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[WriteLog] Problems in date and or time

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Subject: [WriteLog] Problems in date and or time
From: k4jrb@juno.com (Dave L Thompson)
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 16:38:53 -0500
Problems in date and time changes are not the cuase of a bug in writelog
rather Rf affecting the PC.  This was very common the first few years of
PC logging for the CQ 160 Contests. I still see problems with 2001 logs. 
Even if you check and align the time at the start of a contest you need
to watch the time (and date) carefully.  Stray RF can cause the clock to
change.  Sometimes this change is very slight and slow and other times
this can be a big jump such as 5 or 10 minutes.  One contestant in
Florida kept getting jumps in time of about an hour several years ago.  I
see more of the gradual time change (a few seconds at a time) so that
after say 12 hours you are off by 10 minutes.  Even more puzzling is the
irregular changes where the time increases and decreases (especially
during band changes).

I think this should be another pre-contest checkout.  Run through all the
bands and modes you use and see if the time changes.  I use the MFJ 805
RF sniffer on all my coax and leads to look for Rf radiation.  One cause
I have found is loose coax or hardline connectors!  SSB and RTTY cause
more of the big jumps in time (duty cycle??) and CW seems to tend to
cause the slow increments.  10 and 15 are the main culprits but even 160
can cause problems (my 8877 amp turns the wife's radio and telephone
combo on..which is not good at 3AM).   I skipped 12 as there are no
contests there but its a problem too!

73 Dave K4JRB    

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