Ya learn somethin everday..

[+team lagonda]

A watch set on standard time can be used as a compass on a sunny day..lay the watch on a flat surface with the hour hand pointing towards the sun. mark a spot halfway between the hour hand and 12 oclock.a line drawn from the center of the watch face through that mark will point south....this does the job case yer gpser goes haywire....

[+DavidMac]

That sounds like an interesting puzzle cache idea... I wonder if someone could figure out a way to use it to point the way to a cache?

[+Team_CSG]

All Boy Scouts need to know this for rank advancement

Edited August 29, 2007 by arthurat

[+team lagonda]

i found this from the latest addition of Field and Stream..a magizine for hunters and fishermen..kinda like a sun compass and you can use the stars for night....

Edited August 29, 2007 by team lagonda

[lonesome sock]

Yep. It really works. Just remember it is important the watch should be set to standard time.

 

Otherwise, you will end up being 15 degrees out for each hour of daylight saving it may have been adjusted for.

[+sTeamTraen]

Northern hemisphere caveats apply here

[+The Jester]

If you're set to daylight savings time, use 1 o'clock instead of noon.

[+His_little_lamb]

A watch set on standard time can be used as a compass on a sunny day..lay the watch on a flat surface with the hour hand pointing towards the sun. mark a spot halfway between the hour hand and 12 oclock.a line drawn from the center of the watch face through that mark will point south....this does the job case yer gpser goes haywire....

 

Sounds great, only problem is that the watch I wear is digital...

[+The Jester]

A watch set on standard time can be used as a compass on a sunny day..lay the watch on a flat surface with the hour hand pointing towards the sun. mark a spot halfway between the hour hand and 12 oclock.a line drawn from the center of the watch face through that mark will point south....this does the job case yer gpser goes haywire....

 

Sounds great, only problem is that the watch I wear is digital...

Oh, that's simple. Tie a string to the watch. When the watch says 12 noon (or 1 pm daylight savings), hang the watch by the string. The shadow points due north (or south for those in the Southern Hemisphere).

 

Next, swing the watch by the string until you have some good momentum. Let fly. Now go by a nice mechanical, analog watch for use in the great outdoors!

[+DavidMac]

Oh, that's simple. Tie a string to the watch. When the watch says 12 noon (or 1 pm daylight savings), hang the watch by the string. The shadow points due north (or south for those in the Southern Hemisphere).

 

But don't forget, depending on where you are within a given timezone, the sun may not be due south (or north) at exactly noon.

[+Thrak]

I hate digital watches. They are fine for young people. Wait until you hit 40 or 50 though. I always had 20/10 vision. What folks with "perfect vision" (20/20) could see clearly at 10 feet I could see clearly at 20 feet. Awesome. One day things got fuzzy. I complained and my wife said I had "over 40 eyes". Yeah, right. Finally I went to an eye doctor. He said I had "over 40 eyes". D'Oh! They have gotten steadily worse. Crap.

 

Now I know that, compared to most folks, my vision still rocks. However, to me, it sucks big green ones. Digital watches without glasses are a big ??????. Analog watches without glasses are a pretty darn good guess at the time. I don't need to read numbers, I just need to have a pretty fair idea of where the hands are pointing.

[+benh57]

Watches in general are going the way of the dodo and the compact disc, among young people. Basically no-one under 20 wears them any more. Possibly even 25.

 

Why? the cell phone. All cell phones have clocks on them, so people got out of the habit of wearing watches.

http://www.timmay.net/node/18

http://www.google.com/search?q=cell+phones+replacing+watches

[+Renegade Knight]

...Why? the cell phone. All cell phones have clocks on them, so people got out of the habit of wearing watches.

...

 

That's why I don't wear one. Oh and the moss grows on the North Side of the tree and the hills here have pine trees on the north face and nothing on the other faces.

[nobby.nobbs]

...Why? the cell phone. All cell phones have clocks on them, so people got out of the habit of wearing watches.

...

 

That's why I don't wear one. Oh and the moss grows on the North Side of the tree and the hills here have pine trees on the north face and nothing on the other faces.

 

be careful. in temperate areas with high rainfall you get moss all around the trees.

