Author Topic: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely  (Read 10778 times)

ninthace

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #75 on: 17:13:21, 22/04/19 »
Aircraft trails eh?  I hadn’t thought about them but yes I have used them without really thinking about it.  Airliners fly on fixed routes leaving a contrail.  There is a major airway up the spine of the UK for example so if you are out and it is a contrail day they will give you an orientation.  Have a look at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a8CQ29yWvZI.  and you can see the aircraft streams.
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ninthace

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #76 on: 17:22:27, 22/04/19 »
By the way Rob, if you have a analogue watch you can find N without a compass https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BoKQMwUx2gA
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Rob Goes Walking

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #77 on: 18:40:51, 22/04/19 »
By the way Rob, if you have a analogue watch you can find N without a compass https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BoKQMwUx2gA

I haven't watched the video yet but I've read about it in my book, you can do it if you have a digital watch too - just draw an analog clock! So far I've learned you can maintain a bearing using the position of the sun for 10 minutes and know the cardinals by knowing the bearing of the sun by looking them up before you go. Also how to locste north using Polaris , the Big Dipper and the Queen (I skipped the southern hemisphere bit as surplus to requirements and Orion as being too complicated to identify when I don't need to). I'll probably never do this other than for fun but I read the book in order like it said. Just arrived at lesson plans for using the compass (the previous compass bit just taught you about the compass) so will soon know how good the book is for the main reason I bought it. Just over 1/4 of the way through the book. I can see once more why fernman says it contains much much you don't need to know but it's been good at explaining so far - slope aspect being the only thing that I didn't grok.

ninthace

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Rob Goes Walking

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #79 on: 20:10:19, 22/04/19 »
Now we know why magnetic N is on the move.
https://www.newsweek.com/earth-magnetic-field-strange-geomagnetic-jerks-explained-1400083
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0355-1

Got the gist of it but don't fully understand the nature of the hydromagnetic waves. The more I read about them the more I had to read to understand what I'd just read.

Luckily the book isn't like that it even had a section on slope aspect so I know now what it is and (in theory) how to locate myself using just the contour lines. It's a good book I'm glad I didn't send it back even if there is stuff in there that I'll probably never use.

Theory is one thing though I've yet to practice this stuff...

Rob Goes Walking

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #80 on: 21:25:20, 22/04/19 »
I read on another forum Loughrigg is a good place to practice navigation. I've checked those steps out I shied away from before and while steep, they only go on for 150 metres of ascent. Maybe it's time to go back to Loughrigg? I was thinking leave the car in Grasmere, catching the bus to White Moss Common and walking over Loughrigg to Ambleside then catching the bus back to Grasmere. Thoughts? WalkLakes warns "Loughrigg Fell is not a place to be in caught mist or poor visibility without good navigation skills." so maybe I should pick somewhere easier to practice the more basic nav skills and come back to Loughrigg to practice the advanced ones. Can anyone who's still interested in this thread think of a lowland area in the Lakes that would be good to practice basic nav skills?

ninthace

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #81 on: 22:16:03, 22/04/19 »
Try this one on Loughrigg.  It is all on paths but same take some finding.
http://www.haroldstreet.org.uk/routes/download/?walk=2211
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ninthace

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #82 on: 22:47:48, 22/04/19 »
Try these. They are outside the Lakes and not too taxing but require some navigating.  This first one takes in a hill that looks like a small table mountain. Starts easily enough as far as the top of the hill then you will need to route find back to the track across the head of the reservoir. The last bit is on lanes.
http://www.haroldstreet.org.uk/routes/download/?walk=1838
This one is entirely off piste visiting old mine workings but is only 6 km http://www.haroldstreet.org.uk/routes/download/?walk=2132
Another short one. Only 9 km. A bit on the PW.
http://www.haroldstreet.org.uk/routes/download/?walk=2151

They all fairly close to Appleby.


   
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Rob Goes Walking

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #83 on: 22:53:52, 22/04/19 »
By my reckoning that route will take me between 6 and a half and 9 hours depending on if I perform more like Loadpot Hill or more like Holme Fell. That's without faffing about with a map and compass. I'll think about it.

