WWV silenced its 25 MHz signal in 1977, but it’s back on the air “for old times’ sake” — officially on an “experimental basis.” Resurrecting the long-dormant standard time outlet operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was Matt Deutch, N0RGT, the Lead Electrical Engineer at WWV. It all came about after Dean Lewis, W9WGV, lamented the loss of the 25 MHz signal in an e-mail to Deutch, who surprised him by subsequently putting the signal back on the air on April 4 for about 3-1/2 hours.

A listener in Scotland posted his reception of the WWV 25 MHz signal on YouTube.

WWV began another 25 MHz test starting on April 7, and Deutch told ARRL that WWV-25 probably will remain on the air for the rest of the week. “So hopefully a few more people will hear it,” he said.

Lewis said he’d told Deutch late last week that 10 meter propagation has been so good at this point in Cycle 24, and he uses the various WWV frequencies as propagation beacons on a daily basis.

“He responded that ‘for old times’ sake,’ they’d put the [25 MHz] signal back on the air for a while. I assumed, of course, that he was kidding, and so I didn’t check. Matt wasn’t kidding!”

NIST said the 25 MHz broadcast consists of the normal WWV signal heard on all other WWV frequencies, at the same level of accuracy. The transmitter in Fort Collins, Colorado, can put out 2500 W into a “broadband monopole,” although Deutch said the transmitter was running 1200 W. WWV has invited listeners’ comments and signal reports.