I would strongly suggest that for messing with a WWVB radio receiver that you purchase the module at this link:

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10060

This module will output the decoded 1 pulse per second that is recovered from the received WWVB RF radio signal. It is rather easy to connect the output into a port pin of an MCU to permit software to be written to decode the pulse train timing and pulse widths using a timer for duration measurement. The module includes a convenient loopstick antenna that is custom designed to the receiver chip design on the board.

At the above web page there are several links to some very useful information about WWVB and how to use this module.

I have myself purchased some of these modules. One of them I mounted onto a piece of cardboard with a couple of D-cell batteries, a power button and an LED connected to the 1 pps output pin. I used this as a test gig to take aroung and see if, when and where the module was capable of receiving the WWVB signal. When the chip locks to the NIST signal the attached LED will start to blink with a nice regular 1 Hz pulse rate.

Michael Karas