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Tiny compass

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Thanks everybody. It seems this question was pretty much answered. No compass it is ... but I certainly never had thought about the rubber bands and such in a pocket in case I need to pack when landing out. Now I just need to learn to pack ( tomorrow ) and a jumpsuit with pockets.

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A Suunto Vector altimeter watch has an electronic compass... but I have never even fathomed a situation where it would be useful under canopy(under normal sport-jumping circumstances).

Your eyes are going to be much more useful in finding a safe landing area (which may not necessarily be the DZ).

Clicking buttons on my wrist means I have to drop the toggles or take my hands off risers... not a good move if someone suddenly heads for you.
NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

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This is a pic of one I have that is thrown off as much as 35-degrees by a mostly plastic watch.



There is certainly enough steel around to produce the possibility of a bad reading, probably on any compass.

I also experimented once with one in a car, and found that about the only location to get a reliable reading was to hold it in the exact airborne center of the passenger compartment. And holding it close to certain things, like a rheostat light switch, produced bizarre results.

I guess you need those giant steel balls on either side of the compass to negate the interference, like they used on an old sailing ship. And those would be kind of difficult in freefall...

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I guess you need those giant steel balls on either side of the compass to negate the interference, like they used on an old sailing ship.



That is cool, never heard of that. I'll have to Google it and see what you are talking about.

I put the mini compass on my map case for quick and dirty orientation of the map.

Derek

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Well, I don't think I'm the jumper you saw, but I also have a small compass on my altimeter band. Besides all the negative replies you got, I find it useful in a airplane that I can not see out without moving around...for example sitting on the floor of a 205 or 182. It reads fairly accurate in the aircraft and near the altimeter. Once out of the airplane, it is clearly easier to use the ground for directions, unless of course you are above some industrial haze.

It is not my most used piece of equipment, but I am glad to carry it along. Mine is a small plastic compass made by Sunto. It cost about $4 at a sporting goods store. It came with a velcro strap, but mine slid easily onto my alti strap.

hope this helps,
Rock

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Casual glances at the direction of flight along with the timing spent on a particular heading, give me a fairly constant sense of about where we are at all times.

Also, in larger aircraft at unfamiliar DZs, I get a sense of jump run before leaving the airplane.

The compass could be distracting to some, but I hardly notice myself looking at it.

Rock

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Yep, Me too.
Cheap little globe compass works just fine.
At a new airport it will tell you which way is north.
In the aircraft it can tell you when your on jump run
without looking out the window. In the clouds well, I've never been in any clouds.

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I guess you need those giant steel balls on either side of the compass to negate the interference, like they used on an old sailing ship.



That is cool, never heard of that. I'll have to Google it and see what you are talking about.

I put the mini compass on my map case for quick and dirty orientation of the map.

Derek



Off the top of my head, I believe it's called a compass binnacle...
Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

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I guess you need those giant steel balls on either side of the compass ....

Before you google - those should be Brass balls.
Hence the expression "Cold enough to freeze the balls of a Brass Monkey" as that's what the compass Binnacle was called... although this has mutated over time into the rack used to carry or store cannon balls.[:/] But that's legends for you...

Ahh. Useless trivia.. not often I get to use that one!

t

It's the year of the Pig.

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Talking about trivia.. B|
They are called the "Navigator's balls" and as sailors are iron men, they're definitely iron balls ;)

They're adjustable to compensate for the offset caused by the ship's steel structure.
Near where I live there is a small Compass Island where the ships would calibrate their compass. I guess they'd line up the ship to the island and shift those balls around..

Not that I want to take my compass into the air (hell, noting the position of major landmarks and the sun's position should be part of your preparation...), but I was curious anyway.
Turns out my altimeter has no influence whatsoever on compass readings. :P

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I guess you need those giant steel balls on either side of the compass to negate the interference, like they used on an old sailing ship.



That is cool, never heard of that. I'll have to Google it and see what you are talking about.



I tried a quick search for a photo, and couldn't find one. Maybe they don't use those things anymore, due to some leap in technology.

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I put the mini compass on my map case for quick and dirty orientation of the map.



