Thanks Henrik and Richard for responding to my post so quickly.

Henrik - your speculation and my speculation differ. Thanks for offering an opinion.

Richard - I set the T1CON register that way on purpose BUT, I also tried your suggestion. Neither fixed the problem

My plan now is to cut my losses and go to a new design using an I2C RTCC with a PIC16F1828.
I will keep you all posted on my progress.

Cheers
Barry
VK2XBP