[TowerTalk] Positoners Calibration to True North

[ersmar@comcast.net]

Sean:

     Here's a page from the US's NOAA that allow you to calculate magnetic declination for any location on the planet during the near future (it's a slowly varying value due the the daily wandering of the Earth's magnetic poles):  http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/declination.shtml .

    FYI:  Sydney's current declination is calculated to be 12° 37' E, or True North is actually 12 deg 37 min to the west of magnetic north in Sydney.  (Check out http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/icons/case1.gif for an example.)  

73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F



> Dear all,
> 
>  
> 
> I am just about to stand up my tower with everything ready to go.yippee..at
> last..
> 
>  
> 
> I have Azimuth and Elevation Positioners M2 OR2800PDC and M2 MT1000  see
> www.vk2sn.com <http://www.vk2sn.com/>  for further details of my set-up.
> 
>  
> 
> My location is in the city of Sydney Australia  S33  53'  12.6''   and
> E151  14'  45.4''    Grid   QF56oc
> 
>  
> 
> To start with I will calibrate my poisoners to True North for Nova and
> such., then once up and running, I will use the Sun or whatever to further
> calibrate via the controller for accuracy.  But I want to at least get it
> close to accurate before I put the tower up.
> 
>  
> 
> I also cant really re-adjust once it goes up, I have to pull it down and so
> on.its very heavy for one person, so Im hoping to get things sorted before
> it goes up,..plus its too dangerous to climb and Im not one for climbing
> towers..I like my kids and want to see them live for a very long time.I
> don't have the experience.smile.I'll do most things in life..but not climb
> towers on houses..!!!
> 
>  
> 
> So the question is, I will use a compass to choose North, but this is
> Magnetic North, to get True North, how many degrees do I add or subtract
> from Magnetic North.or where can I find this info, or how can I calculate it
> from my Sydney position - because I gather its different for everyone re
> Latitude.
> 
>  
> 
> By the way, I hope this makes sense, the last time I had to figure out where
> I was by using a compass was when I was about 14 years old..so I would like
> some advice..
> 
>  
> 
> Please advise if Im doing this right, or is there a much better and easy way
> to sort/calibrate this situation..
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks guys,
> 
> 
> Sean Neylon
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Sean  P.  Neylon     VK2SN     QF56oc
> 
> Cell Phone:  ++ 61 413 747 276
> 
> web:    www.vk2sn.com
> 
> email:   sean at vk2sn.com
> 
>  
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
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