Good day friends and to all my fellow steemians.
This is the science and art of conducting yourself or your team to specific destination, a required skill for all legitimate mountaineers and wilderness travelers. In the least a compass and the appropriate map should be included in the essential item list for any team on a wilderness trip.
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- A) Course Orienteering
This is a footrace where the participants should pass through several stations called control of points (CP) in a predetermined sequence. At the starting point, the participants are given a compass and sometimes a map on which he/she may plot the course to be followed. The prticipant is the given the bearing the distance to CP #1 -the first station. Upon reaching CP #1, the participant is given a code to write down as to verify his/her reaching the station and the bearing the distance to the nexf CP. This is repeated until the final CP, which is also the starting point,is. The person who completes the intire course with the least error and in the shortest time wins.
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Sometimes, a description of the CP is given with the bearing and direction. CP's are marked by a red and white orienteering flag.
- B) Point Orienteering
The bearing and distances to all control points are given at the starting point and the participant then plots these on the given map. The participant then make his own route, passing by as many CP's as possible, CP's far away from the starting poiint are worth more points than the nearby CP's.
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- Using the Map and Compass
A) Orienting the Map
This is the first step the land navigator must always perform. Orienting the map means aligning the grid north and geographical north. For purposes, geographic north is the same as magnetic north. To do this:
1. Turn the compass dial units it reads 0 degrees (n) at the index pointer.
2. Align the left edge of the base plate to the leftmost north south gridline of the map.
3. without disturbing the relative of the map and compass, rotatebthe map until the orienting arrow "boxes in" the north end of the magnetic needle. The map now is properly oriented.
B) How to get a bearing from the map
1. Orient the map.
2. Lay the compass on the map so that the long edge of the base plate is exactly on the line on the map that you wish to travel. The directional arrow should point towards the direction of travel.
3. Rotate the dial until you "box in" the needle.
4. The bearing is the number indicated at the index pointer.
C) Triangulation/Lucating where you are
A common use for the compass is plotting a position on the map (usually indicating where you are). To do this, you need to identify who prominent features on the map that you can see on the field. Two mountain peaks are usually used.
1. First, get the field bearing of the peak A and on an orienting map, plot the bearing making sure that the lines goes through peak A. You are somewhere along this line.
2. Next, get the field bearing peak B and plot it on map, again making sure that the line goes through peak B.
3. Your exact position on the map is the intersection of these two lines. A and B.
As with all the other aspects of navigation, you should use your common sence here. For example, you are on a river and you have identified that river on the map. All you need is one field bearing of a prominent feature; you are where that line of bearing and the river interested . Sometimes, a compass is not even needed if the navigator is a good interpreter of contour lines.
THE COMPASS
It is simply a magnetized needle, free to swing in any direction, contained in a sturdy housing. The needle settles down to pont to the magnetic north.
A) TYPES. There are three types of compasses classified according to use.
1. Lensatic Compass
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- Lensatic Compass used by military and some outdoormens. It has a sight that can be used for accurate sighting.
2. Brunton Compass
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- Bruton Compass has a level bubble, clinometers, and a precision needle used by geologists.
3. Silver type Compass
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Silver type Compass also called a protractor compass. It is simple, easy to use, and generally used by mountaineers.
Luminous points -are located at strategic places; on the north end of the needle, at both sides of the pointing arrow and or the derectional arrow. These are useful at night.
B) Using a Compass
There different systems in using a compass. Most of them are too complex to be of practical value to the mountainer. The system describe here however, is the simplest available and has been successfully used in the field for many years. With it, everyone can learn to navigate in any terrain-desert, mountain, forest -proficiently and confidently.
1. Setting a bearing
A bearing (direction on from point A -usually yourself to another object at point B) is of two kinds, true and field. True bearings are taken from the map when you have laid out your course (explanation below👇👇) while the field bearings are taken through visual inspection of area.
When using the compass to indicate direction in the field, two basic conditions must be set. There are:
A.) First the dial must be set at the desired degree reading. Ifbthe degree or the direction is known, set the dial to the index pointer. If the degree is unknown, then this must be obtained from visual inspection or through the use of map.
B.) Second, without changing the dial setting, the whole compass must be positioned so that the orienting arrow "Boxes in" the north end of the magnetic needle.
2. Taking a bearing
to take the bearing of an object in the field, just reverse the procedure. Hold the compass waist high with directional arrow points towards the object. You may have to pivot your whole body to achieve this. Without changing the position of the compass, carefully turn the dial until the orienting arrow boxes in the north end of the magnetic needle. The hearing to the objects is now the degree reading indicated towards the desired direction.
3. Back bearing
Is used when you wish to return to your original position. Box is the south end of the magnetic needle and proceeds in the direction pointed by the directional arrow.
*Thank you for reading my post
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Indeed..
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This post has received a 0.35 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.
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