I have been recording all of my QSOs with UTC instead of local time. It is my understanding that this is what is expected in amateur radio (please correct me if I am mistaken).

My question is how to handle this scenario: It is 8 PM Eastern time on 4/14. This is 00:00 UTC. Or, we could say it is 8:05 PM on 4/14.

How do I enter the QSO date in my logbook? It is 4/14 where I am, but 00:05 UTC means 5 minutes after midnight which means the next day (4/15), no? 00:05 on 4/14 in my location would mean the first five minutes into 4/14 and not 8:05 PM.

If I am speaking with someone in, say Russia, they WILL be in 4/15, so how can my confirmation request match if I say the day it was on my end, 4/14?

I'm not sure where that 5 minutes came from, but always record your date and time in UTC.  7:00 pm here is 0000Z, so 7:00pm on, say, June 1 is 1900 on 06/01 local time but in my logs I record it as 0000Z on 06/02.  Any other way is going to cause a mess somewhere along the line.

Contests normally start at 0000Z and end at 2359Z which actually puts us starting and ending during the previous day (0000Z on 06/05 (Saturday) UTC is 19:00 on 06/04 (Friday) local).

Perhaps a simpler way to think about it:

1. If the local to UTC time correction pushes you into the next UTC day (after midnight UTC, i.e. at or after 0000 hours UTC), the date is the next day relative to local time.

2. The day, local or UTC, starts at 00 hours, 00 minutes, 00 seconds for that time zone and ends on 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds for that time zone (at a 1 second level of precision, of course ).

The 8:05 was just a second example chosen because 00:05 UTC is without question the next day.

So... I start with my paper log book. This is what I fill in during the QSO. I sit down and write the date where I am located in that logbook, then freq., mode, etc., including UTC.

I am documenting a QSO that I made on X date by me, where I am located.

But, if I am speaking with Sergey in St. Petersburg, the date is X+1 where he is on that same QSO with me, so how will our QSO records ever match?

ETA: Sometimes, I am a dumbass, so could be missing something obvious to everyone else.

It's not that obvious and it does get confusing.  Best advice I can give is don't worry about the other guy, just worry about your conversion and let him handle his.  Everyone will agree in the end.

The corrections for UTC/Zulu are only shown in HOURS.  If you correct your clock by that number of hours and it happens to go the the next day (or for some the previous day) so be it.

GMT correction for me is -5:00 when we are on DST.  So let's assume I work a guy at 5:00 in the morning on June 2 LOCAL TIME FOR ME and the guy I work is in Greenwich, England.  His correction is 00:00 since his local time IS GMT.

0500am on June 2 less 5 hours (for me) is 0000Z on June 2.
He gets to use his local time or 0000Z on June 2.

Now suppose it's 4:00am on June 2 for me.
0400 - 5 hours will be 2300Z on June 1 for me and that's what I put in my log.
His local time will be 23:00 on June 1 so we both agree on time and date.

As long as both of you are using UTC everything will work out.    It does get confusing sometimes but it really does work out each and every time.

23:59 is the last second of the day.
00:00 is the next day.

Use the UTC date.

OP, you kinda are overthinking it a bit. Your official time and date of a qso will be the UTC time and date. The other station should record the same so then both records match.

This is why I like using an electronic log programs, they automatically correct to UTC time and date for you and take the confusion out of it.

it's simple

use UTC time and date.





https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/timezone/utc


Attached File

It's a logbook of YOUR station, so record your date and time in UTC, which will be the same as the other station's.

Way back when, the OP was supposed to log every transmission, including unanswerd CQs and replies to CQs that didn't result in a QSO.

FWIW, I've always used paper logs. I tried computer logging, but dang it, I'm a lousy keypunch operator.

Here's what my QSL looks like. It's the old format of thr ARRL logbook.

When it comes to logs. Local time does not exist for me. Everything is UTC. Keeps it easier and that's the point. So no one is confused.

I've never logged a contact at 00:00z. Its always been something like 23:59z, or 00:01z.
I just take that minute off.

Correct, 04/15 00:05 UTC.

So, I should be writing 4/15 in my logbook for that contact despite the fact that it is 4/14 where I sit?

Yes, that is what you should do.  Any time a clock passes 0000 it's a new day regardless of the time zone being used.  It's no different from going on a trip somewhere and leaving your watch on the time at your home.  When your watch passed midnight you'd likely say something like, "Well it's tomorrow at home."  This is no different.

The whole point of UTC is that "where you sit" is irrelevant.

ETA:

To expound on this a little... you can record your QSO using any method you choose.

I have pages of logbooks where I've marked "local time" in the time column... if I didn't have a UTC clock handy and just reading the time off a cell phone or something during a contest for example. Its easier to figure out the conversion to UTC later.

When exchanging information via a QSL card, uploading to LOTW, etc, then yes UTC time is the standard.

This means I have sent out paper QSL cards with errors.

If you think UTC is confusing, consider what it used to be like trying to run railroads when there were no time zones. Each town had it's own local time.

What format are you using for your paper logs?
ARRL's Logbook has worked for me since 1954.

Consider UTC as "the" time. Forget about Time Zones - there is only one clock that the world runs by.

As such, regardless of where in the world you are, compared any other point on the planet, the clock reads the same, for everyone (which if you think about it, makes sense in the universe.) If the clock reads the same wherever anyone is, then the date follows.

December 31st, 23:59:59, 2021 is the end of the year for the planet. January 1st, 00:00:00, 2022 is the New Year for the planet. If there is only one clock, and two people are speaking with each other via radio waves that travel at the speed of light, then they are communicating in real time, and at the same reference of the "one clock."

Since the communication is occurring at the same time, the time and date recorded is UTC, for all parties involved.

For the scenario at hand, The Big Bang occurred at precisely one instant in time. Consider that the beginning of Universal Time, and seconds have ticked off ever since. You record whatever time and date is UTC, thereby maintaining the record keeping reference of the universe.

Never thought about that!



I am using a logbook from ARRL. This one:


So, now that you and so many others have 'splained it to me, I think I am now able to record time and date without error.