Magnetic Declination Demystified
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2024
- This video explains Magnetic Declination and how it relates to the use of a map and compass. I failed to mention in the video that declination changes over time. I address this in my book "Stay Alive! Survival Skills You Need" and provide a link to the NOAA Magnetic Declination Calculator, which is also under links at SurvivalResources.com. This calculator allows you to indicate your location by Latitude and Longitude, or your zip code. It will then provide you with the change in declination so you can adjust your map. It should also be noted that I made a mistake at the very end of the video in regard to the distance you will be off if you ignore declination. I was reading from the wrong column of my chart... Don't know what I was thinking, but it's rough to get old. The correct figures are at 5 degrees, you will be off 0.09 miles (460 ft.) at 1 mile, .44 miles (2303 ft.) at 2 miles, and .87 (4606 ft.) at 3 miles. I apologize for the error but as you can see, you will be off your intended destination if you ignore declination. Check out some of our articles at SurvivalResources.com
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I have been an elementary school teacher for 33 years and as a result I can’t help but to notice sound teaching techniques in every instructional video I view. You, sir, have done a masterful job of putting yourself into the head-space of the learner, and you have managed to create the clearest lesson on this subject that I have yet seen on TH-cam. You chose your words carefully, you were methodical, you used visual aids, and you “thought out loud” as you worked your way through the process of adjusting your compass. Thanks to you I am far more likely to use my compass correctly the next time I am scrambling around in the mountains. You are putting TH-cam to its most noble use. My hat is off to you.
Thanks Tom, I really appreciate your comment!
Great Explanation, no memory aids needed.
I absolutely second this comment - you sir are a GREAT teacher!
This should be the ONLY Declination video on TH-cam. 👍 Thank you Sir for posting.
This is probably one of the most easily-understood presentations of this that I’ve seen. Well done. I don’t *think* I’m a dummy, but declination has just been one of those things that I repeatedly have to refresh myself on every so often, but I think this discussion will stick a little better than it has in the past for me.
The agonic map really put things into perspective for me. Thanks!
For you power users who want a thorough explanation of declination, this video is terrific.
For more casual users, who may have watched the whole video and are still confused, just go buy a compass with adjustable declination.
This is discussed in the video starting at 5:29. The presenter mentions adjustable declination compasses, and then states: "the reason I don't like them is because if you move to a new area, you need to reset your declination." This is not a valid argument against this style of compass. When you move to new area, you need to account for your new declination anyway, so when I take 15 seconds and reset your compass?
... wish I had all my teachers explain things this well and this clear ...
FINALLY,
Someone who gets how to educate an audience! Great job and thank you. Even the compass manufacturers can’t explain it without giving the audience a STROKE!
Haha!
i've watched three videos explaining declination and this is the best one because it links the concepts of declination with the map and explains the direction you want to travel, instead of just telling you, "turn the compass here.....ok now you're good" without showing any of the geographic concepts
Great explanation. One observation on marking maps is that the declination changes so the lines go out of date. Over a few years the change, could get you significantly off your route. The longer the route section distance, the further off.
Here also enters the importance of paying attention to map features (terrain/summits/woodland/rivers/buildings/...) as navigation aid to staying on the right track. ATB.
exactly - better to either adjust your compass each time or really learn & understand declanation
I just love it. Thank you for taking the time to make this video. You have made this so easy to understand. I always had questions but just changing your map to declination north is so simple. Peace, Reese
Great in-depth explanation that is easy to follow. Personally I find that the easiest way to deal with declination when on a trail is to use the orientation markings on a base plate compass to align the map with magnetic north. No need to worry about any addition or subtraction. So long as map and compass north both point in exactly the same direction whenever you are working with them you can't go wrong.
I don't know how many people I've asked to explain "declaration" to me with regards to using my compass accurately. I've asked skippers of boats, hikers, science teachers, friends, and so on. All of their explanations left me more confused than I was before. Very few informed people have the gift of how to explain clearly complex concepts. YOU have that art, that genius! Thank you!! Now I know that my problem was not one of being "stupid".
Been watching a couple of explanation videos and I have to say I like yours the best. No blabla, no stuttering, the info is to the point. Thank you for sharing!
