I want to thank all of you that responded (Gary Gibson, Jim Hannon, 
Chris Chapman and Bob Smither). I don't think I was concerned as much 
as I wanted to understand how this GPS/UTC matching was accomplished. 
Thank you for illuminating me on this subject.

George


At 12:01 PM 12/21/2011, you wrote:
>It is not a problem George. The seconds correction is sent with the 
>GPS signal and most systems apply it eaprautomatically to get UTC. 
>In some of the older systems it had to be set by the operator. An 
>error of 15 seconds would be very obvious when locating earthquakes. 
>Much more difficult is an error of 1 second due to poor software or 
>hardware on some ch
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>
>On 22/12/2011, at 6:39 AM, George Bush 
><ke6pxp@.......> wrote:
>
>>I just heard that the UTC time and the GPS time are about 15 
>>seconds different.
>>
>>I subscribe to the NewScientist magazine and in the 17 Dec 2011 
>>issue, p. 27 was a report One minute with Felicitas Arias, who is 
>>the director of the time department at the International Bureau of 
>>Weights and Measures in Paris. She was discussing how the UTC time 
>>is 'adjusted' in 1-second intervals for a closer match to 
>>astronomical time while the clocks in the GPS satellites need a 
>>continuous time scale and do not use the 'adjusted' seconds and so 
>>the GPS and the UTC are slowly drifting apart!
>>
>>If true, this could have major implications for the amateur 
>>stations that rely on a GPS receiver for the correct time. Maybe 
>>the receivers adjust the time before outputting it to us, I don't know.
>>
>>Does anybody else know about this and if it is a problem to us?
>>
>>George
>
>
>George Bush
>Sea Ranch, CA, USA
>38.737817, -123.488928
>Elevation 102'.


I want to thank all of you that responded (Gary Gibson, Jim Hannon,
Chris Chapman and Bob Smither). I don't think I was concerned as
much as I wanted to understand how this GPS/UTC matching was
accomplished. Thank you for illuminating me on this subject.


George




At 12:01 PM 12/21/2011, you wrote:

It is not a problem George. The
seconds correction is sent with the GPS signal and most systems apply it
eaprautomatically to get UTC. In some of the older systems it had to be
set by the operator. An error of 15 seconds would be very obvious when
locating earthquakes. Much more difficult is an error of 1 second due to
poor software or hardware on some ch


Sent from my iPhone


On 22/12/2011, at 6:39 AM, George Bush
<ke6pxp@.......>
wrote:


I just heard that the UTC time
and the GPS time are about 15 seconds different. 


I subscribe to the NewScientist magazine and in the 17 Dec 2011
issue, p. 27 was a report One minute with Felicitas Arias, who is
the director of the time department at the International Bureau of
Weights and Measures in Paris. She was discussing how the UTC time is
'adjusted' in 1-second intervals for a closer match to astronomical time
while the clocks in the GPS satellites need a continuous time scale and
do not use the 'adjusted' seconds and so the GPS and the UTC are slowly
drifting apart!


If true, this could have major implications for the amateur stations that
rely on a GPS receiver for the correct time. Maybe the receivers adjust
the time before outputting it to us, I don't know.


Does anybody else know about this and if it is a problem to us?


George 



George Bush

Sea Ranch, CA, USA

38.737817, -123.488928

Elevation 102'.