Compasses going crazy...Theories and Research

I am going to have to step away from the thread as this is beginning to unhinge me a little and I need to remain hinged in order to get through the rest of the day. I hope when I come back someone has some hinges. Because I just re-calibrated and N is even a little further W than it was an hour or so ago and we definitely don't want to count on me for these readings. Gotta step back and make Chicken Parm for din din (sorry, CluckerSpud). See you all soon.

UK update.

It is now dark and I have been able to do a check using the North Star as a target.
Previously used Google maps and Earth.

Previous result was 25deg positive, when it should have been 1.5deg negative.
Updated result using the North Star as a reference is 1 and something deg negative.

Conclusion, maps and google are not good enough as North references.
Use the North star, and all this effect could go away.

Using the North star, my compass looks pretty darn accurate now.

So it really comes down to what reference you are using as North, and at present the best
one appears to be the North star.

I don't think there is anything going on here other than people not having a North Star reference.

Let's see what folks get when they make their readings at night.

reply to post by billxam

After 6 hours, I saw a pattern emerge. There is a distinct ring in the United States and another in Europe.

What pattern?
There are no rings, someone just played an arbitrary connect-the-dots game.

The poles haven't shifted any more than normal.

Your right, the magnetic poles have not significantly shifted.

Something is creating some kind of magnetic pull.

Yes, the magnetic poles.

Do you mean something is creating a magnetic pull to the Northeast to East from North America?
If so, then no that is not happening.

If it did, then the "thing" would have to be in the far northern Atlantic ocean, perhaps Greenland or Iceland.

Europe compasses would be pointing Northwest to West.

It's obvious.

As you see it.

Wanna know what I see?
I see compasses in less developed areas pointing correctly north, and compasses in heavily developed areas point incorrectly east. Of course there are some exceptions, but that's the real pattern.

The bulk of the "easthits" are in dense areas. The bulk of "northhits" are spread around in less dense areas.

My conclusion based on that map (assuming it's correct and genuine) is that people in dense areas are getting interference, and incorrect readings. Which BTW, supports my incorrect operation theory. People in less dense areas are getting less interference and correct readings.

Think about it for a minuet, if the compasses were really not showing north we would have ships boats and yachts all over the planet getting lost or going aground since using a compass is there main way of navigating in association with maritime charts and allowing for tides and currents etc powerboat.about.com...

Ok, op... Now my droids compass is going northwest, when yesterday it was northeast to east.

WTH OP is going on?

Originally posted by tarifa37
Think about it for a minuet, if the compasses were really not showing north we would have ships boats and yachts all over the planet getting lost or going aground since using a compass is there main way of navigating in association with maritime charts and allowing for tides and currents etc powerboat.about.com...

edit on 20-3-2011 by tarifa37 because: (no reason given)

That would be true, except I don't think you'll find huge ships and yachts traversing the Appalachian mountains. Its been pretty well determined that the majority of false compass readings are in the eastern states, on land, from the Ozark mountains to the northern Appalachians in upstate NY/Canada. And by the way, Byteman, My readings and the readings from southwest Virginia, are guaranteed to have been taken in extremely rural areas. No big cities or really huge towns for many a mile around either location.

Mine is working fine. I did notice my car compass being off (meaning it was giving me what I thought were wrong coordinates when I've lived here my entire life) though beginning about 2 months ago. But I'm having other electrical issues with my car, so I chalked it up to that. Who knows!

reply to post by XtraTL


You know Xtra, you are more than welcome to take your own advice and provide a video for us to prove that YOU are NOT lieing when you say that you are not seeing any deviations and everything is "normal" around the world. Yes, yes I know, you are not the one who created the thread therefore you don't see why YOU should have to provide any evidence proving YOUR observations, but you were one of the first ones to basically call the OP a liar. Better yet, since you have SOOO much time on your hands and nothing better to do than slander someone, why don't you travel on over to NC here and the rest of the places since we are too dumb to understand how to read and understand our compases and show us how it's done, but AFTER you prove your expertise first by posting the same "proof" you are asking us to provide YOU with.

Originally posted by tarifa37
Think about it for a minuet, if the compasses were really not showing north we would have ships boats and yachts all over the planet getting lost or going aground since using a compass is there main way of navigating in association with maritime charts and allowing for tides and currents etc powerboat.about.com...

edit on 20-3-2011 by tarifa37 because: (no reason given)

Wouldn't ships be using GPS and not compasses these days?