John, thank you for so clearly explaining declination, that has been so confusing for me because others would leave out crucial information but you have excellently filled in those holes and now I understand, what a great video. Thanks, John ( Thumbs up and Subscribed)
That is the first I’ve ever seen the isogonic chart/map. Also I appreciate the concise definition of declination as the variance between true north and magnetic north. That’s such a great explanation.
Hands down the best explanation I've seen of declination. Great idea to make the adjustments to the map too!..Great job sir!
John. This is absolutely the very best of declination I have ever seen. You have a natural ability to teach. Keep up the good work.
Best I've seen so far! Everything is excellent about this: teaching methods, clarity of instruction, video quality, pacing. Thanks!
Best video by far to explain declination and adjustments. Well done and thank you.
WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BEST EXPLANATION I'VE SEEN ON THIS SUBJECT. THANKS & BLESSINGS TO YOU
Great video. Many years since I have worked with compass and maps. Re-discovering this in my retirement. Excellent resources in your website. Many thanks!
I understand. Your presentation is clear. I'll be watching again and changing my maps. Good job!!!
This is honestly the BEST video about magnetic declination and compass! I've watched several videos on this topic and all left me more confused than when I started. Thanks so much for taking the time to demystify this topic!
John, excellent video. I enjoyed it greatly. Cleared up a lot for me regarding declination. Look forward to sharing your knowledge with my grandson who we purchased a compass for for Christmas.
Spectacular. Really helpful and well explained... and delivered with real personality. Thank you.
This is the best, clearest, presentation I've seen. Thank you.
Besides defining Declination for understanding, this video clearly shows you how to deal with it. Especially, the fact that you do the inverse operation map to compass and back again.
In my youth I set out in my sailboat in poor visibility for San Clemente Island and wound up on Catalina! That 14 degrees matters.
Thank you very much for taking the time to put this video together to explain declination when using a map and compass.
The best & most helpful video on declination so far!
Thank you! My dyslexic mind was giving me a whole lot of trouble in comprehending the whole declination mapping issues. You made it completely understandable. And that huge compass is badass.
Spot on. Short, simple and on the subject. Well done Sir.
perfectly clear now. The explanation of the isogonic chart was the key for me. Not often mentioned or explained in other tutorials. Thanks again.
Great vid, thanks John. I’ve been a long-time customer of yours. I just recently found out that you have a you tube channel, how cool is that. Your explanation of declination clarifies the mystery. I have what I think is an even easier method. You start by orienting your map to magnetic north by placing your compass along the magnetic north line on the diagram, and rotating the map until you line up to north. At this point, you make sure the map doesn’t move. Then you can plot your azimuth as usual, and not have to compensate for declination. The maps rotation does it for you. I hope I’ve explained this in a way that makes sense. I would also use a protractor to verify that the angle of magnetic north is drawn accurately.
Excellent explanation. Thanks for the info and the conclusion about the impact of declination on accuracy at 1mi and 5mi. Very powerful.
Great video. I first searched underwater navigation using a compass for SCUBA purposes and saw comments about surface navigation being different. Out of curiosity, I watched surface navigation videos too. This video was easy to follow as far as explaining the effects of declination and ways to compensate.
Thank you for this, and for diagramming it out. I have watched so many videos and was still not getting whether I should add or subtract and what positive vs. negative meant. The convergence of the lines makes total sense, and I could have stopped there. Working with the map and having it tell us made it even easier. Thanks again.
Very well done! The best description on declination that I have read or seen... thanks.
I've been trying to perfectly understand declination for a while. This video finely made it clear. The best video ever about the matter. Thank you very much.
This was one of the best educational videos for showing people how this works,
Best video I've seen on adjusting declination that I'll never forget...thank you so much!
I appreciate what you've done. It was so clearly explained.
Been searching for the bridge that closed the gap between every video I have found explaining Magnetic Declination, and THIS was the hammer that drove the nail home!!! Many thanks!!
Great job. Thanks so much for your time and effort making this available. Very helpful. It will still take some practice to make it sink in, I think, but this is the best explanation of declination that I've seen. Cheers!
Absolutely beautiful! THE BEST declination video on the net. Thanks!
Easily the best tutorial on magnetic declination I’ve seen. Great job!
Out of the dozens of explanation videos of adjusting a compass for declination, your video made it all come together and make sense without using mneumonics and memory aids that have a tendency to be forgotten. Thanks for putting together an amazing learner centered video about the subject.
