Compasses going crazy...Theories and Research

reply to post by Amberry
Yes, that is what got me on ATS. You can read some of my posts on this thread, how all the birds, deer, squirrels, frogs, all gone since Oct. 2010. Strangest thing I have ever seen here.

I am in Houston. There are no power lines or buildings within a few blocks. I was a missile mechanic in the Army and have orienteering and manual azimuth training. There is a freeway nearby that runs perfectly east|west. I am using my Tissot T-Touch nice watch which is always accurate. I put it on the level ground and being in Houston true north and magnetic north are almost spot on. I read North as pointing 3 minutes East -roughly 18 degrees off.

the compass results from Northern Illinois are pointing WAY east and not north at all. figure out where magnetic north in relation to where you live here.


and, Yes, I am using a good compass and know how to use one. why isn't this all over the news? google news brings me nothing back.

Originally posted by watchdog
reply to post by Byteman

 

Byteman, I nor anyone else that has posted "anomalies" according to their locations, NEVER said that ours is off so everyone else MUST be off and that the whole world is "off". We simply posted our observations and recordings. In fact I will even go as far to say (like I did in a previous post) that because I live so close to a military base and artillery range that they may have something to do with MY discrepancy. But you came in here, posted that yours was reading normal and accurate and YET I nor anyone else jumped on you and said you were WRONG, that your compass was broken, or you were an idiot and didn't know how to read your compass and that because our readings were off yours HAS to be also.

Now this is just silly. I haven't spoken generalization about the entire world and yet YOU have by saying that "EVERYBODY" elses readings across the world are "normal" So until everybody on the planet comes onto ATS and posts their findings here in ths thread, stop making such global generalizations because YOU my friend cannot speak for the entire world. Absolutely ridiculous!!!

Maybe someone,like the OP,should take in all this info and see how many said it was ok and it was not ok.
Then take in account for experienced compass users and inexperienced compass users.
Just my two cents.

Originally posted by Xinthose
I used Google Earth to figure out where North should be roughly and my compass now points way East, more than I have never noticed it do before.

And did you use ,like the north pole,or true magnetic north?There is a difference,you know.
Always has been,nothing new.

Originally posted by Volund
I am in Houston. There are no power lines or buildings within a few blocks. I was a missile mechanic in the Army and have orienteering and manual azimuth training. There is a freeway nearby that runs perfectly east|west. I am using my Tissot T-Touch nice watch which is always accurate. I put it on the level ground and being in Houston true north and magnetic north are almost spot on. I read North as pointing 3 minutes East -roughly 18 degrees off.

edit on 20-3-2011 by Volund because: Added negetive word changing meaning

Best not to put the compass on the ground. It may be mineralised or there could be chunks of iron in the fill under the road.

Not sure what you mean by 3 minutes east. A minute is a tiny fraction of a degree. Was this a typo? If not, could you clarify.

There are indeed sections of freeway near Houston which run east/west. We don't require you exact location, but could you tell us which highway you were on and between what intersections so we can check it on google maps. Also, do you have some way of checking your compass is working.

Sorry to sound so sceptical when you have indeed posted above average info in the thread, but we need to rule out as many sources of systematic error as possible.

Also, did you try measurements at other locations to rule out the location being an issue?

here this article refers to what might looks similiar to what people are experiencing :

check point 8

However, before the last reversal, which was about 780,000 years ago, the polarity was reversed compared to today's, and the compass would have
pointed roughly south, and before that reversed state the polarity was like that which we have today, and the compass would have pointed roughly north, and so on.
The timings of reversals forms the so-called 'geomagnetic polarity timescale', shown here at the right. During a reversal, between polarities, the geometry of the magnetic field is much more complicated than it is now, and a compass could point in almost any direction depending on one’s location
on the Earth and the exact form of the mid-transitional magnetic field

geomag.usgs.gov...

Southeast Missouri.

I use a compass in my work for wireless antenna alignment.
I also use the elevation portion for LOS from greater distances.

East is about 5* off.
But what is stranger is the fact that my elevation is about 30' off ...

My compass is as jumpy as a jack rabbit... never used to be that way... according to it... North is all around me...

anywho... check out this Thread

I give up.The magnetic pole is shifting,and we are all going to die
because we can't facebook,text and what ever else we have relied on in the last 10 years.
Going to go get my fishing pole and watch the earth spin.
God help us all,cause he is on our side,right?

reply to post by XtraTL


By minutes I meant divisions on my watch at 6 degrees per minute.
I placed it on the gound to triple check the reading. I got the same reading on my wrist, in the car, across the field et cetera. The soil is mostly clay with no vegetation.
I am near beltway 8 and Telephone Road in south Houston near I45.
I use my compass all the time along with altimeter and hpa air pressure functions, all in service.

read this article and noticed this, which might have been posted before :

Earth’s northernmost magnetic point -- or magnetic north -- is distinct from its geographic North Pole, and scientists have long known that the magnetic poles are on the move.

But the magnetic poles have been moving faster lately, sliding towards Siberia at 34 miles per year at a speed that's accelerated 36 percent over the last 10 years, according to the United States Geological Survey, or USGS.

