On Sun, 18 Dec 2016 21:04:32 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 18 Dec 2016 16:15:07 -0500,
wrote:

On Sun, 18 Dec 2016 03:18:27 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 18 Dec 2016 00:01:43 -0500,
wrote:

On Sat, 17 Dec 2016 22:07:16 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 17 Dec 2016 11:45:00 -0500, Ed Pawlowski
wrote:



I don't carry paper maps any more but long before a trip I do use them.
Always good to know the relative distance to where you are and where you
want to go. Compass is handy but you have to be careful. The roads
often twist and turn so you may show south in portions but the road is
going to end up east.

Last few trips to Europe I used a GPS and it is very handy to have.
Bigger and better than using a phone, IMO.

I'm just not willing to spend more money on something I will only use on
this trip.

By phone, do you mean an app for the cellphone. I thought you meant
that so Iwent to the Playstore and it lists 20 compass apps.

However about half require the phone to have a magnetometer, which I
don't have,, and I don't know what they others require. Maybe that cell
towers be nearby and that won't be true everywhere I plan to go.

There are several ways the cell phone can get position, and I suppose
they will also tell north, but other than using cell towers, I don't
know what they are.

Magnetometer or GPS will give you north with a "compass" app. There
are apps that use magnetometer, and ones that use GPS. GPS tells you
which way you are going while in motion but will not tell you which
way is north when standing still

That's good enough. When I'm not moving, I really don't have to know
which way I'm (not) going.

.Magnetometer gives you north
reference even when not using, but can be affected by external
magnetics.

Good point. So we're back to "in the car" problem, what makes it so
hard to set the compensating magnets on early car compasses.. Maybe my
rear view mirror one works so well because it's up high, away from
speakers, and surrounded by glass. (And in my car the roof is mostly
canvas.)

And it is only accutae to "about" 45 degrees. It says n, nne,ne e, se,
sse, s,ssw, sw,w,nw,nnw. and N.. Accuracy to even 5 degrees is almost
impossible with the cheap mirror compasses.

It wasn't that cheap. I think it was $150***. And it doesn't even
have nne or ssw. Just ne and sw. I was a little disappointed about
that, but only theoretically, because like many guys, the cooler the
better.

Nowhere did I mention it's price. I didn't say low-priced - I said
CHEAP. At any price, a compas with only 8 points is a "cheap" compass

In practice though S vs. SW is enough for me. My major goal is to not
go north when I think I'm going south. Or anywhere between NE and NW
when I t hink I'm going somewhere between SE and SW**.

In which case a magnetized sewing needle and a piece of string will do
you just fine - - -

Because the roads don't go straight and rarely point exactly north etc.
so it doesn't matter exactly which direction I'm going. That I know the
general direction is enough.

A lot better to know what road you are on and where it goes. So the
MAP is more important than the compass. I generally use my GPS to tell
me where I am, not necessarily where I am going.

It's not like I'm doing orienteering, or searching for hidden treasure.

**ONce in a while I'll want to know SW from S, and so I'm glad it's not
just 4 compass points.

***It also has an outside thermometer, but I already had that, and I
can open the window and stick my hand out. And it has l and r cabin
lights. Convertibles used to be very shy of dome lights, but my current
one has them, so Ididnt' need that either. There were two makes of
mirror for sale. The other displayed the direction I think with an LCD
in teh corner of the mirror itself. I didnt' buy that because when
spring comes, I'll probably put a wide convex mirror over the compass
mirror and the one I did buy had the compass reading below where the
add-on mirror would go, so I will still be able to see it.


When I lived in Indiana, I didn't need a compass. All (but southern
Indiana I hear) is flat and the roads and streets are almost always NS
or EW, and without even trying, I keep track the number of turns I've
made, so I always know which direction I'm going. Even oblique roads
are not a challenge because all the other roads interset them at the
same angle, unless the road changes direction, but I know what direction
the intersecting roads go, so I know what direction I'm going.

So I'm better off with the GPS, which works out since I don't have a
magnetometer.

It only showed 20 apps when I looked the first time, but now it shows
more than 100. I'm sure I'll find some that say they use GPS. I just
checked and the phone itself has A-GPS.