Thanks for taking the time to explain the mysteries behind true and magnetic north as it relates to reading a map and orienteering.
Awesome explanation of a subject that can be thoroughly confusing. I like your method of adjusting your map.
Great video. Thank you for the best explanation of declination. I like your idea of marking the the map.
This is a great video! So easy to understand now. I love how you used drawings and a compass that can actually be seen clearly by someone over 40.
I love the idea of marking the declination line on the map itself...thank you!
Great video! I used this video to demystify magnetic declination for a geomatics class I am taking in engineering school. Now I feel a lot more confident if I do decide to take a long trek in the field. Thanks!
Dude! this was awesome. I have done plenty of Orienteering and this was by far the best methodology I have ever seen!! Thank You!
Wow, this is one of the best videos on the subject that I've seen, Thank you!
I ran across your video channel gathering navigation info. Very well instructed information which is very crucial in the field. After all, maps are flat and the earth is not. I have found your idea very helpful and doing my maps today. Thank you
Refreshingly clear and informative - thank you so much! + genius with the angled declination lines on map!
Awesome! I never thought of adjusting the map itself. That could very well be a game changer for me so I am not having to mess with compass realignments. Thanks!
You rock!!!, I knew there was something that everyone was leaving out. The agonic map was it thank you very much. I understand much better now.
Excellent information, sir! I never considered changing the map before!
WELL DONE !!!! I like the way you said when only using a map it is needed. To much math in all the other videos. It's crazy. I just adjust my map to the proper declination to the terrain and then use magnetic north on everything else. Very well done John.
Eloquent and informative! Thank you John
Great lesson, never thought of adjusting my map like that.thankyou!
Yes you did, and actually you are one in a few that explained that to people because everybody is adjusting the compass for declination and it is a real pain. I use the same method and find it extremely easy and no more declination adjusting or worries. It also makes it easier if you go to another location you may end up to forget to adjust you declination to the new area and actually commit navigation errors. Great video man, congrats.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge in this video, I'm learning how to read a map and navigate, this subject was confusing to me. You explained it very well and now I understand it a lot better now. Thank you
Fantastic video. I do the same and adjust my map - in that case there’s no question in a stressful situation. Thank you!
Getting back into orienteering, (it IS a perishable skill!) the marking of the declination lines ON the map prior to use is one of the best tools I have seen to date. Thank you for that info. I am absolutely doing this to my topo maps tonight!
My goodness.. Just what I needed.
I'm a student pilot and I'm working on my cross country planning. We have to know about the Isogonic lines to correct for our heading. Throughout my training, I've learned to just know which one to add and subtract but I never truly understood it. I need to understand the "why" of EVERYTHING and sometimes it can drive me crazy.
You've explained the why perfectly. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. It is truly appreciated!!
This is the best explanation so far I have watched about Declination.Thanks to you Sir,I finally got it.I was having headaches with other guys until you showed up and taught this brilliantly.
Thanks Man, that was an awesome class. Very well done , I understand declination now. Not that hard after you explained it so well. Thanks again
This video was a big eye opener for me. What you shared I couldn't find on websites or other youtube videos, at least not in such great detail. What you explained starting at 4:00 really helped me to understand the concept rather than just memorizing east is least, west is best.
The great killer of officer candidates and later as new lieutenants in their OBC (Officer Basic Course) was of course Map Reading/Land Navigation. Even assigned to their units the ones who passed would get their platoons lost, or call artillery on top of their own heads. Not me. Ain't pretty and can't dance, but had a knack for compasses and land nav; came in first on every 10-kilometer, 10-point course I was ever on. After you first figure out that North ain't really North on a compass (unless you happen to be on a straight line with True and Magnetic Norths), the real fatal error is getting the compass or map turned 180-degrees and going/at exactly opposite where you think you are going/at. Easy to do --- just fail to subtract/add 180-degrees when doing intersection/resection map work. Been 48-years since I was a new lieutenant, but I guarantee ya I can pick up a map, protractor and compass today and know exactly where I'm at and how to get where I want to go. Well, I can tell you which way to go; I'm not able to do the walking anymore.
