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[TowerTalk] FW: Magnetic Declination

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] FW: Magnetic Declination
From: aa4lr@arrl.net (Bill Coleman)
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 13:57:23 -0400
On 9/22/01 3:52 AM, Ted Huf W4ZE at w4ze@arrl.net wrote:

>In the process of putting up my new tower, it occurred to me that I did not
>know where true north was.  With my trusty Boy Scout compass, I said well it
>must be right over there.  As one can image, with all these computer
>assisted radios and rotators, I had better get it right.

Must you?

K9AY was helping me mount my A3S a month ago. With Gary on the tower, I 
told him to align the boom with a neighbor's fence. I knew from the platt 
that the fence was within 3 degrees of North/South.

Gary later came down off the tower and grabbed his compass. Here in GA, 
we are very close to the Agonic line (where magnetic variation (aka 
declination) is 0 degrees). He commented that you couldn't get the 
antenna aligned any closer.

I kidded him. "Come on, Gary, this antenna has a beamwidth of 60 degrees. 
Do you think it really matters?" He agreed. 

As it turned out, my rotator wasn't set to North as I thought. It was set 
about 15 degrees off. Oops. Oh well, the annenna has a beamwidth of 60 
degrees after all....



Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901



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