Gershon's Compass Course

Gershon, how about that compass course?

Did you get a compass? If so, what type.

The way I teach how to use the compass is different than what you will find elsewhere. Otherwise, I could send you to a book or a website.

Once I see a picture of your compass or at least one like it, I can start. A link to Amazon is fine.

I ended up buying the Suunto M-3 Global Pro Compass. I couldn't let go of being able to navigate at night and when I was comparing compasses in REI I noticed the needle on the Suunto was smooth and steady, all the others including the Brunton TruArc 3 Compass were much more jittery. The phosphorescence does not last long though, I find it hard to read the bearings on the bezel by phosphorescence light alone. I have to turn on my headlamp often as it seems to fade quickly, enough so that I feel that this defeats the point of the phosphorescence. I did try reading a park map using red led and it was horrible, both reading the map & the compass itself.

I'd like to try out your approach to navigating. On most topics academia and books cover everything, which is really not necessary for common practical use, and who can remember it all anyways? Learn and absorb as you go I say.

I teach compass use without a map and without worrying about variation/declination in the early stages of learning. The end goal is to be able to navigate from point A to point B given a bearing and distance from A to B. You will be able to do this without a map and with about 1% accuracy (50 feet/mile). You will at all times know exactly where you are in relation to point A.

I don't teach memorization. I'll have you repeat exercises many times so you will learn the theory of compass navigation in a way you will never forget it.

The first step is being sure you know how to find a magnetic bearing, often called a magnetic heading. In other words, what direction is it to that tree across the park.

1. Stand facing the target. Hold the compass flat at about belt level or higher with the direction of travel arrows pointing toward the target. (Move the compass around a bit the first time to be sure you aren't wearing anything metal.)

2. Rotate the dial so the red part of the needle is over the red arrow on the baseplate.

3. Read the bearing off the compass under the direction arrow.

Today's exercise: Take at least 50 bearings to different objects as you take a walk. You only need to be accurate to the nearest 5 degrees.

I remember you saying you are good at Excel. Is that correct? (and how good are you.)

Good! I've navigated with compass all my life and pay little attention to declination unless I'm flying or boating across featureless surroundings and have to hit a target dead on. I was in Ireland the last two weeks, 6 degrees off from my home, and as long as the needle is generally fixed and generally north, the map orients generally north.
In fact, my two favorite compasses have no markings at all, or fixed bezels. Orienteering compasses.
My motorcycle compass is a dorky, bouncy, ball compass and as long as it's within 45 degrees of the direction of the road, I'm good.

Dryer,

We will pay attention to declination later. But it will be a one time fix made by drawing an arrow on a map.

This learning approach focuses on drawing maps first and not following a map. That comes later. Once people see a map, they generally stop learning about the compass.

Basically, I'm teaching dead reckoning with a blank map.

That goes along with what I wrote about flying/sailing in featureless air/water. An FAA IFR chart is pretty much blank with lots of corrected vectors plotted on it.

Agreed, Dryer.

My method eventually takes away the need for plotting vectors. With tons of practice, a person can do the whole thing in their head although I wouldn't recommend it.

Great, I'm back in the car and am traveling. Will do the exercise once I'm back home.

Have you ever experienced pant buckles messing with the compass? I wonder about zippers.

Apart form that I do wear a roadid bracelet that has a small band of metal and a roadid dogtag that is metal as well.

I've not noticed interference from these things but will need to pay closer attention next time I do an exercise with the compass.

I've definitely noticed magnetic interference when working in or close to the car.

I've used excel enough to understand the basics and how to use macros, I'm computer savvy enough to figure things out. One would need to write down magnetic north bearings after every 50 feet or so with your method is that right? In any case I should do the exercises before moving on to the next step. Will check again here once I've arrived back in NY and have done the exercises. Thanks for doing this Gershon.

@Dryer, interesting about the boating (gps?) solution .

Of course, anyone can stick a GPS in a car, boat, plane and follow it. Batteries die and dead reckoning nav via compass or sky (sun/stars) is a skill everyone should learn and practice. In fact, geocaching is even more fun without a gps, using only a compass and a map. You pretty much only need to know where you came from and where you want to end up.
Not to steal Gershon's thunder, but car bodies, electronics, phones, all effect a compass if close enough. You can put a compensated compass in your car to counter that. Things like zippers, jewerlry, watches, not so much unless your compass is right on top of it.

For super-accuracy, you would need to write down a bearing and distance every 100 feet. For reasonable accuracy, you can draw a vector on a piece of paper. (It doesn't have to be accurate.) What I usually do is record the bearing and distance and draw the vectors until I get close to the destination. Then I compute my exact location and go from there.

In most cases, the distance you will travel while depending on the compass will only a few hundred feet. The end game is learning how to set up a search pattern to find yourself should you lose the trail.

I use a lensatic compass, so I hold the compass near my face. If I have a camera in my shirt pocket, it will affect the compass.

I'll eventually send you an excel program to draw maps. I think it does use macros. It has been awhile since I've used it.