60CSx correct time

[retiredtelco]

I was wondering how to get the correct time set on my 60CSx as am in Arizona now and was an hour off.

Was going to post asking how.

Wonders never cease!

I had a brain storm!

Opened the owners manual to the index in the back and looked under the T for time!

Found "Time Setup" page 73!

What a concept! To read the manual!

It even worked and I now have the correct time on my GPS!

WOW!

 

Steve

[+BigLarry]

I was wondering how to get the correct time set on my 60CSx as am in Arizona now and was an hour off.

Was going to post asking how.

Wonders never cease!

I had a brain storm!

Opened the owners manual to the index in the back and looked under the T for time!

Found "Time Setup" page 73!

What a concept! To read the manual!

It even worked and I now have the correct time on my GPS!

WOW!

 

Steve

 

I found it amazing the Garmin GPS software doesn't automatically set the time zone for you (at least as an option). After all, doesn't the GPS know where you are? It can figure out day/night. Why not time zone?

[-Oz-]

Yea, I agree. I've always wanted to know.

[+evelbug]

I found it amazing the Garmin GPS software doesn't automatically set the time zone for you (at least as an option). After all, doesn't the GPS

 

know where you are? It can figure out day/night. Why not time zone?

 

 

I have always wondered this myself. It would be nice if you were drivng cross country and you the GPS popped up a box saying "Entering XXX timezone, adjusting time"

[+oldnavy59]

my cheap cell phone does it

[robertlipe]

Your cell fone does it because it gets time from the local cell tower.

 

GPS could sort of do it, but since time zone lines can and do change over time (it's more like a political boundary than a geographic one - and a rather transient one at that) I think most vendors prefer to just not do it at all.

 

None of the GPSes in my collection even try.

[+BigLarry]

Your cell fone does it because it gets time from the local cell tower.

 

GPS could sort of do it, but since time zone lines can and do change over time (it's more like a political boundary than a geographic one - and a rather transient one at that) I think most vendors prefer to just not do it at all.

 

None of the GPSes in my collection even try.

 

Yea, it's true time zone boundaries change over time - like roads, POIs, and other data they're able to include in their map updates.

[+EraSeek]

The default is Universal Coordinated Time, more or less commonly known as Grenwich Mean time, or ZULU time. UTC is the standard of time. Not everyone uses local time zones. It is the 'lingua franca' of time keeping, much as metric is the lingua franca of measurment. UTC is the time kept around the world on ships, by military, scientists, and the like. Everything occurs in UTC (or zulu) and everyone is on the same page. Navagators of the past used GMT (utc) to determine their position in terms of longitude. It is more useful and universal than local time. Yes, the GPS could easily apply the local fix, but UTC makes more sense in a GPS as a base, and it is quite easy for us to make the simple adjustment.

 

There are three functions that work much the same in a GPS. Time, position, and direction.The GPS thinks in GPS time, but that does not match UTC so there is a program to adjust the diference to UTC, which is the default. The GPS thus now thinks in UTC and offsets to 'display' local time as you wish. The GPS thinks in 'TRUE' and you must apply an offset to 'display' 'Magnetic' if that is what you wish. The GPS thinks in ellipsoid height, but offsets itself to 'display' elevation above the geoid (mean sea level) because that is what you expect to see in a consumer unit.

 

I think it is proper to have it as it is.

[+Thomas&Lisa]

As I remember, there are a few seconds in difference between UTC and GPS time. Does anyone know how much that is?

[+GOT GPS?]

GPS time is ahead of UTC time by 14 seconds.

GPS time was zero at 0h 6-Jan-1980

 

There is a slight bit of slowing down of the Earth due to Tides mostly, and the Mass of the Earth is so great, that the slowing of the Earth is minimal, at least by only 14 seconds since 6-Jan-1980.

[+Twinstars]

GPS time is ahead of UTC time by 14 seconds.

GPS time was zero at 0h 6-Jan-1980

 

There is a slight bit of slowing down of the Earth due to Tides mostly, and the Mass of the Earth is so great, that the slowing of the Earth is minimal, at least by only 14 seconds since 6-Jan-1980.

 

Curious . . . Does that mean my GPSr is 14 seconds fast?

[+dumketu]

GPS time is ahead of UTC time by 14 seconds.

GPS time was zero at 0h 6-Jan-1980

 

There is a slight bit of slowing down of the Earth due to Tides mostly, and the Mass of the Earth is so great, that the slowing of the Earth is minimal, at least by only 14 seconds since 6-Jan-1980.

 

Don't think so. Just checked my GPS against the atomic clock at the Naval Observatory - exactly the same. The world's atomic clocks, including the ones that drive the GPS system conduct periodic "leap second" adjustments.

 

Brian

Edited November 26, 2006 by dumketu

[+EraSeek]

No, you GPS time displayed is not fast. It is close to right on. GPS time is not the same as UTC but GPS time is converted to display UTC. Keep in mind, there is no more accurate way in the world today to transmit (transfer) the accurate time than through the Global Poisitoning System.

 

http://www.leapsecond.com/java/gpsclock.htm

[+YuccaPatrol]

So typical of this forum.

 

Someone wants to know which buttons to press to make the gps do what they want and they get responses describing how the gravitational pull of the moon requires that atomic clocks be adjusted periodically. . .

 

Hilarious!

[+EraSeek]

So typical of this forum.

 

Someone wants to know which buttons to press to make the gps do what they want and they get responses describing how the gravitational pull of the moon requires that atomic clocks be adjusted periodically. . .

 

Hilarious!

 

First of all, they answered their own question, secondly, what do you have against a forum topic evolving to something more in-depth and comprehensive? Seems to me that is what makes these topics interesting.

[+Jim W]

Era, thanks for your explanation, and the link, I find it very interesting

[+pdxmarathonman]

I really hate reading a forum topic and actually learning something. Especially after the button-pushing question is resolved (in the OP no less!).

 

Eraseek, please cease-and-desist

[+BigLarry]

I have a watch that adjusts itself within milliseconds to the atomic clocks in Colorado via their radio wave transmisission. (Of course, I do have to set the time zone on the watch as it doesn't know my location like a GPS should. )

 

This watch will match my GPS exactly, flipping at the the same time as best I can tell (0.1 seconds?). In any case, there's no 14 second difference in the two times. Whatever time reference they use, they're synchronized.

[robertlipe]

case, there's no 14 second difference in the two times. Whatever time reference they use, they're synchronized.

There is indeed an offset in GPS time relative to GMT that's currently 14 seconds. GotGPS and Eraseek are correct in that regard.

 

But since the GPS system transmits the number of adjustment seconds needed on a regular basis and any self-respecting code[1] that knows how to fondle the data from the sats to get the time knows about this oddity and knows how to add/subtracted it to get a GMT-relative time, they can provide a time synchronized to GMT.

 

[1] which includes GPSBabel which is why I had to learn about this stuff...

[+apersson850]

Just imagine being near the time zone border, thus having you GPS adjust the time back and forth all the time. You'd never know what time it really is.

 

But an alert, like "You now passed a time-zone border", could be a nice assistance.