Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award COMPASS USE

PARTS OF A COMPASS

“Red in the shed” means that the red part of the magnetic needle should be ppointint to the red North on the dial – ie pointing to magnetic North Remember - Not all compasses look the same – some have green magnetic arrows etc

CARE OF A COMPASS Look after your compass and if it is damaged, replace it

NORTH, NORTH OR NORTH True North: Direction to the Earth’s geographic North Pole Grid North: direction of all vertical lines on the map Magnetic North: direction in which the compass needle points

BEARINGS – FOLLOWING A MAP BEARING You do not need to orientate your map for this method. Find where you are on the map, and where you want to go. Place compass on map with the long edge of the base plate along the next stage of the route, and the direction of travel arrow pointing towards your destination Rotate the adjustable dial until the orientating lines are parallel to the north-south grid lines on the map, and the orientating arrow pointing to the top of the map (grid north). The reading on the dial at the index line shows the grid bearing to your destination Now subtract the magnetic variation from that figure to give you the correct bearing to follow. Turn compass round and keep red in shed – follow the direction of travel arrow.

MAGNETIC VARIATION All topo maps will state a magnetic variation (MV) – in NZ this ranges from o When taking a bearing from a map – remember to subtract the MV from the compass bearing Eg You determine from the map that your bearing should be 236 o and the MV is 20 o, then you would reset the dial to 216 o (236 o – 20 o ) When taking a bearing from land, before placing the compass onto the map, to find your location you must add the MV to the compass bearing

ORIENTATING A MAP USING A COMPASS Set your compass dial on the magnetic variation Hold the map flat. Place the compass on the map so that one of the orientating lines in the adjustable dial sits directly over, or parallel to, one of the North-South lines. The ‘N’ on the dial should point towards the top of the map Rotate with the map and compass, until the red needle (magnetic) goes in the red arrow Map is now orientated to the surrounding landscape