As long as I'm setting the clocks

[Sam KS2AM]

Not why did they move it to May, but why did they move it from the original 3rd weekend in April to the last.  That one-week difference was the date change that caused it to be rained out every year for about 7 years in a row.

They finally moved it to mid-May because the last weekend in April sucked so badly, but it still gets rained on a lot, not to mention conflicts with high school and university graduations nation-wide.

Ah, yes, thats it !!  Its the annual "why did they move it from the original 3rd weekend in April to the last.  That one-week difference was the date change that caused it to be rained out every year for about 7 years in a row" Hamvention thread !!

Is it time to move on to that thread now or does the biannual DST thread have to die off before the annual Hamvention date-change thread can start ?

 

 

[KF1Z]

I have never found a way to get Windows to do this.
Either XP or Windows 7.

I know they'll do it automatically once a week.
But that is not good enough.
I could have missed the settings somewhere.... but not for a lack of trying.

In Windows 7 or Vista you can sync to an external time source via the Date/Time GUI normally in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen.  You can also do other useful things like adding clocks for additional time zones.

The following page will tell you how to change the clock sync frequency and offers some suggestions for time sources other than the default http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/dealing-with-windows-vista-time-sync-problems/ . This advice should apply for Windows 7 and Vista.

If you do not see the "Internet Time" tab in your GUI it is because you are joined to a Windows domain (e.g. the PC you have in your office at work).  If you really think the time on your office PC is "off", talk to your IT people ... there is either an issue with your machine and/or the time source for the domain.  I would not suggest syncing the time to an external source in this case.

If you are running something earlier than Windows 7 or Vista you can sync the time from the command line / batch file.



Sam

Thanks !
I'll try it and see how it goes..
One less process running in the background is OK-FINE with me!

[W3SLK]

Time isn't holding us, time isn't after us.
Time isn't holding us, time doesn't hold you back.
Time isn't holding us, time isn't after us.
Time isn't holding us.......
Once In A Lifetime-The TalkingHeads

[WA3VJB]

OK Mikey, let's take it back a little earlier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htIMlP422jo

Time isn't holding us, time isn't after us.
Time isn't holding us, time doesn't hold you back.
Time isn't holding us, time isn't after us.
Time isn't holding us.......
Once In A Lifetime-The TalkingHeads

[Pete, WA2CWA]

According to a study from parts of Indiana, where they just recently changed over to DST, electricity usage in the summer has actually increased since the change.
http://climateprogress.org/2010/03/13/daylight-saving-time-energy-dst/

Remember, they tried it year-round in 1974, but that didn't go over so well, and after a couple of years, common sense prevailed and they went back to late April-late October.

http://www.techandbull.com/journal/2007/3/9/dst-bite-me-or-how-ed-markey-made-it-blow-lots-of-time-and-money.html

Maybe in Indiana, they're not into energy cost savings.

Cooler climates (don't need the AC as much) using DST, can benefit from some energy cost savings.

In 1974, I thought the reason for extended DST was due to fuel shortage.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I don't see how DST saves any energy.  Theres not one factory that I know of that relies on solar light for anything, as far as homes go, either I turn on the lights when I get out of bed, or I turn them on after supper before I go to bed.  It's a wash.  AC or heat shouldn't make a lick of difference, since there's no way they can legislate more sunlight or less in a given season, you use what you use.  DST as an energy savings plan has pretty much been debunked as "Feel Good" legislation. 

It's just more silliness humans apply to things they setup badly in the first place.

[W3SLK]

Paul said:

OK Mikey, let's take it back a little earlier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htIMlP422jo

I prefer this one by The Chambers Brothers:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHfB63ln1Ig

[k4kyv]

Maybe in Indiana, they're not into energy cost savings.

According to the report, there were no energy cost savings.  Energy costs went up.

Cooler climates (don't need the AC as much) using DST, can benefit from some energy cost savings.

Hasn't the population of the country shifted towards the "sun belt" in  recent decades?

In 1974, I thought the reason for extended DST was due to fuel shortage.

