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Re: [TowerTalk] north

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] north
From: Jim Lux <jimlux@earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 05:31:49 -0800
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On 12/24/14 10:39 PM, Spencer wrote:
In the northern hemisphere,  the shadow of a vertical object at solar
noon will point north.


I've done all these North finding techniques over the years as kind of a hobby activity (and sometimes professionally, too)


In mid-latitudes the shadow and stick works fairly well, although it's hard to get sub-degree precision (for your North facing owl?) because of several reasons: 1) The stick has to be vertical to within the accuracy of your desired measurement.
2) the sun is half a degree wide, so the shadow edges are indistinct
(you could check this in a few weeks, if you shave the groundhog first, so the fur doesn't cause the indistinct edge) 3) the sun moves pretty fast, so it's hard to tell the exact instant of solar noon. The earth turns a degree in 4 minutes. Of course, you don't need a precisely aligned antenna to receive WWV, and, knowing your longitude, you can calculate when solar noon is. (don't forget the "equation of time") 4) the shadow is pretty short at noon unless you're well north (in the summer).


At 34 degrees north, in the summer (prime tower building season), the shadow is pretty short. The sun's only 10 degrees from vertical at the solstice. At La Paz or Los Cabos, Baja California, on the solstice, the sun is directly overhead at noon (or so close you won't be able to easily tell the difference)

It's MUCH easier to get north if you mark the shadow periodically. You'll get a curve that you can then use to determine north.

What you do is make a smooth curve of shadow position during the day. Then, you take a string from the *top* of the stick and scribe a semi circle across the curve of constant radius. Draw a line between the two intersections of curve and semicircle. The perpendicular bisector of that line faces north/south.

(you still have the 1/2 degree width of the sun to contend with, and the ground has to be level within a fraction of a degree, etc.)



If you're "between the tropics" (of Cancer and Capricorn) the shadow goes both north and south, depending on the time of year. Think of a stick on the equator: from March equinox to September equinox, the sun goes north, so the shadow is south, and from September to March, the sun goes south.

And for hams aligning their rotor in midwinter in the far north? No shadow at all.

By the way, the north star (Polaris) is about 3/4 degree from true north. It moves around the true pole in a circle. You can look up the position at a given time/date, or watch it in a telescope and look for culmination.


Moral of the story: getting true "north" to even one degree accuracy is harder than it seems at first glance.



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