[ct-user] Logged times changing

[WJ2O@aol.com]

Hi CT Users,

You may recall a couple of weeks ago I could not explain why the times logged
in a CT v9.25 file would change depending on what computer I was running.  I
posted a querry on this reflector.

Thanks to Roy, N8YYS and Dave, N7UE for putting me on track.  If you have a
TZ set in your environment string for your PC, it will affect how the times
are treated in version 9.25.  On one of my computers the line SET TZ=EST5EDT
was in my AUTOEXEC.BAT.  After removing this line, the difference from
computer to computer disappeared.

So I decided to do some experimenting.  Here are the results:
Enter the DOS command SET TZ=EST8EDT and no hours are added
Enter the DOS command SET TZ=EST7EDT and 1 hour is added
Enter the DOS command SET TZ=EST6EDT and 2 hours are added
Enter the DOS command SET TZ=EST5EDT and 3 hours are added
Enter the DOS command SET TZ=EST4EDT and 4 hours are added
Enter the DOS command SET TZ=EST3EDT and 5 hours are added
Enter the DOS command SET TZ=EST2EDT and 6 hours are added

You can see that everything follows nicely in a line but I have no idea why
when you state you are 5 hours from UTC the offset is 3 hours?  The simple
answer is to not have this TZ line in your environment in the first place.

Experiment #2:
For the heck of it, I took the same BIN file and loaded into a version 9.0
that Ken, K1EA personally sold me at Dayton a couple of years ago.  The times
were off by 1 hour.  Re-enacting the first experiment had absolutely no
affect on this version.

In conclusion:  Depending on what version of CT you have the times can be
logged and/or displayed differently.  Another contributing factor is if you
have the TZ set in your environment string and what it is set at.

Hopefully the contest sponsors are aware of this and won't disqualify my
entry if they find 100's of QSO's outside the posted event hours, hi hi.  I
have modified my logging program so when importing CT files you can adjust
the hour.

Disclaimer:  I Love CT and use it 100% on all my trips.  I was responsible
for insisting we use CT on the XR0Y Easter Island trip.  It is not my
intention to "dump on CT".  I just wish to help out others by sharing what I
discovered.

73, Dave, WJ2O


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