You got it brother. Was not until PLDC that we got into the reality of land navigation. Our final phase test was at night during 48 hour pass/fail tests. We also had to change to grid coordinates for artillery fire. Of course it was raining during this.
That and young Marines in Boot Camp wandering aimlessly in the night.
Hahahahaha
most people carry compass's & have NO clue how to use them
I'm 75 now and when I was in the RCN (Royal Canadian Navy) at age 17, I lived in Monteal, Canada. The declination then, there, was 6.6 degrees only... now it's 13.5.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge in a straight forward way. By the way this video was made 9 years ago and I sincerely hope you are well and still teaching.
I give this video 5 stars. Excellent explanation. I also had not seen an isogonic chart/map until I watched this video. Magnetic declination truly demystified!
This video is fantastic. I’m surprised I forgot all of this, but as I’m entering backyard astronomy, your information demystified all of my questions.
6 years later, still the best explanation ever
As a 67 year old newbie this a great video with great tips.....thanks!
I agree! I will be taking a map reading exam (for a job as an emergency dispatcher) and have had a difficult time finding this information online. I do so appreciate his explanation about this specific topic, and I am enjoying reading all of the comments. I, too, am a bit older. Best of luck to you in all of your future adventures.
excellent. thank you. clear cut, informative, easy to understand and put into practice
Your technique for adjusting the map by adding in meridian lines matching the declination diagram's legend is exceedingly helpful. Having been trained as an army officer in the 70's this would have made much of the instruction there a lot easier to follow, although, with extensive study of the army's navigation manual I was able to accurately lead troops to targets on the ground as well as my armor platoon.
I am only starting to learn about navigation and had been browsing the internet and YT for about a week to learn the basics. Had I found this video day one I would self myself a lot frustration 😂 how no other video on YT mentions that the map can be so easily adjusted??? this is perfect!
Brilliant tip to mark out your maps. Great video!
As a geologist, better explanation I heard about this subject. Great script, great video quality. Congratulations, thank you very much from Brazil.
Jorge Peñaranda As a General Contractor I enjoyed it as well....
Best map and compass training I have had is through John and Denise! Great stuff!
Thanks for the kind words Ryan!
Great Video. Been searching youtube for a video of declination that I could clearly understand. This is the best video i've watched on this subject.
This is the best informative video I’ve seen on declination!
Thank you, I couldn't understand this concept until your video!
I read many opinions on how to set your compass and everyone has a valid point and like John said perhaps it is best to invest in a good compass to avoid many of these memorization. sometimes people will do wired things under stress...overall I loved your video thank you very much for taking the time to go through these details it was super informative and educational too. God bless you.
Awesome! Better than any map reading training I had in the military.
By far the best explanation of a subject that can easily get confusing, you my friend have taken this and given it clarity and in the simplest way I have ever seen it done. Pretty much you removed yourself from being a master of it and put yourself in the minds of first time learners. You done this with no ego in the way and demonstrated communication very well.
I personally thank you because after watching several videos I nearly gave up furthering skills in understanding declination until I stumbled on your video.
My man!!!! I have worked as outdoor guide (climbing, rafting, mountaineering) for a great portion of my life. Even worked for one of those bigger outfits that rhym's with POLES!! :-) And I've rarely seen this subject matter explained so well. Bravo sir! Got yourself a new subscriber.
The best, clear, precise and objective explanation of the true north and the northern magnetism for those who start in how to handle their compass. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. sincerely.
Better and easier explanation and adjustment than I got in scouts or military school. Excellent vid
Wow! That was the best explanation I have ever heard! Thank you Sir!
Awesome video, I have been struggling with finding out what way to turn the compass to adjust and this made it so much easier for me to understand.
I've watched about several youtube vids on this subject and your vid finally made sense to me! THANK YOU!
Excellent and simple explanation. So many others confuse the heck out of people.
Thanks, your video helped me a lot when several other videos didn't explain it well.
Keep it up. Your the best teacher I’ve seen. A lot of amateurs on this subject but not you. Thank you
I watched this youtube for the second time and you did a great job again.
Your video is great and so easy to understand, great info and tips. I will need to order your book pronto.
Thanks for your explanation , it was the best for adjusting compasses I've seen (and I've watched loads)
Thank you , very well done good explanation and a lot of help to people who don't know or don't use a compass very much, very helpful to me. Learning all the time. Thank you.