What’s the most important function of your compass? To tell you where North, South, East And West are or to take accurate bearings and set a course using a bearing?
Choosing a compass
At it’s most basic, a compass is simply a magnetised needle which reacts to the Earth’s magnetic field and moves to indicate North. A simple compass like this can be used for rough direction finding and roughly taking bearings. A small watchstrap compass like the one below is ideal for general orientation and keeping the [...]
Five Navigation Tips And Techniques
1. Thumbing the map Use your thumb on the map as a pointer to your current position. This avoids the visual search you seem to have to do every time you look at the map if left un-thumbed. 2. Orienting the map Use known features or the compass to keep the map pointing the same [...]