried to shut down VOA but the court stopped her.

andysradio · May 24, 2026 6:37 am

turkeytop wrote:
Americans can be glad they elected the progressive government they did. They don't have to put up with this kind of garbage. Sure, Keri Lake tried to shut down VOA but the court stopped her.

Trump tried to close WWV in his first term.

andysradio · May 24, 2026 6:40 am

I think CHU could be pretty handy for the many places in Canada that do not have internet, like the far north. How much consideration was made before making this decision? Where is this information and why do we not have access to it?

RadioActive · May 24, 2026 6:44 am

andysradio wrote:
turkeytop wrote:
Americans can be glad they elected the progressive government they did. They don't have to put up with this kind of garbage. Sure, Keri Lake tried to shut down VOA but the court stopped her.
Trump tried to close WWV in his first term.

Can't wait until his "time" is up!

darcyh · May 24, 2026 11:51 am

Like the weather service, I can't imagine CHU cost much to operate, but I could be wrong.

I remember seeing the towers out by the experimental farm near Ottawa.

RadioActive · May 24, 2026 12:04 pm

Back in December 2020, a Radio World correspondent took a tour of the CHU facility. Here's what it looks like inside that giant "clock."

Cheese2RF · May 26, 2026 10:08 am

really hate what they are doing with closing all this stuff, unlike weather radio, where receivers were for sale, i have been looking for a wile and have been unable to find a clock that syncs to CHU... unless i build one my self... which i was planning on...

at least the talking clock, 613-745-1576 will stay up!

Last edited by Cheese2RF (May 26, 2026 10:09 am)

Saul · May 26, 2026 10:13 am

Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?

RadioActive · May 26, 2026 10:52 am

Saul wrote:
Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?

They do in Chicago, where it's an hour earlier...

gch · May 26, 2026 4:35 pm

In the early 60s a neighbour gave us an old wooden-cabinet tall Lyric radio made by the Mohawk radio company in New Toronto....
It had AM (but only would tune in stations up to 1500kc

and it had Short Wave....I love listening to it at night and WWV was one I listened to as well as the "Voice of the Andes" from South America.

RadioActive · May 26, 2026 4:53 pm

My buddy used to do a ridiculous parody of WWV being like other radio stations.

The announcer would come on between time beeps and say something like this in your typical exaggerated disc jockey voice:

"WWV, your all time station for all time's sake! If you'd like to dedicate a minute to your favourite person call us at 1-800-TIMEX and we'll do out best to get it on. And now 15 hours, 23 minutes Coordinated Universal Time is going out to Mary in St. Clair, New Jersey from Scott in nearby Newark, who'd love to spend time with her. (BEEP!)

Still to come on the Big WWV, where time never stops - 18 hours, 23 minutes Coordinated Universal Time, going out to Patti in Eau Claire, Wisconsin!"

It was completely insane, totally stupid and really not very funny but it always made me laugh anyway because of how absurd it was.

I guess on the day CHU signs off, they can play this song at the very end:

RadioActive · May 26, 2026 5:08 pm

OK, now I've done it. What should be the final sign off tune when CHU goes off the air? How about this one and - and it's Canadian.

RadioActive · May 26, 2026 6:03 pm

OK, one more and I'm finished.

Saul · May 26, 2026 6:05 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VScSEXRwUqQ

RadioActive · May 27, 2026 5:35 am

Two more for those who regret the pending loss of CHU.

RadioActive · May 28, 2026 5:32 am

A shortwave radio enthusiast posts an early farewell to CHU, which turns out to be one of the first stations a lot of young DXers exploring the band recall receiving.

So Long CHU And Thanks For All The Time Signals