Declination/Magnetic Variation

Dominic Sexton said:

1. Get some kind soul to look it up on a map!

I had meant to dig a Landranger 43 out of the bookcase and look it up,
but I forgot... Might remember yet, but perhaps more to the point it
isn't exactly difficult to pick up a 43 in Breamar Mountain Sports and
see what it says: I can't see that you need to know much in advance of
the actual wander.

Pete.
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Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

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from Peter Clinch <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Dominic Sexton wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

1. Get some kind soul to look it up on a map!

Quoted message said:

I had meant to dig a Landranger 43 out of the bookcase and look it up,
but I forgot... Might remember yet, but perhaps more to the point it
isn't exactly difficult to pick up a 43 in Breamar Mountain Sports and
see what it says: I can't see that you need to know much in advance of
the actual wander.

Your are right I don't, I was just thinking that without a paper map it
is difficult.
I have several versions of Sheet 43 at home in Scotland, I wasn't
meaning to ask people to look it up for me.

Thanks to Dominic for a useful source.

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AndyP said:

Yeah, it's a similar magnitude in New Zealand. I was about halfway
through my trip before I found that out. On a similar note, I've heard
people say you can't use a Northern Hemisphere compass in the Southern
Hemisphere because of the dip angle but I didn't find any problems.

Yep - it makes a difference. The fact that Mag N is *East* of Grid N
here means (like someone pointed out for other regions) "Grid to mag
add" doesn't work - unless (it occurred to me) you do some juggling with
negative numbers.

The other issue you mention is termed magnetic "inclination". Silva, I
believe, market compasses with different needle counterbalance for
different zones, and try to reduce inclination by "placing the center of
gravity below the pivot point of the needle". (I can't quite see this,
but I'm sure it's true!).

What Andy says is quite right, though. If you are just visiting NZ, your
UK compass will work ok, though the effect is marked enough for you to
have to tilt the baseplate to get the needle to swing freely.

Andy - I'm not sure why you needed a compass, though. Why didn't you
just follow the orange markers?

M.

Mark Houghton said:

What Andy says is quite right, though. If you are just visiting NZ, your
UK compass will work ok, though the effect is marked enough for you to
have to tilt the baseplate to get the needle to swing freely.

Andy - I'm not sure why you needed a compass, though. Why didn't you
just follow the orange markers?

Well I only took it out to play with it. Think I did manage to ditch
the comforting orange triangles for a while in Arthur's Pass trying to
find my way from Goat Pass to Taruahuna Pass via Lake Mavis though.

Walked most of the West Highland Way as part of a trip around Scotland
the last couple of weeks. As one of the UK's premier high profile long
distance routes that must be a really [censored] experience for anyone hiking
their way through different countries and already done the tracks in
NZ.