Read more: www.foxnews.com...

so to do some math :

- current northernmost magnetic pole is moving towards siberia
- it accelerated now with 34 miles per year

ok let's start here :

that would mean the pole is currently shifting

- 34 / 12 months = 2.83 miles per month or
- 54.7 km / 12 months = 4.5 km per month

location between current and new location is approx : 2088 miles

so that would mean without further accelleration, it would take approx : 61 years for the northern pole to be shifted to siberia

but since it's accellerated this could mean that it would take less then 61 year.

accelleration is 36 % over the last 10 year.

so what is interesting is :

- what is causing the accelleration
- how much faster can it accellerate

so now we have the northern pole shifting at almost 5 km per month and it's seems to get even faster.
how would that influence the compass reading in conjunction with the information from my earlier post :

During a reversal, between polarities, the geometry of the magnetic field is much more complicated than it is now, and a compass could point in almost any direction depending on one’s location
on the Earth and the exact form of the mid-transitional magnetic field

- www.abovetopsecret.com...

not trying to find any mystery behind every rock but just curious and trying to combine stuff together..

Originally posted by Volund
reply to post by XtraTL

 

By minutes I meant divisions on my watch at 6 degrees per minute.
I placed it on the gound to triple check the reading. I got the same reading on my wrist, in the car, across the field et cetera. The soil is mostly clay with no vegetation.
I am near beltway 8 and Telephone Road in south Houston near I45.

Ah, the minutes makes sense now, thanks.

Edit: ah, found your location now. It appears to be a few degrees off east-west. In particular if you treated that as east west I think your compass would show north as being a little west of where you expect to find it (not taking declination into account).

reply to post by XtraTL


Beltway 8 about 5 major intersections from I45 to the west. Zip is 77075. Telephone road runs NNE across Beltway 8 AKA Sam Houston Tollway.

I live in Austin and used the compass on my Droid phone, which I last calibrated in July. Set it down and magnetic north was right where I'd expect it - as confirmed on a map of magnetic north based on date and zip code. I then decided to recalibrate (in the same room I originally calibrated in.) The phone app instructed me to wave the phone in a figure 8 to reset the magnemometer. After recalibrating (with assisted GPS on,) magnetic north changed - not to the East but to the West by roughly 12 degrees. Not where I expect true magnetic north to be. Recalibrated three times and got the same results.

reply to post by XtraTL



I saw this thread earlier while I was in houston texas, but have since driven home to central mississippi. I had a compass in the car the entire time while I was driving east on I10. I compared with the compass direction of my GPS and my phone app. The phone was closer to the magnetic compass, but the gps is way off the real compass.

I got the compass out when I got home, and I would say north is 15-20 degrees off from what I'm used to seeing.


Of course I've also been saying the sun seems to rise more north the last few weeks than east, but that could be in my head. I've lived here for 8 years and I just don't remember the sun coming up over where it does now above the treeline.

Originally posted by Volund
reply to post by XtraTL

 

Beltway 8 about 5 major intersections from I45 to the west. Zip is 77075. Telephone road runs NNE across Beltway 8 AKA Sam Houston Tollway.

Yep, I got it now. If you are on the southern side of the big highway, that part of the beltwat right near the intersection with telephone road looks pretty east-west on the map.

So 18 degrees huh. The main variable left is the compass itself I guess.

You could also take a set of readings between distant landmarks and check them on a map to get some idea of how accurate your sighting abilities are.

For example, if you stand at a known location and use your watch to sight off a number of distant landmarks according to your watch (doesn't matter where north really is, just take relative angles from a fixed landmark), then compare to google maps with a protractor. See if you (or the map) could be off by as much as 18 degrees.

My bet is the compass is wrong. But I don't have any explanation for why there are so many wrong compasses.

The better electronic compasses are accurate to within 5 degrees. Many standard pocket compasses are witin 2 degrees. Professional quality compasses are usually half a degree or better, though they are only accurate if you use the mirror sight and adjust for declination. But if a compass has been in a strong magnetic field or oscillating magnetic field (such as next to a speaker or mains powered alarm clock) for any length of time, it may lose its calibration.

To check it you need some magnets, though this is not all that easy to do without damaging the compass.

Originally posted by slowsupra
Of course I've also been saying the sun seems to rise more north the last few weeks than east, but that could be in my head. I've lived here for 8 years and I just don't remember the sun coming up over where it does now above the treeline.

The sun I can explain. That does shift about quite a bit.

Remember stone henge and all those other ancient things which are used to sight off the direction of the rising and setting of the sun. Another example is long shafts in pyramids which are designed to light up some chamber on a certain day of the year.

Basically it's to do with the tilt of the earth and the seasons. Depending on the season, and also your location, the sun could be quite a bit off east-west.

reply to post by XtraTL


I just took three more readings. The first at the freeway feeder road. The second standing in the middle of Forbes road as seen one half a mile north which runs north|south. The third I walked due west from there almost to the train tracks and realigned myself using google maps. All three readings were 18 degrees off favoring east.
My compass is in service. I hope that was helpfull.

reply to post by Volund


I'm certainly not claiming my Droid phone with compass app is the end-all-be-all compass, but I am sure that I've recalibrated the thing a few times now and each time it points about 12 degrees WEST in Austin... Pointed right at where magnetic north had been before I recalibrated. Seems like something has changed since the last time I performed the calibration.