[Rath's Rhapsody] Hong Kong time

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| om gurave namah |Dear Narasimha Please see if this can be added to the software for the next release. Hong Kong Time (abbreviation: HKT) is the time in Hong Kong. The time is UTC+8 all year round. Owing to the longitude in which Hong Kong is located, HKT is in the same time zone as used by the time standards in the rest of of the People's Republic of China - Chinese Standard Time (also known as Beijing Time or Beijing Standard Time) in mainland China, and Macao Standard Time in Macao. From 1941 to 1979, Hong Kong adopted daylight saving measures, but in 1980 the Hong Kong Observatory found these unnecessary as Hong Kong is at a relatively low latitude, and decided to eliminate the practice. Greenwich Mean Time was adopted as the basis in 1904, and UTC was adopted as a standard in 1972. Before that, local time was determined by astronomical observations at the Hong Kong Observatory using a 6-inch Lee Equatorial and a 3-inch Transit Circle. Hong Kong Summer Time Summer Time in Hong Kong was first introduced in 1941.Hong Kong Summer Time = Hong Kong Standard Time + 1 hourThe period in which Summer Time was enforced is listed below: Year Period Year Period 1941 1 Apr to 30 Sep 1961 19 Mar to 5 Nov 1942 Whole year 1962 18 Mar to 4 Nov 1943 Whole year 1963 24 Mar to 3 Nov 1944 Whole year 1964 22 Mar to 1 Nov 1945 Whole year 1965 18 Apr to 17 Oct 1946 20 Apr to 1 Dec 1966 17 Apr to 16 Oct 1947 13 Apr to 30 Dec 1967 16 Apr to 22 Oct 1948 2 May to 31 Oct 1968 21 Apr to 20 Oct 1949 3 Apr to 30 Oct 1969 20 Apr to 19 Oct 1950 2 Apr to 29 Oct 1970 19 Apr to 18 Oct 1951 1 Apr to 28 Oct 1971 18 Apr to 17 Oct 1952 6 Apr to 25 Oct 1972 16 Apr to 22 Oct 1953 5 Apr to 1 Nov 1973 22 Apr to 21 Oct 1954 21 Mar to 31 Oct 1973/74 30 Dec 73 to 20 Oct 74 1955 20 Mar to 6 Nov 1975 20 Apr to 19 Oct 1956 18 Mar to 4 Nov 1976 18 Apr to 17 Oct 1957 24 Mar to 3 Nov 1977 Nil 1958 23 Mar to 2 Nov 1978 Nil 1959 22 Mar to 1 Nov 1979 13 May to 21 Oct 1960 20 Mar to 6 Nov 1980 to Now Nil History of Hong Kong Time Service The Hong Kong Observatory is an official timekeeper in Hong Kong. The provision of an accurate time service, particularly to mariners, was one of the original duties of the Observatory since its establishment in 1883. Local time was determined by astronomical observations at the Observatory using a 6-inch Lee Equatorial and a 3-inch Transit Circle. The time signals were indicated to as many people as possible by dropping a 6-feet diameter time ball from a mast in front of the Marine Police Station at Tsim Sha Tsui. Each day about 12:50 p.m., the barrack sergeant of the Marine Police in conjunction with the Observatory, raised the ball to the top of the mast and dropped it at exactly 1p.m. The time ball was first dropped on 1 January 1885. The time ball tower was later moved to Blackhead Point in January 1908. In 1904, Greenwich Mean Time was adopted as the basis for Hong Kong Time (8 hours in advance of Greenwich Mean Time). With the introduction and wider use of time signals on radio broadcast, the time ball was dismantled on 30 June 1933. The Observatory's instruments were lost during the Second World War and after the war pendulum clocks were installed and regulated by radio time signals from other centres. Timing accuracy gradually improved from seconds to within one-fifth of a second per day. In 1966, a crystal-controlled timing system was installed to replace the pendulum clocks. Direct broadcasting of the 6-pip time signal from the Observatory on 95 MHz also commenced in the same year until 16 September 1989. On 1 January 1972, Hong Kong adopted UTC as official time standard. A timing system based on a Caesium beam atomic clock was first acquired in 1980 and a replacement clock was installed in 1994. The frequency standard controlling the clock is a primary standard and is traceable to the primary standard of the Communications Research Laboratory in Japan. Today, the Hong Kong Observatory's time service is based on the Caesium beam atomic clock with an accuracy of fractions of a microsecond a day. Such a level of accuracy is important to scientists, industry and to other professionals whose work requires it. The public can easily obtain a time check from the Observatory's Network Time Server through Internet, the Observatory's automatic Telephone Information Enquiry System through telephone and radio broadcasts from various channels of the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Best wishes and warm regards,Sanjay RathPersonal: WebPages ◠Rath’s RhapsodySJC WebPages: Sri Jagannath Center ◠SJCERC ◠JIVAPublications: The Jyotish Digest ◠Sagittarius Publications---- --Posted by Pt.Sanjay Rath to Rath's Rhapsody at 5/05/2006 05:33:00 PM