>buy new compass and start using Google Earth to shoot bearings
>wow this is cool, it works perfectly!
>start reading about magnetic north and true north - compasses point to magnetic north, but maps point to true north (or grid north), so you should have to account for the offset before you can take accurate bearings
>hmm weird, I wonder why it just werks
>check that google earth is aligned to true north - yep, it is
>check that my compass declination is set to 0 - yep, it is
>check that my compass matches my old button compass - yep, it does
>check that my compass points to magnetic north - nope, it's 10 degrees off
>walk outside onto balcony, compass now magically points to magnetic north
So...can one of you smart people tell me how the fuck magnets work? Is my building surrounded by a magnetic forcefield that just coincidentally points my compass to true north? Why would this be the case?
>wow this is cool, it works perfectly!
>start reading about magnetic north and true north - compasses point to magnetic north, but maps point to true north (or grid north), so you should have to account for the offset before you can take accurate bearings
>hmm weird, I wonder why it just werks
>check that google earth is aligned to true north - yep, it is
>check that my compass declination is set to 0 - yep, it is
>check that my compass matches my old button compass - yep, it does
>check that my compass points to magnetic north - nope, it's 10 degrees off
>walk outside onto balcony, compass now magically points to magnetic north
So...can one of you smart people tell me how the fuck magnets work? Is my building surrounded by a magnetic forcefield that just coincidentally points my compass to true north? Why would this be the case?
