[TowerTalk] fixating on true north

[Jim Jarvis]

Gee, guys, this is another of those 'once a year' threads.

The average 3 element beam has a half-power beamwidth 
of +/- 35 degrees.  How closely do you really need to
know where North is?  How much effort is it worth?  

Use a compass, and look up the magnetic declination in an 
almanac, for pete's sake.  Or look on a marine or aeronautical chart.

In critical applications, where you have long-boom VHF/UHF yagis,
and are dynamically pointing at LEO satellites, I could see needing
to know within a few degrees.  But even that should be satisfied by
a declination adjustment to magnetic north.  

The hootowl discussion was more entertaining!

N2EA