GMT, DST, location, Synscan hand controller settings

[JohnT]

This may be a dumb question, but since I have been trying to align my scope for a few nights now, I thought I would ask:  The Synscan hand controller asks for your location in the world and the time of day.  I would have assumed that if you properly entered your lat/long and your local time, that the program would be smart enough to figure out if you are GMT-5, or even on Daylight savings... and not need to ask for that info too.  Since it does - my question is, if I am on DST, in New York Time zone, then technically I should enter DST = Yes, and GMT-4, correct?  Or.... if I put in GMT-5 (which is what I thought it was originally) and DST, does the hand controller do the calculation for me?  (and if it does that, why can't it do the calculation based on lat/long).   

 

LOL, the first couple times I entered data, I got the longitude wrong (east vs. west) then I got the GMT +/- wrong... needless to say, asking it to find something as simple as Vega had the scope pointing at the lawn.   I have other questions about the hand controller operation, and if there is a proper forum for thess questions, different from this one, please let me know.

[RaDec]

No such thing as a dumb question! Usually dumb answers, so here’s mine😂

As far as I remember (assuming the handset is non GPS Skywatcher) you should set the time zone to the winter setting (ie UT minus whatever) and then set the DST to whatever applies - ‘yes’ at the moment. Remember to re-set to ‘no’ when the clocks go back. The handset should then sort it from there. 
Hope this a) helps and b) is correct

[JohnT]

thanks.  Will try that.  Hopefully it gets me a bit closer to the alignment stars

 

[Carbon Brush]

The problems are very understandable. Not the answers.

Looking at the general situation, mount manufacturers often use different terms to those in use locally.
for example here in the UK, we use GMT in winter, and BST (British Summer Time) well you guess!
Daylight saving time makes no sense. Shifting your clock does not save or extend daylight😁

Then there is the date format. Here in the UK we usually use DD/MM/YYYY.
There is part of the world (who influence certain mount manufacturers) who use MM/DD/YYYY.
First time out with a particular mount I wondered why the scope went astray and resorted to using it manually.
Afterwards In the warmth and daylight I 'discovered' that my October 3rd and March 10th dates were somehow exchanged!
There is a lot to be said for setting up and trying mount settings in the warmth. Using a separate method to determine approximate star locations. You can overcome simple problems that defeat you in the dark.

 

In my observatory all year the mount stays on GMT. The computer stays on GMT. One less problem to handle😁.
The problems come up when I hear of event with a BST, or UTC, or faraway round the gobe local time!