HOW TO USE A COMPASS – the best place on Squidoo to learn HOW TO USE A COMPASS!!

Well let's answer that one simply, and then we can move on...

* batteries aren't needed

* there's no need to receive a signal

* if you drop it in water, it will still work

* they're timelessly functional

* they're much more inexpensive

* they're not as bulky, and much lighter - and...

* they're much more fun, and heck - they look way cool!

Wherever you find yourself on this wonderful planet of ours, your trusty friend, the compass, will always point North.

Many use this invaluable piece of equipment - backpackers, hikers, campers, and even boy scouts and girl scouts. But also aircraft pilots, ship captains, and even people just driving their car.

But there are different types of compasses, and we need to discuss what type is best and the most useful. So - on with the discussion!

There are many different types of compasses, but we can pretty much group them all up into two major types - "needle" and "card".

CARD COMPASSES are those with a flat circular rotating "card" (as opposed to just a needle) to indicate direction, and are of those that include toy compasses (but they do actually work to point north), such as we might find on key chains, from gum ball machines, or in lego sets. But this kind can also serve as professional compass types, and are usually enhoused in plastic spheres, such as the ball type we might find in cars, in the handles of survival knives, or the more sophisticated gimbaled variety, found on ships.

NEEDLE COMPASSES are those that use a needle to point to different directions about the compass's cardinal points. We can also find small toy compasses of this type too, as well as the more professional variety used for finding one's way through the wilderness, or for reading maps.

A further distinction among needled compasses is that some are merely round housings with a needle within them, while others are fully equipped on a plate with scales and markings that allow for better ease in finding bearings and declination - this latter variety is known as an orienteering compass, also known as a Mountaineering compass - it is this type of compass that we will be learning about on this lens.

Now let's get to know and understand all of the parts of the orienteering compass and learn what they all do.

SCALES; These correspond to different map scales, and help us to figure out distances along routes on a map.

DIRECTION OF TRAVEL ("DOT"); This arrow is used to point the compass in the direction you are going.

MAGNIFIER; This is used to see tiny map features on your map with more clarity.

INDEX POINTER; This is the "tail end" of the Direction of Travel arrow, and should end right at the edge of the dial, where you take degree readings.

DIAL; Used to rotate the entire housing of the compass, this is the ring in which is engraved all of the degree markings.

DECLINATION MARKS; These are used to adjust the compass, according to the area's declination IMPORTANT - see to it that your compass can make adjustments for declination, in order for it to be very useful for map navigation, and for finding your bearing without needing to do any mental math (more on what declination is, later).

NEEDLE; This is the magnetized piece of metal within the housing, which rotates freely on a near-frictionless point, when we hold the compass level. One end is usually painted red (or with luminous paint), to indicate NORTH.

ORIENTING LINES; These are a series of parallel lines marked on the base plate and on the floor of the housing, and are used in finding your bearing.

HOUSING; The liquid-filled main part of the compass which houses the needle. This often has a bubble of air in the liquid inside in order to help check that you are holding the compass level.

BASE PLATE; The main body on which the rest of the compass is mounted.

ORIENTING ARROW; Used for, among other things, orienting a compass to a map - this is marked on the floor of the housing, and rotates with the housing when the dial is turned.

Some compasses also come equipped with a sight to help aim the compass at distant objects, and a mirror to be able to see the distant objects and the compass face at the same time - but while these are great features, they aren't excessively necessary (but they are really cool! ^_^).

Wikipedia.org says, " ....compasses are still widely in use as they can be small, use simple reliable technology, are comparatively cheap, often easier to use than GPS, require no energy supply, and unlike GPS, are not affected by objects, e.g, trees that can block the reception of electronic signals."

Here is an excellent, and very inexpensive SILVA Explorer compass of the type that this Squidoo lens is focussed on, with all of the parts and functions mentioned above in bold.

No doubt you've seen these out there for 40-50 bucks, but I found it for less then 26 bucks (below)!! To learn more about this compass and what it's capable of, just click on the little photo here.

Your compass has four CARDINAL POINTS - these are marked as N, E, S and W, representing North, East, South and West, respectively.

In between these, are the INTERCARDINAL POINTS, marked as NE, SE, SW and NW, representing Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest, respectively.

In between these, are the SECONDARY INTERCARDINAL POINTS, which are marked as NNE, ENE, ESE, SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW and NNW - representing just what you'd think they'd represent.

Thought I was going to name the whole list, didn't ya? hehe ^_^

Well, for example, "NNW" would be called "North-Northwest"... sometimes you might hear someone call this "North by Northwest" - this is the same thing.

