Would a New Zealand station be subservient to a ‘master' elsewhere?

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31981, 7 May 1969, Page 12

Would a New Zealand station be subservient to a ‘master' elsewhere?

The physicists group, re- -j ported on April 19, 1969, that international control of the Omega system is a myth because of the “master-slave re-: lationship” of the stations, which meant that any phase shift would be automatically taken up and repeated before a monitoring authority could; detect it and act. The physicists do not cite! any authority for this state-: ment, and the authorities that: exist do not seem to support their contention. The standard literature on Omega i makes quite clear there is no : master-slave relationship in I the system. During -experimental stages of Omega de-i

jvelopment, the stations were linked in this manner for a ■time, as mentioned by the Omega Implementation Committee (page 3.11). But the same report also gives full 'details of how each station in the operational Omega system controls its own signals, with the assistance of atomic clocks. A report available !from the Omega Project Office entitled “Omega—A Description” states: '“There is no master-slave relationship between stations. !All stations are equal and (each is, in a sense, a.slave 'to the definition of standard itime.”