For some time I've had a problem with the N7XG Logger giving the fatal error message, "edStart is not a valid date" when selecting a net to monitor.
After considerable investigation I've finally found the cause and the solution to this problem.
It seems that when a net is selected the N7XG Logger looks at the DST start date (and probably end date) for the system time zone that's in effect. That's all well and good if the selected time zone observes DST... in which case there will be start and end dates for DST for that time zone. But if the time zone never observes DST, and thus (in some cases) has no DST start/end dates, the Logger tries to read a start date that doesn't exist and the "Monitor a Net" process aborts with the fatal error, "edStart is not a valid date."
There are two solutions.
1) On the user end, select a time zone in Windows that has the appropriate UTC offset that also allows selecting (or deselecting) the option for "automatic adjustment of the clock for DST." (That's the WinXP wording.) Then if DST isn't observed simply uncheck that little box that allows Windows to automatically adjust the clock for DST. DO NOT select a time zone that doesn't have this check box because the internal parameters for such a zone may not have start/end dates for DST set... and that makes "edStart" an invalid date.
2) On the programming end, fix the programming logic that requires a DST start/end date to exist in a time zone where DST is not observed. Start/end dates are irrelevant if DST isn't observed. DST is not observed if the "automatic adjustment of the clock for DST" option is not selected.
I use the GMT time zone with "automatically adjust the clock for DST" deselected. That's equivalent to UTC.
73 de Jim, KB3PU
