Q Jean-Pierre, VE2GDA, asks, “I log all of my contact times using UTC, but the question of which date to use is not always clear. Suppose I log a contact that was made at a 2230 local time on June 4. The UTC time will be local time plus four hours, so I log it at 0230 UTC. But does the date become June 5, or does it remain June 4?”
A Many hams are often confused about this point. The simple answer is that the date must match the time. In your example, the “UTC date” would be June 5. It may have indeed been June 4 according to your local time, but for UTC it is after midnight and, henceforth, the next day (June 5).
From QST October 2000
