Compasses going crazy...Theories and Research

Google the difference between North and Magnetic North,,,seriously (I'm not trying to be mean) the majority of posters would have a much higher quality of life and feel sooo much better if they stayed away from this site and these types of topics. Here's something to think about, everyone is going to die someday, WHY spend YOUR life beyond stressed about something that's gonna happen sooner or latter anyways, what purpose does it serve? (Rhetorical question)

Now I'm starting to think some posters are deliberately trying to mislead others into thinking there is a mystery here.

reply to post by professorjebediah


We're not stressing...we're sharing info and researching the cause. Theres a big difference there

OK, I used my IPhone, which is *not* an accurate compass, but good enough to check for a variation of something like 55 degrees as reported by the OP.

I am holding my smartphone horizontal and away from any object which may interfere with it. I'm holding it with the top of the phone pointing along the approximate direction of Kingsland Ave, Coventry. Here is the google map:

/68fzpoc

Edit: apparently ATS doesn't preserve tinyurl's. So just type it into a google map. The full link is too long to post on ATS.

Depending on which direction I point the IPhone, the direction of magnetic north as reported on that phone varies between 9 and 15 degrees clockwise from the direction of the street, even if I stand in one location. So it is an extremely inaccurate and inconsistent device.

The magnetic declination in this location is approximately 2 degrees west.

I conclude from this data that magnetic north at my location is approximately where it should be, give or take a few degrees. Certainly to well within the level of error, north is where it should be.

I conclude that whatever the OP is measuring, it has nothing to do with the magnetic north pole of the earth.

reply to post by sepermeru

Um, this is a totally different thread with totally different purpose...and please, tone down the fonts.

Magnetic Declination?

A magnetic compass does not always point to North. On Earth there are only a few locations that point exactly to true geographical North. The direction in which the compass needle points is known as Magnetic North and the angle between Magnetic North and the True North direction is called magnetic declination.

Mag Declin varies from place to place as time pass's. As a travceller cruises the east coast of the US for example, the declination varies from 20 degrees west in Maine to zero in Fl, to 10 degrees east in Texas. A compass adjusted at the beginning of the journey would have a true north error of over 30 degrees if not adjusted for the changing declination.

www.magnetic-declination.com

reply to post by Phenomium
About where is your location?

reply to post by XtraTL


Its not just me getting those readings. There have been many others reporting very similar readings. I posted what I observed, the rest followed in and shared their observations.

reply to post by MadDogtheHunter


Which would be mysterious if it hadn't already been predicted last month, in many many many mainstream news and science sources, that compasses would start showing anomalous readings. This is ridiculous.

Hello again all, 10 pages later!

Still not seeing accurate three digit readings along with your (general) location to actually get hard data to compare here... "up to 20 degrees off of north", or "north is east"... Which north? True, grid, polaris? What map are you using with known reference points?

And as has been said before your smartphone compass is not a reliable source for these readings, not by a long shot

Military grade or something from a nice outdoors shop should do, with readings taken some distance away from your vehicle, electronics, telephone poles, power lines, as these will all have an adverse effect on the reading. If you get one try to seek out the ones with tritium sights, they are sweet and very accurate. ;-D

I apologize I'm unable to provide data where I am at at the moment, do wish I could.

reply to post by lifeform11
I am Southwest of Little Rock AR and I am still getting N is exactly NE same as 10pm last night.

reply to post by MadDogtheHunter


Are you not understanding what I am saying? Are you and many others not posting here as if this were some kind of unexpected mystery which nobody knew about until ATS people started checking their compasses? As if it wasn't already discussed in a thread here before, when it was in the news that this WOULD HAPPEN SOON?

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Uhm, sorry, you just provided mis-information. My Evo 4g works off of wifi, 4g, 3g, and I can still get coordinates with GPS turned off. They base it off your IP, then, careful redundancy in the system.

My phone has backup ways to get coordinates if GPS fails. In fact, GPS eats up battery life, and I don't like TPTB tracking me. I turn it on when I am going to visit friends, so my wife can monitor my location if she had to.

I locked into 4-7 GPS satellites during the course of previous tests.

Then I turned GPS off, and wifi on. I got the same coordinates to within a few arc-seconds. The compass app in smartphones has several ways to determine location, and the tricorder app is simply awesome. Don't knock em until you get one and play with it. You'll almost give up your laptop, except for typing.

The compass app is not dependent on GPS, it is based upon the built-in magnetometer, and works fine with GPS or not.

Smartphones are little bundles of fascinating tech, the tech being 5 years ahead of programming. Thankfully, it's android this time around. We are striving to catch up!

reply to post by MadDogtheHunter


from what I have read. Your wrong. The phone has a magnet in its speaker. It uses a three axis magnetometer to detect variations in electromagnetic fields. No app required to read the raw data from the magnetometer and accelerometer if your rooted your phone....Stop spewing stuff you do not know.

reply to post by XtraTL


Alrighty then,, I`m on almost 0 degrees magnetic declination. When I pointed the compass down a street that`s supposed to be south\north on the map I see a 13-18 degree error. I now gave this a five percent margin of error.

I don`t really understand it, that`s why I`m stating it.

Originally posted by Druid42
reply to post by burdman30ott6

 

The compass app is not dependent on GPS, it is based upon the built-in magnetometer, and works fine with GPS or not.

That's exactly correct.

Originally posted by MadDogtheHunter
reply to post by XtraTL

 

Its not just me getting those readings. There have been many others reporting very similar readings. I posted what I observed, the rest followed in and shared their observations.

So your evidence that your compass is working, that you have read the map correctly and that you have correctly taken the local declination into account is that a few other people have posted readings?

Come on man, what about all the people, including myself who have absolutely normal readings.

Put a stick in the ground pointing straight up. A stick sticking up about 10-12 inches above the ground should be fine. Mark the tip of the shadow on the ground with a small stone. Wait about 30-40 minutes. The shadow will move of course. Mark the location of the tiop of the shadow now with another stone. Draw a line between the stones extending out about 12 inches outside each stone. Put the toe of your left foot on the side of the line where the 1st stone is, and the toe of your right foot on the the line outside the 2nd stone. You are not facing in the direction of "True North". Compare the difference between the compass herading of "Magnetic North" and the heading you are facing in. This will show you the difference between the two, or your declination. Then see if your compass is really off.

reply to post by MadDogtheHunter


Are you not understanding that the previous thread last month was about how compasses would start showing anomalous readings soon? Is this thread not about compasses showing anomalous readings? Are you and others not carrying on as if you have no idea why this is happening and actually even need to confirm that it is happening, when it's entirely confirmed to be happening and has already been explained and predicted a month ago?