[+Michael]

Of course you can also use a rock to predict the weather. Tie a rock to a string and hang from a tree limb so its about 5 feet from the ground.

 

If rock is wet it is raining.

If rock is white it is snowing.

If rock is shaking there is an earthquake.

If rock is dry, the weather is fair.

if rock is swinging, it's windy.

If rock is warm, the sun is out.

If rock is not visible, it's dark outside...or your eyes are closed.

If rock is under water, there is a flood.

If rock is gone there is a tornado (Run!!)

 

The watch on the string comment made me think of this.

[+Postman Pat]

Of course some People don't wear watches for other reasons like me if I wear a watch for a couple of hours I stop it . As a Consequence I am fairly reasonable at Guessing the time

[+Kiwi Nomad]

My gps has the time and date on it.

Can't remember the last time I wore a watch.

I went to work one day and relaised when I was at my desk I could see the time in four different places, computer, desk clock, wall clock, watch.

My day was ruled by the clock what time I got to work, took breaks, had meetings, and left to go home.

That would be at least 7 years and 2 jobs ago and I don't miss it (the watch) at all.

[+Robespierre]

A watch set on standard time can be used as a compass on a sunny day..lay the watch on a flat surface with the hour hand pointing towards the sun. mark a spot halfway between the hour hand and 12 oclock.a line drawn from the center of the watch face through that mark will point south....this does the job case yer gpser goes haywire....

But what if it's 6:00? Is south on the 3-side or the 9-side?

[Mr.Yuck]

All Boy Scouts need to know this for rank advancement

 

Heard of it in the Army, where I believe it's a skill level one common task. If they still call them that. And as I saw someone else say, Northern Hemisphere only.

[+FireRef]

I hate digital watches. They are fine for young people. Wait until you hit 40 or 50 though. I always had 20/10 vision. What folks with "perfect vision" (20/20) could see clearly at 10 feet I could see clearly at 20 feet. Awesome. One day things got fuzzy. I complained and my wife said I had "over 40 eyes". Yeah, right. Finally I went to an eye doctor. He said I had "over 40 eyes". D'Oh! They have gotten steadily worse. Crap.

 

Now I know that, compared to most folks, my vision still rocks. However, to me, it sucks big green ones. Digital watches without glasses are a big ??????. Analog watches without glasses are a pretty darn good guess at the time. I don't need to read numbers, I just need to have a pretty fair idea of where the hands are pointing.

 

That worries me... I'm at 35 and have 20/10 in one eye and 20/15 in the other... heh - i'm in trouble, huh?

[+Hose502]

Obligatory Hitchhiker's Guide quote:

 

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

 

This planet has — or rather had — a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

 

And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.

[+Harry Dolphin]

I hate digital watches. They are fine for young people. Wait until you hit 40 or 50 though. I always had 20/10 vision. What folks with "perfect vision" (20/20) could see clearly at 10 feet I could see clearly at 20 feet. Awesome. One day things got fuzzy. I complained and my wife said I had "over 40 eyes". Yeah, right. Finally I went to an eye doctor. He said I had "over 40 eyes". D'Oh! They have gotten steadily worse. Crap.

 

Now I know that, compared to most folks, my vision still rocks. However, to me, it sucks big green ones. Digital watches without glasses are a big ??????. Analog watches without glasses are a pretty darn good guess at the time. I don't need to read numbers, I just need to have a pretty fair idea of where the hands are pointing.

 

Harrumph! I was 20/1100 for most of my life (correctable to 20/30). (Coke bottles are good for something!) I could see anything close up. After I stopped being able to read speed limit signs (!), I had cataract surgery. Now, I'm 20/20! But at four feet. Can't seen anything closer than that wthout reading glasses (or my bifocals - good at 2 feet).

I far prefer the digital clocks and watches (okay, I especially like the calculator on my watch!!) LEDs are the best! (Okay. It used to be that I couldn't see anything when I woke up in the morning.) (Wake up. Turn off alarm clock. Put on glases.) Now I can read the LED clock across the room!!!! Much easier to read than the analogue (except after blackouts.)

[+Prime Suspect]

A watch set on standard time can be used as a compass on a sunny day..lay the watch on a flat surface with the hour hand pointing towards the sun. mark a spot halfway between the hour hand and 12 oclock.a line drawn from the center of the watch face through that mark will point south....this does the job case yer gpser goes haywire....

