Question on compass declination

BillG

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Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
187
Location
Harrisburg PA
i found out my dec. is 11 west. So i moved the underlying red "chute" over to approx 349 degrees.. So now i have true north. So far so good. Now i want to head due East to get back to the parking at the beginning of the trail. Do i rotate the bezel so that 90 is at the directional walking arrow....and then rotate my body till red arrow lines up with the underlying red "chute"....or do i have to compensate 11 degrees again off of the 90 degree reading

Sorry if i'm not using the correct terms for everything. Basically once i have adjusted my declination do i never have to keep doing that?

Thanks Bill
 

BillG

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Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
187
Location
Harrisburg PA
i think i figured it out. when the red chute is on 0 then east is one direction....but when the chute is set to 349 deg (which is true north) ....east is slightly different direction.

so it seems that i don't need to worry about declination once it is set.

am i correct??

thanks.....Bill
 

nbp

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Dec 16, 2007
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Wisconsin
Two days ago. If he is still lost, he has cell service at least. Hahaha.
 

Stevie

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Sep 22, 2007
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Leeds, England
Lets hope Bill made it home...

Hi Bill - I'm a qualified outdoor guide here in the UK and I teach this stuff, it's all very good and quite easy once you have done it a few times.

The declination adjustment is generally performed AFTER you have taken an initial bearing. You can of course do it like you said, but usually bearings do not fall on exact points of the compass so it is easier to follow a logical method which works when tired or cold - when arithmetic might not calculate properly in ones mind.

If you wanted to go due East:

1) Turn the compass bezel to 90 degrees.

2) Adjust / rotate bezel for your 11 degree Declination adjustment. Subtract 11 degrees from 90 = 79 degrees.

3) Holding the compass at waist height and in a flat manner, rotate your body so that the needle falls into the red underlying chute. Your compass now points due east.

This is performed for any bearing to point you in the right direction.
 

Offgridled

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Jun 4, 2016
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Southern California
Lets hope Bill made it home...

Hi Bill - I'm a qualified outdoor guide here in the UK and I teach this stuff, it's all very good and quite easy once you have done it a few times.

The declination adjustment is generally performed AFTER you have taken an initial bearing. You can of course do it like you said, but usually bearings do not fall on exact points of the compass so it is easier to follow a logical method which works when tired or cold - when arithmetic might not calculate properly in ones mind.

If you wanted to go due East:

1) Turn the compass bezel to 90 degrees.

2) Adjust / rotate bezel for your 11 degree Declination adjustment. Subtract 11 degrees from 90 = 79 degrees.

3) Holding the compass at waist height and in a flat manner, rotate your body so that the needle falls into the red underlying chute. Your compass now points due east.

This is performed for any bearing to point you in the right direction.
Great stuff here Stevie love the explanation and your knowledge. Hope you don't mind if I ask you some questions as they arrive.[emoji106]
 
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