So, what else would fuel shortage have to do with it, other than (alleged) energy savings?  Or does DST somehow magically improve the MPG of cars, like they say it is supposed to reduce the crime rate and relieve impaired vision?  Soon someone will try to claim it curtails the transmission of HIV and and reduces the severity of AIDS symptoms.  What's next, that it boosts the sunspot count, improves propagation conditions and helps us lose weight?  

[W4EWH]

Steve,
          Just FWIW, I have to diasgree with you on this one. I dont mind driving to work in the dark in the morning in exchange for that extra hour of daylight in the evening. It gives me the option of getting a little something done outside in the evening after work.

You hit the nail on the head: DST was moved so that it starts earlier in the year because retailers believe that buyers are more likely to shop and buy during daylight hours.

W1AC

[WD8BIL]

Cryin' Time

[kg8lb]

 In Michigan the DST question was put up in referendum two or three times. DST was turned down at every vote. The state legislature then put in in place despite the vote.
 The number of daylight hours remains the same regardless of what they do with our clocks. I understand the recent quake did shorten the actual period we call a day by increasing the Earth's rotational speed. I hope they factor that in !
 

[w3jn]

[KB2WIG]

" I prefer this one by The Chambers Brothers.  "

Well, that one,  then Bang Bang,   then what else is here?;  there I peased away another hour.


klc

[k4kyv]

You hit the nail on the head: DST was moved so that it starts earlier in the year because retailers believe that buyers are more likely to shop and buy during daylight hours.

Jack, K9ACT puts it aptly: DST = daylight shopping time

Check out Markey's website.  In one of his press releases he admits to influence by lobbyists from retail sales interests.

In Michigan the DST question was put up in referendum two or three times. DST was turned down at every vote. The state legislature then put in in place despite the vote.

Rep. Fred Upton from MI, that other loser who joined with Markey to push for earlier DST, led the charge to phase out incandescent lamps.  As soon as he felt political expediency from another direction, he flip-flopped on the issue.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/6/upton-flips-a-switch-on-cfl-bulbs/

What those who claim to "like" DST really like, is coming home from work several hours before sunset. I suspect most would still prefer to sleep later in the morning.  What they would really like would be a shorter work day (but without a proportional cut in pay).

Humans are hard-wired for a time lag in our day/night routine, and most of us have a natural tendency to stay up well past sunset and sleep in until after sunrise.  The purpose of DST is to forceably buck that natural urge.

[K5UJ]

I must be one of the reviled few who wake up and get out of bed before 5 a.m. without an alarm going off.   But in the evening if I am in a QSO after 9 p.m. I have to flip the big switch and QRT because I get so tired I begin to babble even more than usual.  At Dayton I'm on the way to Waffle House at 5 a.m.

[WD8BIL]

What those who claim to "like" DST really like, is coming home from work several hours before sunset. I suspect most would still prefer to sleep later in the morning.  What they would really like would be a shorter work day (but without a proportional cut in pay).

No, I don't wanna sleep in longer. I get enuf sleep.
I totally believe in working a full day for a full fair wage.
I suspect Slab feels the same way.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

At Dayton I'm on the way to Waffle House at 5 a.m.

At Dayton, contesters and DXers are just going to bed at 5 AM.

[k4kyv]

I never waste time stopping for breakfast before Dayton.  I want to be there at the front of the crowd for the flea market just as the gates open, or even earlier if I can manage to sneak in beforehand.  Some of my best finds have always occurred within the first half hour after it opens, or before the official opening and they released the floodgates for the hoards waiting outside. I might stop at a convenience store on the way for a quick take-away snack or else grab a bite at the Pub before the crowd accumulates. I certainly don't go to Dayton for the food, any more than I do to sleep in a hotel room.

I am very much a night person, but never had any problem getting up when I had to, unpleasant as it was.  I just gritted my teeth, hopped out of bed the second the alarm went off, or often after I woke up a few seconds before the alarm was supposed to go off, kind of like taking the initial plunge at the beach or into a freezing cold swimming hole.  My wife, OTOH, is a morning person who likes to go to bed with the chickens, but she would set the alarm a half hour before time to get up, and then hit the snooze button a dozen times.  She finally stopped doing that after I threatened to toss the alarm clock across the room and smash it to smithereens on days when she had to go to work and I didn't.  I pretty well had her broken of that habit by the time I retired.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I always have some breakfast before I go out. No flea market is worth that much for me to miss breakfast.