For my first day of practice I'm not even supposed to use a compass, I'm supposed to practice:

Orient your map
Brace Position
Attack Point
Handrail
Collecting Features
Thumb the Map

Which I've already done Handrail and Collecting Features intuitively just by using printouts of maps in the past and it being the obvious way to use them. But I'll do this course properly and attempt to do it as suggested.

Not sure if Loughrigg is the right place to practice day 1 as I'd need to use the GPS while practicing those skills but maybe it would work that way.

Needs thought since I think I've bored the forum with nav questions. I might not be a doctor but I'm not stupid - with an IQ supposedly of the 97th percentile I should be able to figure this out.

And if not I can go bore another forum with my questions  ;D

While I was writing that you posted some more routes. Thanks. I will need to buy an additional 2 maps (OS map sheet finder is horrid) to try those. Have now bought said maps, waiting for them to arrive.
« Last Edit: 01:04:22, 23/04/19 by Rob Goes Walking »

ninthace

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #84 on: 13:45:17, 23/04/19 »
You should already have the map for this one that I came across while house keeping my route files today: https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/route/1911183/160321-Naddle-Horseshoe
It is a sort of point to point picking off a succession of little hills east of Haweswater.  Not too much contour cutting though once you are up there.  Took me 3:30hr in March '16 but I wasn't pushing - it is a tad over 12km.
PS - it is not in haroldstreet as there was a longer but very similar walk already there - search "Naddle Horseshoe"
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Rob Goes Walking

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #85 on: 14:21:51, 23/04/19 »
Thanks ninthace. I might wait for the new maps to arrive so I can do the short routes incase I want to wander about, etc. According to my book municipal parks are an ideal place to practice navigation but I don't have one of those handy. Maybe there's one in Carlisle? I'll look. I'm just hoping there's things to take bearings off around on your routes as I don't know what to expect when I turn up and I'm guessing you can take bearings from contour features but I was hoping for obvious things on the map like spot or linear features while I practice the techniques themselves. Maybe I should dive in head first and use it on a real route though, I'm still not sure.

Anyway I just measured my pace and timing using a GPS trace as I don't have a 100m measure. Do you think 325 metres is a long enough sample taking GPS error into consideration? The trace looks pretty accurate. If it is my pace count is 154 (or 77 double steps - knew I took short steps) and my speed 3.5km/h (2.2 mph).

I'll have to calculate my own personal ascent modifier as something tells me 1 minute per 10 metres isn't going to work.
« Last Edit: 14:51:49, 23/04/19 by Rob Goes Walking »

ninthace

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #86 on: 16:17:27, 23/04/19 »
Anyway I just measured my pace and timing using a GPS trace as I don't have a 100m measure. Do you think 325 metres is a long enough sample taking GPS error into consideration? The trace looks pretty accurate. If it is my pace count is 154 (or 77 double steps - knew I took short steps) and my speed 3.5km/h (2.2 mph).

I'll have to calculate my own personal ascent modifier as something tells me 1 minute per 10 metres isn't going to work.


'dems some mighty long steps 325/154 = ?m
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Rob Goes Walking

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #87 on: 16:22:09, 23/04/19 »

'dems some mighty long steps 325/154 = ?m

Oh I thought pace counts were standard at 100 metres. That's steps per 100m (I counted 500 steps and took a trace (500/325)*100).

ninthace

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #88 on: 16:29:20, 23/04/19 »
Oh I thought pace counts were standard at 100 metres. That's steps per 100m (I counted 500 steps and took a trace (500/325)*100).


Sorry, I took your count verbatim,  154 per 100m sounds reasonable.
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Rob Goes Walking

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Re: Magnetic compass on Viewranger behaving strangely
« Reply #89 on: 17:11:58, 23/04/19 »
I've decided when my Howgills map arrives I'm just going to wander around the fields along the Dales High Way which passes near my flat (assuming I can, never walked that way before) and practice navigating there. Hopefully they're not full of cows. Hopefully this is a good plan too - I'll have a better idea of what's a good place to practice this stuff after attempting to practice it or so my thinking goes. Then when I'm confident with the techniques I'll go try your mine workings route if it's not boggy? I'll take my stove too.

 

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