Gee, I didn't know that. Oh, wait. Yes I do.

[+benh57]

Gee, I didn't know that. Oh, wait. Yes I do.

 

How dare the OP not find your post buried in a thread from 2003.

 

Let this be a lesson!

[+wildearth2001]

All Boy Scouts need to know this for rank advancement

 

Heard of it in the Army, where I believe it's a skill level one common task. If they still call them that. And as I saw someone else say, Northern Hemisphere only.

 

In the southern hemisphere it should just be switched around...point 12 toward the sun and halfway between the 12 and the hour hand is north

 

EDIT TO ADD...I may be wrong-i just thought this through mentally, can somebody confirm

Edited August 31, 2007 by wildearth2001

[GPS-Hermit]

...Why? the cell phone. All cell phones have clocks on them, so people got out of the habit of wearing watches.

...

 

That's why I don't wear one. Oh and the moss grows on the North Side of the tree and the hills here have pine trees on the north face and nothing on the other faces.

 

Moss growing on the North side of a tree in Virginia is the joke of the year - I seen it all over the place with no rule applied. The sun does come up every day - thats cool.

[Doocc]

Very usefull for finding true north; but if you can see the sun, know the time, and cant figure out which way north is, then you have bigger problems. (Eagle Scout speaking here )

[+team lagonda]

i tried this and it answers well except befor noon..anyone know how to use in the am.

[+GeoBeck!]

Yep, I learned this on Survivor Man.

[+team lagonda]

geobeck,,did he explain how to do this befor noon....

[+Markwell]

<Off topic>

 

Of course you can also use a rock to predict the weather. Tie a rock to a string and hang from a tree limb so its about 5 feet from the ground...

One of my son's troop's patrols used this for his lashings "useful camp gadget" requirement. Made a tripod using a sheer lashing and suspended a rock tied to the rope.

 

My son's patrol was more inventive and created a catapult to "defend the campsite from invaders".

 

</Off topic>

Edited September 28, 2007 by Markwell

[+team lagonda]

does anyone know how to use the watch as a compass befor 12;00 noon..

Edited October 8, 2007 by team lagonda

[+Prime Suspect]

does anyone know how to use the watch as a compass befor 12;00 noon..

Yes. As a matter of fact, I know it pretty much all the time.

[+Iowa Tom]

This reminds me of something that I tell my students about this time every year. I occasionally get out of my car when lost in an unfamiliar location at night and look for a constellation that I can use to get my bearing. It works well but one time I tried it using the moon. It had just broken out of the clouds and I thought for sure it was just just coming up. It had been cloudy for days so I had not been keeping track of its phases. Anyway it was going down. I drove around and around totally confused.

 

On another topic, to align the satellite antenna on the roof here at the school I used this site http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php to obtain the transit time for the sun. The school is not oriented N-S so I had a very hard time telling directions while up on the roof. At the transit time I aligned a straight edge until I got a minimum shadow. Then I scribed a line with a permanent marker along the ruler. We used that as our reference for the meridian. The satellite happened to have an azimuth of 180 degrees so that was convenient. I just used another line that I scribed on the parking lot to find the planet Venus when it crosses the meridian in the daytime. It's far enough from the sun at this time that it's easy to pick out.

Edited October 9, 2007 by Iowa Tom

[+steve p]

But what if it's 6:00? Is south on the 3-side or the 9-side?

If you mean 6:00 PM, since that is pretty late in the day, most people would realize that the sun is to the west, and would therefore roughly know where south is. That should be a good indication of which side of the watch to use.

Same logic would apply if it is 6:00 AM.

 

Now, if the watch says 6:00 and someone doesn't know whether it is AM or PM, that's a different problem!

[+wandererrob]

Obligatory Hitchhiker's Guide quote:

 

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

 

This planet has — or rather had — a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

 

And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.

 

Did anybody else automatically read this in the announcer's voice from the show/movie?

[+trainlove]

Oh, that's simple. Tie a string to the watch. When the watch says 12 noon (or 1 pm daylight savings), hang the watch by the string. The shadow points due north (or south for those in the Southern Hemisphere).

