[amsat-bb] Smartphone (compass) apps which show true north?

[Amir Findling]

In most areas,  the difference between true and magnetic north are of
little consequense for LEO satellite communication.  Now,  this is not the
case for terrestrial navigation,  but aiming towards a satellite,  either
number will work and you will be able to correct by listening to the best
signal.

The simple solution is to buy an inexpensive compass.  One more piece to
schlepp,  but not to big nor heavy. Unless your compass is one where you
can change the display,  it will give you the magnetic north. And like I
said,  you really don't  need to know the local declination and do any math
for your purpose.

You can also orient yourself with a map,  matching it to your surroundings.
There are many other McGiver ways to find north,  get a compass,  KISS.

-- 

73 de Amir K9CHP

ARRL, Emergency Coordinator, Onondaga County, NY
Liverpool Amateur Repeater Club www.W2CM.com
Radio Amateurs of Greater Syracuse  www.ragsclub.org
Wilderness SAR www.wsar.org (ret.)
Eagle Valley Search Dogs www.evdogs.org (ret.)

On Feb 13, 2018 15:00, "Philip Jenkins" <n4hf.philip at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'd rather not wade through the process of downloading and installing  the
> various multitudes of compass apps to see which of them can indicate true
> north (handy for doing satellite demos when you're not at home, and don't
> know or don't have the magnetic declination of that location).
>
> My phone doesn't seem to have a magnetometer anyway (from the error
> messages I'm getting when I've tried a few compass apps).
>
> Do any of these apps use GPS to show true north, and not just magnetic
> north (or both)?
>
> Philip N4HF
>
> P.S. I have an Android phone and tablet, but I'm sure iPhone users could
> find this info useful as well.
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