[K5UJ]

At Dayton I'm on the way to Waffle House at 5 a.m.

At Dayton, contesters and DXers are just going to bed at 5 AM.

That's because they stay up drinking beer and turning their brains to oatmeal.  It's okay though because all they are interested in is the junk for sale indoors and the "seminars,"  the sessons on how to call CQ and hold a frequency.
None of those things ever happen at opeining time. 

It used to be that getting to the fest at 6 a.m. got you a prime parking spot in that car dealer lot right across the street.  This paid off if you had purchases to lug out to a truck.  With the downturn in attendance, a good spot can be found much later, even 7 a.m.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

At Dayton I'm on the way to Waffle House at 5 a.m.

At Dayton, contesters and DXers are just going to bed at 5 AM.

That's because they stay up drinking beer and turning their brains to oatmeal.  It's okay though because all they are interested in is the junk for sale indoors and the "seminars,"  the sessons on how to call CQ and hold a frequency.
None of those things ever happen at opeining time. 

It used to be that getting to the fest at 6 a.m. got you a prime parking spot in that car dealer lot right across the street.  This paid off if you had purchases to lug out to a truck.  With the downturn in attendance, a good spot can be found much later, even 7 a.m.

It's generally beer and lots of pizza. Definitely party people and they start on Thursday.

Outside flea market doesn't open till 8 AM. I generally wander in sometime around 7:30 AM. I got a good spot every year.

[k4kyv]

That's because they stay up drinking beer and turning their brains to oatmeal.  It's okay though because all they are interested in is the junk for sale indoors and the "seminars,"  the sessons on how to call CQ and hold a frequency.

That reminds me of the time back in the mid 70s while I was living in Cambridge; I joined up with a group of AMers from the area who decided to make the trek to the Rochester NY hamfest. We created a convoy of 3 or 4 vehicles and rented a suite of rooms in a hotel for the night before.

I was all fired up for the big flea market the next day and assumed the rest of the crew would be equally so.  After we checked in the hotel, some of the guys decided it would be nice to party a little before turning in. No big deal, since I could party with the best of them.  So the bathtub was filled with crushed ice and a few cases of beer.  The party lasted until well after midnight, but finally everyone turned in, in time for a few hours of sleep before the big hamfest the next day.

The next morning I was the first one awake, so I got up and got dressed and waited for the others to start stirring around.  But the rest of the crew were still in bed, and the ones not still totally dead to the world showed few signs of motion. After an hour or so, everyone finally was awake, but instead of getting up and getting dressed to go to the hamfest, somebody decided to turn on the TV and the whole bunch lounged in bed to watch Saturday morning cartoons!

After a while, already mid-morning and the hamfest had opened early, something like 7 AM, everyone finally was dressed and we were out of the hotel room, but then it was decided that we had to stop at some slop joint for breakfast.  Another hour wasted.  We finally arrived at the hamfest at something like 11:30 AM, well after everything worthwhile at the flea market was long gone.

I was hyellowfied, to say the least. A totally wasted trip.  We could just as well have rented a couple of rooms at a hotel in Boston and enjoyed the thrills of an all-male beer party there, saving the expense of travelling all the way to Rochester, a 7-hour drive each way. I don't remember coming back from the hamfest with anything from the flea market.

[KB2WIG]

"  enjoyed the thrills of an all-male beer party.  "

[K5UJ]

Don, that Rochester experience would have made me nuts.  That's the sort of situation that illustrates the reason why I like to go to hamfests by myself.   Fortunately, for me, the guys I usually go to Dayton with are all just as motivated to get there early as I am.

Unfortunately, I found out yesterday that there are some things going on in my job the week of Dayton this year that I can't get out of, so I'm going to have to skip it.      Ordinarily I'd be extremely pissed off, but this year my cash flow is unusually tight, so even if I went, I wouldn't be able to buy anything.   I always figure on going for three days setting me back $600.  That's about what the total is once you add up the cost of gas, three days meals and lodging, and hamfest ticket.  So this year I may as well stay home and use the cash to buy what I need around here. 

[w3jn]

Plan on NEARFest in the fall