Daylight Saving Time
Very often radio clocks have bugs in their software relating to daylight saving time (DST). This often leads to clocks not updating themselves to the correct civil local time when DST transitions on to off or off to on. Clocks that interpret longwave stations tend to be the most affected due to very minimal low level software (often hand coded assembler, or compiled C) used to decode and display the time signal.
On some systems, notably WWVB, DST is much less an issue because part of the transmitted timecode contains a "DST is now in effect" flag. Therefore even if a change in law occurs which changes the transition days (the most common change), the transmitted timecode will be updated and the clock's software only needs to pay attention to this DST flag. The only change which would typically cause DST transition problems would be if the transition time were to change (e.g. 0200 hours local time).
Read more about this topic: Radio Clock
Famous quotes containing the words daylight, saving and/or time:
“Between the daylight gambler and the player at night there is the same difference that lies between a careless husband and the lover swooning under his lady’s window.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“Oh that my Pow’r to Saving were confin’d:
Why am I forc’d, like Heav’n, against my mind,
To make Examples of another Kind?
Must I at length the Sword of Justice draw?
Oh curst Effects of necessary Law!
How ill my Fear they by my Mercy scan,
Beware the Fury of a Patient Man.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“Mrs. Grayle: You know, this’ll be the first time I’ve ever killed anyone I knew so little and liked so well. What’s your name?
Philip Marlowe: Philip for short.
Mrs. Grayle: Philip. Philip Marlowe. A name for a duke. You’re just a nice mug.”
—John Paxton (1911–1985)