Thread: Paper topo maps

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Actually Northern and Southern hemisphere compasses are balanced different so a Northern one may end up with the needle touching the housing and therefore not working properly when used down here.

Good point. Our dip angle (angle that the magnetic lines meet the surface) must be quite steep as well We are quite close to the south magnetic pole which is southwest of NZ in the southern ocean and moving north which is increasing the magnetic variation year by year. Magnetic variation in NZ varies from about 18 degrees in the North to 26 degrees in the South. Add to this we are now on our on our third different mapping grid that I can remember so most of us will have maps in our drawer with all three, none of which run due North. It's amazing that we can find our way to our letterbox and back assuming we still have one.
GPM.