Now, we could continue to break down the points further in this way, but calling a point "E-E-E-N-N-E-N-E", or some silliness, would be just downright ridiculous. I mean c'mon, really :P

This is why the dial is marked with 360 degrees.

(Although, truth be told, upon further inspection you can see that the above image also shows indications of tertiary and quaternary intercardinal points - but thankfully, these are *quite* unnecessary.)

For general rough directions, we can use the cardinal, intercardinal and secondary intercardinal points - but for more precise directions, we can refer to the degrees.

My blood-brother and I used to joke around, frustrating someone when they'd ask, "How do you read a compass?" - we'd simply say, "It points North" - and leave it at that.

True, almost all compasses do point North, almost always with the red painted end (or painted with luminescent paint). However, a few compasses are marked differently. Check to make sure which end points North. Face the morning sun at sunrise, and look at your compass. The point that's pointing in a general direction to your left is the North end of the compass needle.

Once you've got that all figured out, we'll begin reading the compass.

Okay, let's try out an example here.

Hold your compass steady, keeping it level, and hold it so that the DOT (Direction Of Travel) arrow is pointing straight away from you.

Turn yourself as you watch the compass until it indicates that North is directly in front of you.

The compass in the picture at the right is pointing due North, at 0 degrees (some say 360 degrees - this is the same thing).

Now, while turning your body around, yet keeping your compass in front of you, you'll notice that the needle continues to point in the same direction in relation to the Earth. Turn yourself until the needle points to the East mark at 90 degrees, like in the picture at the right of this paragraph.

Okay - does this now mean that you are facing East? NO!! It's very easy to make this mistake, so see that you keep your wits about you.

Next, we will clear things up.

To figure out more clearly just what direction we are actually facing in, we turn the compass dial until the red part of the needle is aligned with the red outlined orienting arrow (or in the case of this illustration, the two red parallel lines).

You may have heard this before, whether in the Scouts, at summer camp, on YouTube or elsewhere - this is what is called, "keeping red in the shed" - the "red" being the North end of the needle, and the "shed" being the orienting arrow on the floor of the housing.

As the picture on the right shows, putting red in the shed reveals that we are facing West, at 270 degrees.

You can find your bearing by facing in the direction that you're headed in (called your heading, which is pretty much the same thing as your bearing), keep "red in the shed", and see what degree number is indicated by the index pointer (the tail end of the DOT arrow, where it meets the dial).

Reading the bearing on the compass in the picture to the right shows a heading of about 63 degrees.

There... pretty simple, eh?

For generally finding your way around in this manner alone, this can work fairly well - but for using a map in conjunction with your compass, or if there is a need to share or report accurate bearings, we will need to learn about adjusting for declination.

Now, let's see if we can learn a bit about this very important topic.

DECLINATION is the difference between the "two Norths". Perhaps you've heard the terms "Magnetic North" and "True North" - but isn't there only one North??

Generally, yes - it is at the "top" of the globe. However, technically there is a difference in the two spins of the Earth.

We all know that the Earth spins on it's axis, as evident from the "rising" and "setting" of the sun, day in and day out. But the molten part of Earth's iron core also spins, generating for the Earth an electromagnetic field. This internal spin is just a little bit unaligned with the external spin, and is always in motion, and so Magnetic North tends to wobble a bit in relationship with True North.

DECLINATION is a term which describes the difference between these two reference points in any given area. Let's take a look at a picture that will help understand this.

Try to imagine things like this - two sticks, both are about as long as you are tall, are standing upright a small distance apart, stuck into the ground. Let's let these represent True North and Magnetic North.

If you are standing in line with them, then one will be behind the other in your line of sight - you will be standing in line with them... If we imagine one of them is magnetic, our compass would point to it - but being that both sticks are in line in relation to our position, our compass would seem to point to both, and this is the effect of zero declination.

(Much like the line marked "0" on the map above.)

Now, while these two sticks are in line ahead of you, if you then take a few steps to the left or to the right, you will notice that you can now see both sticks clearly, without one blocking the other from view.

One is still a bit closer to you than the other, but in relation to your line of vision, one now seems to be to one side, and the other is to the other side of your line of sight.

One would be "True North", while our compass would be pointing to the other, which would be "Magnetic North", and we could begin to see the deviation.

If we walked in an arc around the two sticks in the ground (the two "poles"), we could begin to see how this deviation (or declination) can increase or decrease, depending on our location in relation to the two poles.

Know what I mean?

This is the effect of declination, to varying degrees.