Originally posted by tarifa37
Think about it for a minuet, if the compasses were really not showing north we would have ships boats and yachts all over the planet getting lost or going aground since using a compass is there main way of navigating in association with maritime charts and allowing for tides and currents etc powerboat.about.com...

edit on 20-3-2011 by tarifa37 because: (no reason given)

Using GPS is their main way of navigation. Compasses would be a backup...but your right, some small boats doing it the old way would be lost as hell

Originally posted by MadDogtheHunter

Originally posted by tarifa37
Think about it for a minuet, if the compasses were really not showing north we would have ships boats and yachts all over the planet getting lost or going aground since using a compass is there main way of navigating in association with maritime charts and allowing for tides and currents etc powerboat.about.com...

edit on 20-3-2011 by tarifa37 because: (no reason given)

That would be true, except I don't think you'll find huge ships and yachts traversing the Appalachian mountains. Its been pretty well determined that the majority of false compass readings are in the eastern states, on land, from the Ozark mountains to the northern Appalachians in upstate NY/Canada. And by the way, Byteman, My readings and the readings from southwest Virginia, are guaranteed to have been taken in extremely rural areas. No big cities or really huge towns for many a mile around either location.

edit on 3/20/2011 by MadDogtheHunter because: (no reason given)

I am in rural saskatchewan. At least one hour away from any major city.
2nd line.

Magnetic declination data according to: www.ngdc.noaa.gov...

Bay Area California - Declination = 14° 6' E changing by 0° 6' W/year

Magnetic reading with small size pocket compass w/ 360 bezel: approximately 014 - 016 degrees.

In other words, fairly normal here at my location in California. Some fluxuations of up to 022° were noted but attributed to nearby electral wires. Once clear of all surrounding metal, reading was within 2° of current declination data.

reply to post by tarifa37


Yes, I said this at least a half dozen times already.

A lot of stuff would get lost real fast, and it'd be all over the news.

reply to post by MadDogtheHunter


Get em! Curse your hide, MadDog! that chicken parm is not going to make itself and I can't pull myself away..
I have the Suunto Vector. I am a calibrating machine and I have used a level and that thing is as good as it's going to get. So can someone please tell me how to do the math so I can post whatever I am reading as N. Because now that I have it ideally set up to read I really can't believe that N is where it is now, When did it do that?. It must be a surprise to someone because it is certainly a surprise to me. So if some gives me a little instruction I will try to post numbers that will be accurate and meaningful. Thanks.

I am not pulling any legs here. I may be totally wrong somehow but my Suunto is pointing N at what we would normally refer to as NW. I hope this all amounts to just a painful lesson in compass reading for me.

reply to post by VenomVile.6


I'd say do a through recalibration of your device and all of it's sensors.

If you still don't get a (reasonably) accurate reading to the north, then get it warranty replaced as broken.

reply to post by THEDUDE86
We have at least 5-7 deer in our yard in the late fall eating acorns, plus squirrels, filled the bird feeders every 3 days year round in the past 11 years, every acorn in the yard would be gone. No animals or birds since Oct. None at all. More acorns that leaves in the yard. For 6 months now, first time in the 11 years I have been here that this has ever happened. And my Compass in Southwest Arkansas, North in now Northeast.

I find it a little funny that a site like ATS, where the majority of members don't count on MSM News for an ounce of real information, are jumping so quick to say "If it hasn't been on the news, its not happening". I guess theres more of a double standard here than I originally thought.

And just because some compasses read normal and some read way off...does not mean either side is 100% accurate. And it also doesn't mean anything is happening or that nothing is happening somewhere. For instance, a magnetic pulse observed in California, won't be observed in New York. And vice versa.

Assuming not all the deviation are recorded due to human error - how can we centralise the data ? also , is there a deviation across the day ? I guess we will need people to provide readings lets say every 6 hours. It would be interesting to find if there is any cyclical pattern as the Earth rotates. I made readings across the day and everything was fine every time . South-West England in here.

So, could we also provide the time of the observation+ the approximative location , together with our reading? Thank you. I guess we should use the Universal Time as a frame reference, as we could have trouble converting local time to universal time.

reply to post by XtraTL


How do you call this a hoax when at least half the people posting have compasses that are not lining up North?
There are a variety of people here with militarybackgrounds, boy scout, hunters,and the like that have enough experience to figure out were North is located. As some have pointed out, electrical interference, metal objects can effect a compass, it doesn't seem to be the case.

reply to post by mugger


You are right, at this point I believe that most of the ATS members are aware of the factors that could wrongly influence a reading. I assume that most of the recent readings are correct.