How the Timeline was Devised
There are so many timelines out there, that it's hard to now which one is the right one. The answer is probably none of them, the only true and accurate one would be the one written (if there ever was one) by Carl Macek. Though the Macross timelines for the Japanese anime can be used as a guideline, it can not be substitued for the Robotech one because they are essential two very different shows. Or as one person on the web cleverly suggested the same senario occuring in two different realities.
I don't claim to have the most accurate timeline, in fact they're are probably a lot of holes in it, though I've done my best to get rid of them.
For starters the beginning, where I have place the SDF-1's Christening and T'sentrati attack on July 2nd. Orginally this date was going to be July 1st, because in the Robotech Graphic Novel: Gensis, which Carl Macek had a hand in named that date.
However in Episode 3 'The Long Wait' Minmei comments that yesterday was Thursday, now Friday.' Assuming that she can tell time and knows the days of the week, I checked up on a 2009 calander on Windows. Only to find that Thursday was July 2nd, Wednesday was July 1st, so therefore I pushed the date forward.
The Mars/Minmei's Birthday and the Beauty Pagent was by far the most difficult part of the timeline due to the decision to use a Macross reference for Minmei's birthday, that is October 28th. That meant the Pagent would have been held in 2009 a time I thought as way to early, which is why I pushed it forward to Febuary 2010. Although this means that the SDF-1 was in Mars Orbit for almost half a year, although I reason they were waiting for a response from Earth before returning, and also they were constantly surrounded and attacked by T'sentrati.
The return of the SDF-1 to Earth was a difficult one, there's lots of conflict about this in the timelines more than anything since it affects the outcome of the whole war. Macross timelines say it was only a 9 month trip, others say a year, some two years, and the Robotech Novels themselves by Jack McKinney say the SDF-1 was away for over two years. My date was decided upon Lisa Hayes' clear remark in Episode 15 Homecoming, about how a year and a half ago the T'sentrati attacked. Since a year and a half after July 2009 is January 2011, I made the SDF-1's homecoming just a few short days before this.
The 4 month stay of the SDF-1 in the Pacific was a comprimise between those timelines that said that the SDF-1 immediately took of a few days after Max and Miriya's battle and Roy Fokker's death, and the novels which said it was about half a year. I also figured the 4 months would give time to find a nations willing to take on their refugees, make some ship repairs, Rick to recuperate and Minmei's movie to be done.
The August 2011 date for the Great T'sentrati Burn and battle was simply picked because it fit in best, giving Miriya two months of Veritech training, and the SDF-1 and it's allies at least a week to co-ordinate and plan.
Dana's birthday being May 2012 means that she would be almost 17 upon her graduation from the Acadmey on 'this Historic 15th Annivesary of the SDF-1's last battle with Khyron. ' It also means she was about 1 or so (and she looks it) in Episode 31 'Viva Miriya'.
I'm pretty sure it's specifically mentioned that 2 years have past since the last battle with T'sentrati fleet, which means episode 28 'Reconstruction' occurs in August 2013.
Finally Khyron's Christmas Attack on Macross obviously occurs December 25th, and considering all the work he's done on his ship in the Amazon, I give his final attack on the SDF-1 a mid-January date.