Depending on where you are on the planet, the magnetic declination of the area will vary in different amounts. You will find that in some areas, this will be very minimal, even downright negligible - but in other areas, this can vary quite a bit.

Look again at the map image above to see what I mean.

According to the map image above, we can see that, for example, if we were somewhere in the middle of Louisiana, we wouldn't have to worry about this at all... but if we were in Washington or Oregon, we would definitely need to make adjustments to our compass, or we would end up losing our way.

To adjust your compass for declination, you should first know what the declination in your area is. A good topographical map of your area will have this information on it.

HOWEVER - due to the fact of the wobbling that the Magnetic North Pole does, the declination changes a little bit as years go by... as a result, any map that is 10 or 15 years old will not have the most correct, current declination information on it. Depending on your area, this variation could be quite substantial, so do keep this in mind!!

Once you know your declination, turn the dial of your compass to adjust for this. Put the "shed" to the appropriate degree mark, keeping the "N" in line with the Index Pointer and DOT arrow.

Now the needle is indicating Magnetic North with "red in the shed", while the "N" and the DOT arrrow are indicating True North, as this compass image clearly displays.

Now your compass matches your map, and you can keep aware of your location and chart your courses correctly.

When aiming your compass at a distant object in order to take a bearing, the degrees read from the dial will now be true and accurate.

If your compass cannot adjust for declination separately from everything else, you can still work it out in your head, if need be.

For example, if you are in the Vermont/New Hampshire area, with a 20 degree West declination, simply add 20 degrees to the heading you read on your compass dial.

However, if you find your self somewhere out on the Western side of zero, with a declination of 20 degrees East for example, then you need to subtract 20 degrees from the heading you read.

This is one of the more loaded, multi-featured compasses that are out there today - the SILVA Ranger 515CLQ compass.

This one has 1:24,000, 1:25,000, and 1:50,000 scales (in two colors - easier to read) for any topographical map, 1/20" and millimeter rules for mapping, and silicone map-gripping feet. Also has sighting mirror with vee-notch, a clinometer, and geared declination.

As you may already know, these are the kind one finds for 100-115 bucks, but I found it for less than 50 bucks (below)!! To find out more about this compass and what it's capable of, just click on the little photo of it below.

Triangulation is how we find the distance of a certain point by using two other known points and knowledge of the distance between those two points.

Confused?

Allow me to explain...

Let's say that there is a lookout tower somewhere in Yellowstone National park ("A"), and from that lookout tower, a forest ranger sees some smoke in the distance, which could be a sign of a forest fire.

He takes a bearing of where it is in relation to his viewpoint, but this is not enough. The fact is, the source of the smoke could be anywhere along that line - close by to him, or further away. This is the information he needs.

So he radios another forest ranger in another lookout tower ("B") that he knows is 2 miles away from him, and that ranger also takes a bearing.

Now with the knowledge of the two bearings, and the distance between the two reference points, they can now radio the firefighters and know exactly where to send them.

Still just a little fuzzy? Okay, let's try out another example;

Let's say that for some reason you want to know how far across a river is - maybe you want to build a rope bridge, and need to know how long of a rope to use.

As the picture on the right suggests, one person stands directly across the river from a landmark on the opposite side - a tree, for example.

Another person, with a compass, walks along the bank of the river, keeping an eye on his compass bearing, focusing on that same tree across the river, and comes to a stop at 45 degrees.

Now they can know that the distance between eachother - the two people - is the same distance it is across the river.

Triangulation! A means of using two points to pinpoint a third!

Kinda cool, eh? ^_^

Now comes a little bit more fun... so far, those of you out there who have struggled over the question, "What the heck is the secret to this compass thingy?", have now hopefully now had everything come to you in a much simpler ease of understanding - looking back, there isn't really any great mystery now, is there?

The next move now comes to reading maps, and then combining the two skills together in a well orchestrated operation. But let's take things one step at a time, and first cover a small few fundamentals of map reading.

Now - play around a bit with your new compass skills, get the feel for it all, commit it all to memory, and then go to my next page about MAP READING. After that, we'll move onto another, more in-depth page on combining the two skills.

You'll find that the next page will be short, sweet, and very simple. It doesn't go into things in overabundance, as it is merely a prerequisite piece of knowledge before we go into the joint operation of using a compass in conjunction with map reading, in which more mapping things will be covered in the appropriate manner. Little bites at a time, I often say. Thank you very much for spending some of your time here, and if you've enjoyed your stay, do please tell your friends about it ^_~

Now get in some practice, remember to have fun, and then click the above link to expand your navigation skills a bit more. I'll see you there! ^_^