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[DPRG] digital compass in my car went crazy in Canada
Subject: [DPRG] digital compass in my car went crazy in Canada
From: Jeffry Sampson
jsampson at cray.com
Date: Thu May 22 12:56:09 CDT 2008
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dprglist-bounces at dprg.org [mailto:dprglist-bounces at dprg.org] On Behalf Of William Crolley
> Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 8:32 AM
> To: dprglist at dprg.org
> Subject: Re: [DPRG] digital compass in my car went crazy in Canada
>
>
> There are two main causes for the variation in compass reading. The easy
> one is that the north/south poles do not line up with the north/south
> magnetic poles. And the magnetic poles are slowly moving, just to make it
> more interesting.
>
> But the variation also changes due to the magnetism of the rocks in the
> area. A notorious example is Magnetic Island in Lake Superior where the
> iron ore causes the compass to basically point towards the island. Not
> good in one of the foggiest parts of the lower 48 states.
>
> William Crolley
There is a third reason for compass variation in a vehicle, foreign objects on the dashboard. Or maybe radar detectors to close to the compass. Anything that might produce a magnetic field.
--
Jeff Sampson
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