John, This is not a glitch in the program - it is the way it was intended to work. It has always functioned that way.
Changing the timezone on the options page is intended only to tell the computer what data to use in calculating longitude corrections, current equation of time, etc. The clock that the system uses is your computer's clock. Read the help (F1) info on the reality meter to the left of the Julian Day number - if that shows rotating arrows then the clock is matching your system clock - whatever that is - it has nothing to do with what timezone you enter. All the calculations the program does will show azimith, eot, altitude, etc. for that time in the timezone you show - but the clock does not change to show what the current time is in that timezone. If you do change the clock from what your system clock shows, the 'reality meter' turns to a constant 'V' - for virtual. If you check F1 you can see that there are options to change the time shown without changing your system clock - but this is intended primarily for use in the calculation mode (hit End and then set time, timezone, lat/lon, etc. as you please to do calculations). Fred ----- Original Message ----- From: John Carmichael To: 'Sundial Mailing List (E-mail)' Cc: 'Fred Sawyer' ; 'Robert Terwilliger' Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 1:20 PM Subject: Odd Glitch with Dialist Companion Hello all (Special Attention Fred Sawyer & Bob Terwilliger): I have just noticed a glitch when using The NASS Dialist Companion. This big glitch seems to be fairly new and I have not seen it before. I think it might have something to do with the way Dialist Companion sinks with the internal clock in the computer and might be a result of one of Microsoft's updates. But I'm just guessing. I notice the problem both on my old computer and on a different computer on which just I installed a fresh installation from the NASS Repository CD 2003. Both computers use Windows XP. Here is the problem: No matter what locations I enter, the time clock always shows US Pacific Time (GMT -8 hrs.). However this doesn't happen for my own location; the clock works fine if the parameters are set to my location. But when I enter other time zones and longitudes, The minutes and seconds are correct, but the hour is always wrong (unless I enter the US Pacific Time Zone at 120 Standard Meridian or my own time zone which is US Mountain at 105 Standard Meridian). If you have Dialist Companion and use Windows XP, try this experiment for Greenwich England to see if you see the glitch too. Open the Dialist Companion software Type "O" for options Type in these Parameters: Latitude: 52.000 (or use any latitude you want. Makes no difference) Longitude: 0.000 Time Zone Name: Greenwich Central Meridian: 0 Daylight Saving: Y Longitude Correction: Y (Y or N it doesn't matter) Refraction Correction: N (Y or N it doesn't matter) 24 Hour Format: N (Y or N it doesn't matter) Now Type: Alt-g Look at the time clocks that are running. I see that both the Daylight Saving and the Greenwich clocks are wrong! They are both showing Pacific Time! Does this happen on your computers? Now try the same experiment for some other place in some other time zone other than your own time zone. On my computers, it still shows the US Pacific Time! Now try your own time zone. What happens? (The time clock is correct when I use my own time zone parameters) Fred & Bob, what do you think is happening here? I've been using Dialist Companion for years and have never seen this problem. At first I thought that my computer was somehow to blame, but I see the same thing on a different computer with freshly installed software. Going crazy in Tucson, John
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