I've got a regular hand-held compass for serious map navigation when hiking, and a little bitty one that hangs on my backpack for quick orientation. Never used one for skydiving though. They're handy to have, especially in flat terrain like the desert, where there are no handy landmark features for reference points.

I discovered once that, being right-hand, right-foot and right-eye dominant, when walking through the desert, I tend to go around bushes on the right side more than the left. Over a long distance, this leads to quite an error, when you would swear you had been going in a straight line. My compass, with a couple of bearings on distant mountain peaks, got my ass back to my truck.

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I guess you need those giant steel balls on either side of the compass to negate the interference, like they used on an old sailing ship.



Off the top of my head, I believe it's called a compass binnacle...



Yeah, that's it, mate! Thanks for helping this landlubber out with his terminology. And thanks to you others for the photos for reference.

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I discovered once that, being right-hand, right-foot and right-eye dominant, when walking through the desert, I tend to go around bushes on the right side more than the left. Over a long distance, this leads to quite an error, when you would swear you had been going in a straight line. My compass, with a couple of bearings on distant mountain peaks, got my ass back to my truck.



How do you determine foot dominance? Is that the snowboard test?

And will my left eye make up for my right hand?

(I already know that underwater or swimming, the answer is no - without consulting a reference I have a strong tendency towards the right.)

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have the person stand still and with one hand push them back gently, which foot moves goes to the front of the board and is your dominate foot.




that doesn't make sense to me as that would mean I should be goofy foot and I am not. In fact, I find it harder to board with my dominate foot forward.

Regardless of which foot is dominate, when navigating with a compass in your hand, to avoid drift like was mentioned one has to alternate which side of an object they have to move around. If your right side dominate move to the left of the tree,bush,etc and the next object move to the right around it as you walk your azimuth. Holding the compass in your non dominate hand while navigating works in conjunction with this for some people as well. This is leaving a lot of all the other factors involved in land nav out which ultimately tie into getting you from point A to point B.
"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

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have the person stand still and with one hand push them back gently, which foot moves goes to the front of the board and is your dominate foot.




that doesn't make sense to me as that would mean I should be goofy foot and I am not. In fact, I find it harder to board with my dominate foot forward.



Not that it matters much....

About half way down the page
http://valueseek.com/snowboard_terms.htm

"Goofy foot To ride with the right foot forward. "
"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

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Always carry some rubber bands and a pull up cord with you.

I put them in my JS and in the pocket on the rig.

When you get a rig ask someone at the DZ to show you where to put the bands and pull up cord.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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that doesn't make sense to me as that would mean I should be goofy foot and I am not. In fact, I find it harder to board with my dominate foot forward.



It's not that odd, I'm the same way right foot dominant, but ride left foot forward. What I do notice is that I manuver the board with my rear leg, while the front one deals with the terain. I'm probably not explaining this very well, but anyway everyone I talk to says stear with your front foot which just doesn't work for me.
Fly it like you stole it!

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>a compass can only tell you what direction you are lost in.

It doesn't even do that! It just tells you what direction you're pointed in while lost. While they're useful in some situations (like you're in california and you want to find the ocean) they're really not that useful unless you're good at orienteering.

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What I do notice is that I manuver the board with my rear leg, while the front one deals with the terain.



DITTO, thats the way I do it too.
"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

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>a compass can only tell you what direction you are lost in.

It doesn't even do that! It just tells you what direction you're pointed in while lost. While they're useful in some situations (like you're in california and you want to find the ocean) they're really not that useful unless you're good at orienteering.



That way you can be lost, know what direction you are pointed in and be style'n. "Shit, git on down yoo bad self, bitch".B|

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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>a compass can only tell you what direction you are lost in.

It doesn't even do that! It just tells you what direction you're pointed in while lost. While they're useful in some situations (like you're in california and you want to find the ocean) they're really not that useful unless you're good at orienteering.



I would hope that skydivers who can handle the issues of jump run direction and spotting would have the minimal orienteering skills needed to use a compass. All you really need to know then is are you short or long of the DZ.

Even if you were pushed out the plane blindfolded and had no idea where you landed, it stilll allows you to track where you were.

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