 

But don't forget, depending on where you are within a given timezone, the sun may not be due south (or north) at exactly noon.

 

Ah yes, at any one spot the sun is hardly ever due south at Noon (twice a year like a broken clock being right twice a day), but within a time zone that can be guaranteed, except of course it's of no use to us.

Boy that sun is a mean sun, Analemma.

Depending on where you are in your time zone, you could be off by up to 1 hour. That is, a sundial must be corrected for your longitude difference from the zone meridian. Otherwise noon, apparent time, is not really noon, watch time.

 

I once remember reading, in Scientific American I think during 2006, about the accurracy of this method. Lots of rocket science there.

 

Good to see Southern Hemisphere is mentioned.

 

I once wanted to make a sundial that would be accurate to a second, perhaps a mile tall. And have read about digital sundials.

 

P.S. do you know why all clocks go clockwise. Watch (pun intended) the shadow of a gnomon on a sundial in the civilized (Northern Hemisphere) world.

[+Arrow One]

I just find it easier to carry a compass

[+SixDogTeam]

Obligatory Hitchhiker's Guide quote:

 

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

 

This planet has — or rather had — a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

 

And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.

 

The mean ones were descendants of apes. Not me, however, or my Russian and Welch ancestors...

[+Iowa Tom]

Here's another way of doing it. I see that the watch face acts like a protractor.

 

[+Fogtripper]

Of course you can also use a rock to predict the weather. Tie a rock to a string and hang from a tree limb so its about 5 feet from the ground.

 

If rock is wet it is raining.

If rock is white it is snowing.

If rock is shaking there is an earthquake.

If rock is dry, the weather is fair.

if rock is swinging, it's windy.

If rock is warm, the sun is out.

If rock is not visible, it's dark outside...or your eyes are closed.

If rock is under water, there is a flood.

If rock is gone there is a tornado (Run!!)

 

The watch on the string comment made me think of this.

 

Isn't there a "weather station" like this near Buffalo?

[+trainlove]

The reason you have to look half way from the hour hand to the noon mark is that a watch face is only 12 hours while a full day is 24. If you had a 24 hour watch, I have clocks like this in my lab but never saw a watch of this kind, you could look right along the hour hand.

 

Edit to say, I mean you could look along the noon mark, not the hour hand, duh, unless you were in the Southern Hemisphere, then what I said is right with slight modification.

I.E. Point the noon mark at the sun and look along the hour hand, but only down under.

Edited October 10, 2007 by trainlove

[+team lagonda]

this method only seems to work from noon owards till dark,,befor noon using this method points too far east..

[+The Jester]

this method only seems to work from noon owards till dark,,befor noon using this method points too far east..

I'm not sure what you are doing exactly, but the watch/sun method of determining North/South has been used for many years and works correctly any time of day (that the sun is up).

 

At side point: On those days when the clouds diffuse the position of the sun, using a small twig to cast a shadow along the hour hand works (of course, this rotates the watch 180 degrees, so the split points North).

 

Another point: If the watch is set to daylight savings time, use one o'clock instead of 12 o'clock.

[+team lagonda]

jester,,my point is if you point the hour hand at the sun befor noon,say 11;ooam and you draw the angle between the hour hand and noon the line will point east not south..just had a brain storm..i guess all you would have to do in the am. is split the angle between the hour hand and 6 number instead of using the 12 .. is this the answer....

Edited October 11, 2007 by team lagonda

[+The Jester]

jester,,my point is if you point the hour hand at the sun befor noon,say 11;ooam and you draw the angle between the hour hand and noon the line will point east not south..just had a brain storm..i guess all you would have to do in the am. is split the angle between the hour hand and 6 number instead of using the 12 .. is this the answer....

I really don't know what you are doing. At 11am when you point the hour hand at the sun, there is no way you can have the split point east. At 11am the sun is East of the South line (facing south that's left). Pointing the hour hand at the sun makes the 12 line to the right of the hour hand (meaning West), so there is no way the angle split could be pointing East.

 

I've used this method many, many times - at all times of the day - and it works, morning, noon, afternoon, ANY time the sun is in the sky.

[+team lagonda]

well actualy the split at 11'am is east south east..you dont get true south till after 12;00..

Edited October 12, 2007 by team lagonda