Resetting you SnoScan Atomic Clock for Daylight Savings Time

[Siskiyou]

 I was surprised this morning when our SnoScan Atomic Clock did not switch to daylight savings time automatically.  But I remember that Politicians change the dates for Daylight Saving Times.  A check of the manufactures website told me how to change the time.
http://skyscaninfo.com/content/faqs/10-what-does-dst-mean.html
 All one needs to do is set the clock in a window facing Colorado for 24 hours and the clock will receive the signal and correct the time.
 To make sure I had the correct bearing I turned on my Garmin 530HCx Rino.  I went to Main Menu>Find Icon>Cities Icon>Find by Name in the optional menu box in the upper right corner of the page.  It is the small box on the right. (Pair on small menu boxes on the upper right screen.) After selecting Find by Name you will get a menu that will allow you to spell out DENVER. Once DENVER shows, select it and it will pop-up on the map page with a line running from your location to Denver.  Oh’yeah select off road to get the direct line.  You have that go to the Compass Page.  The Pointer Should be pointed at Denver.  In my case the Map Page shows I am 862 miles from Denver as the Crow Flies.Called up my daughter and hear newer Atomic Clock did not require changing.  I suspect dates for daylight saving time changes are programmed into the clock.  The date and day of the week were correct.
Edit the transmitter antennas are located near Ft. Collins north of Denver but Denver put you in the ball pack.

[Siskiyou]

It worked, this morning my clock was re-set.

[bubbinator]

You might consider a new clock. I am not a geek, but everything except my cars changed automatically!

[Glanceblamm]

I too have an older atomic clock. The change went off without a hitch this year but last year it was off by 1 HR.
 
What I had to do was to change my offset with the choices being -5 Hr or -6 Hr
 
I have to do this with the GPS every year and just recently went to the -5 Hr but the Atomic clock stayed in Sync as said.
 
My Clock does not seem to be sensitive on the direction it is facing (from Colorado) but I figure that I am closer than you are.

[Siskiyou]

 I am not sure but the Atomic Clock might have an Almanac that works similar to the Almanac in a gps unit.  By moving my Atomic Clock approximately ten feet and facing it East over night where it can receive an update was rather easy.  I realize that the direction you face the clock varies dependent on your location.  The transmit antennas are located near Fort Collins, Colorado north of Denver.
http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/wwvb.cfm

For those that do not have a gps they can use a US road map, or Google Earth of their computer, or best guess to set the clock in the window and get an update.  Out of pocket cost is five minutes and a little shoe leather.

Different generations of gps units have their difference from the same manufacture.

A new Garmin gps unit home is in Kansas with the Wizard.  If you live in other parts of the U.S. you need to set your new unit out in an open location (turned on) and let the gps update its Almanac from the satellites and find itself.  This might take an half hour.

When I drove to Ashland, MT. which is approximately 880 miles away as the crow flys or 1200 miles on the road.  My handheld Garmin Legend what I had operating from the time I left the house displayed my location coming and going to Ashland, Mt.; no problem.  But if I packed that gps unit in my warbag and board a small twin engine airplane and flew to the small airport at Ashland my gps would need to update itself.  http://airnav.com/airport/3U4

Setting it out in the open would do the job; all it takes is about 30 minutes.

Store a gps for an extend period of time slows down satellite acquisition.  This morning my Rino HCx was real fast acquiring satellites.  The satellite page on my 76Cx which had been put away  for an extended period was a little slower getting a lock but was showing a number of satellite profiles on the satellite page.  It might have taken three or four minutes to get a lock.  Currently this is happening in the house under tree cover.

The Garmin Nuvi 1490 was a little slower and it had been used a fair amount of time in the last 60 days.  My Garmin c550 Street Pilot has been store for a couple of months and took about 2 minutes to lock on Satellites and display the ready to Navigate message.


Of course a key to fast satellite lock is to be in the same location the unit was shut down.

So if you fly to S. Africa on safari plan on giving your gps a little sunlight so it can update itself.  At times high tech is rather simple and low cost when having to set a gps out to update the Almanac.

http://gps.about.com/od/glossary/g/GPS_Almanac.htm

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

I'll have to check my GPS next time I am out in the truck, never thought about the time setting, All i ever cared about was making sure i was on public land LOL.

[Siskiyou]

If you have a satellite lock with you Nuvi or Hand held gps units you are receiving the correct time with the satellite signal.

Every once and while when I have one of my handheld units connected to my computer, I bring up the Map Source software on the computer.  I then go to Utilities and download the correct time to the computer.

[Glanceblamm]

Very interesting thread. If my old atomic clock (with the offset feature) changed time accurately (which it did this year) why not my Gps?
 
I just dont know that the analog in my old 12 is capable of doing this but what I can do would be to change the offset back to -06:00 then fire it up and let it set out back for the prescribed 30 min and see what it will do.
 
My very first gps unit was a Magellon (on sale) and I never created a waypoint on it as at least five tries to aquire satellite lock failed. I returned it with the intent to exchange but none were avalibile so they gave me the Garmin at the very same price. It could be that I simply did not give this unit enough time to do its thing but when I got the new Garmin, it did a lock in under five min.
 
If I take my unit out of its element, the time to aquire those satellite's is around 4 min. I have found that if one is in a commercial aircraft doing a little better than 500 mph, it does not take any longer than if one was standing on the ground. (this was before 9-11 and I do not know what todays policies are)
 
My unit actually works better now than when it was new because of more satellite's being out there. In the early day's, a PC software program existed that would tell one how many satellite's could be expected to be in a said area on a certain date and time. I have not used this program for years now because most locks are 3D.
 
On a belated note, I just realized that my GPS did know that there was 29 days in Feb. My atomic clock picked this up ok on that day along with this computer but no such luck with my cheap timex wrist watch. Also belated is the realization that the clock on this PC is accurate to the second...I figure that it must be getting updates from the Internet.