[LEAPSECS] operational time -- What's in a name?

[Rob Seaman]

Clive D.W. Feather wrote:


> Um, what buttons on the back? My kitchen RC clock has none such  

> (probably because just about all of the UK is in the same time zone).


Right.  A typical such clock in the U.S. will have one set of radio  
buttons for Eastern/Central/Mountain/Pacific timezones and a second  
button labeled "DST" whose precise purpose is unclear without reading  
the manual.  There may also be other button(s) for manual operation.

I don't know what folks do in Hawaii, Alaska and other outlying  
timezones.  At the observatory the issue we have seen is that the  
various conference rooms will have an array of several clocks, say  
Hawaii, Tucson, Washington, DC and La Serena, Chile.  Originally  
somebody will have bought 4 spiffy "atomic" clocks without  
understanding that Chile is not supported.

What then happens is that the clock #4 is gimmicked during northern  
summer (southern winter) to be Eastern Daylight Time (= Chile Standard  
Time, GMT-4).  During the winter months (southern summer) this fails  
since DST in Chile is outside the range of the clocks.  The model  
clock I'm thinking of can't have the RC manually disabled, so for half  
the year, the clock is either wrong or taken down from the wall or  
replaced with something that no longer matches the other three  
clocks.  (I suppose someone could open it up and disable the radio.)

Evidently, the requirement was never considered for a clock to be  
located in one place (with one radio standard), but to display time  
for another place.  The market for a general enough clock to be  
portable to any timezone must be quite slim.

Rob