How to Use a Compass? | Ventures Destinations

When you set out for camping far off place from your station, especially in a deserted area, mountainous range, forest, or far off the beach where you need to know the direction because of cloudy and misty weather. You should have a technical instrument like Compass because it is the era of gadgets. When the most of youngsters have turned to the mobile apps, if there are no signals of the internet or the battery may lose the charge, you may get help from Compass.

In the mid forest, on the peak of the mountain, on the dune of sand, or on the beach, if the sun sets or weather may turn cloudy or misty you may lose your direction. If your smartphone may not get signals you have to perturb to arrive at your campsite as soon as possible that night may not fall. In this perspective, a compass is a reliable instrument that does not need to charge or signals but is easy to show you proper direction.

How to Use a Compass

Steps for Using the Compass

1. Working

When you have only option to use a compass at the distant place where your smartphone is either lost the charge or no signals of internet, so you have to understand that how it works. Before the industrial revolution, people used compass for navigation to detect the right direction: North, South, East, and West. Everyone can find the North but it is difficult for beginners to find Northwest, Northeast or Southwest, and so on. In this perspective, it is necessary to learn that how to use it and find the exact location.

2. Types

There are many types of compasses: Navigation, Astronaut, surveyor, GPS, etc. The most popular compass is the magnetic compass because its magnetized needle aligns with Earth’s magnetic field. From this every camper understands that the tip of the needle remains always to the North where its opposite side is towards the South. This type of compass is marked with initials: N, S, E, and W. This compass is familiar as a compass rose.

types of compass

3. Know Before Using the Compass

For beginners, it is very difficult to use compasses but you have to select a compass according to your campsite area. The first basic thing to learn, when you arrive at the campsite, you must know your North. You may find the cardinal directions of North, East, South, and West on the compass. You have to understand the work of the compass needle, after that, you may set out to your destined place.

Beginners may not confuse the Magnetic North and the true North, the true North is marked on the map as the North Pole, where all the longitudinal lines meet. Keep one thing in your mind that there are variations in the magnetic field on the Earth but your compass will point to the Magnetic North. Magnetic North is located nearly 11 degrees from the tilt of the Earth’s axis. Whereas the difference between Magnetic North and True North is up to 20 degrees.

For an accurate reading, you may keep care of the Magnetic shift. For instance, the Magnetic Pole and the North Pole are lined up in the United States, but there is the declination of the Zero line. In this way, the Magnetic North is several degrees west to the true North at the East. Before setting out your destination, you may detect the line of zero declination. If it is the East, add numbers but if that destined place is the West of the line of zero declination, subtract the relative number of degrees.

4. Use of Compass

Make sure that you have understood that you can find the exact location when you are alone and far away from your campsite. If the weather turns cloudy or stormy, then it is very difficult to find out the exact direction of the campsite. At the same time, your smartphone can not search Google Maps due to weak signals of the internet, then there will be urgent need of a compass to find out your campsite location.

You are well aware that it will work more efficiently with the map. When you try to keep the compass on map’s North then you will easily find out the direction of your campsite location. Keep this thing in your mind that when you hike across the dense forest, fog, or dusty wind may blow, and it may slightly alter the compass’s needle.

Author

About Author

Hi I am Jefferson, a mechanical engineer as well as camping master. I owe thousands of camping gadget, often makes my own for hiking. I have been writing on outdoor product reviews and activities with buying guide and my advice reaches 350 million of people. We encourage people to live adventurously. Read More…

Enjoy Adventure!

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