+carsonsig Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 (edited) OK, I set up a compass course for my cub scout pack in the park. I made 10 waypoints, and used basecamp to measure distance and bearing... my question is.. do I need to worry about declination or does my gps do that for me when it tells me a bearing if I then went to use a compass ( that was the cub activity) example, I am at point one, in basecamp I use the measure tool to get 350 ft. 90 degrees true to point 2. my Declination = 14° 6' E so I need to subtract 14 degrees and put on the course sheet 350ft. 76 degrees? the kids were off today, I had it set very "loosely" so they still found most points... but it was pi**ing me off.... can someone tell me how to get from gps/basecamp bearings to a bearing for compass use? I guess I am having that magnetic vs true north issue, which I get on a map, my issue is I dont want to mess up again when going from gps to compass! thanks!! C Edited September 30, 2012 by carsonsig Quote Link to comment
+carsonsig Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 ok in settings, I see now I can tell it to use auto magnetic! why is it you cant find an answer until you start a post! Quote Link to comment
+Socal ZukiCachers Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 ok in settings, I see now I can tell it to use auto magnetic! why is it you cant find an answer until you start a post! Good find. When you have your GPS set to use Magnetic North the GPS and your compass should read the same thing. David Magellan Insider Quote Link to comment
Grasscatcher Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 (edited) Or if you left your GPS to True, and set the declination on the compass(s), both would read the same...... Edited September 30, 2012 by Grasscatcher Quote Link to comment
+Team Periwinkle Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Or you could travel back in time to about 1640, when declination would have been about zero for areas of the US with 14 degrees declination now. Then, your GPS compass set to True North would point the same way as your magnetic compass. ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/Historic_UFM_maps/Historic_Mercator_Maps/Dec_1640.pdf (main page: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/declination.shtml) But inventing a time machine and remembering to bring enough batteries to the year 1640 is probably more trouble than just changing the setting on your GPSr. Or you could wait a few hundred thousand years until the magnetic poles swap. Then your magnetic compass would point south and your Cub Scouts would be really confused! Not to mention they would be really old Cub Scouts... Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Or you could wait a few hundred thousand years until the magnetic poles swap. Then your magnetic compass would point south and your Cub Scouts would be really confused! Not to mention they would be really old Cub Scouts... Rumor is.... you won't need to wait a few thousand years. Many scientists believe it will be "soon" -- perhaps this phenomenon is what the Mayan calendar is referring to. Quote Link to comment
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