WWV on 25 MHz: Original Antenna Back in Use

WWV transmitter building (NIST photo)

The National Institute of Standards and Technology resumed broadcasting WWV's time and frequency data on 25 MHz last April on an "experimental basis," and now has resumed using the vertical dipole antenna that was in use when the transmitter was shut down in 1977. 

For the past year and a half, the transmitter had been using a broadband monopole that officials decided was needed as a backup antenna for WWV's 2.5 MHz transmitter. According to the ARRL Letter, WWV's lead electrical engineer, Matt Deutch, N0RGT, said staff members "dug the 25 MHz radiating section out of the mud in the bone yard and rebuilt the 25-MHz antenna so that it looks identical to what it looked like in 1977."