[just another ref]

OK, here's what happened. Partner was the referee, so I wasn't in on the actual discussion. But as near as I could gather later neither he nor anyone at the table knew whether the horn had sounded or not. Was there any way to look on the console and tell? Apparently not. After two separate short discussions with the timer, he said we're ready to go. Partner administered the throw-in, I was lead. A1 threw a pass into the frontcourt near the free throw line. B1 leaped high and spiked the ball to the court. It bounced high and landed in the bleachers, about the time the horn finally sounded.
On the way home he told me that he had instructed the timer to carefully watch for him to chop the clock in, and then sound the horn manually.
I nearly had an attack when I heard this.