TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
ALL NON-WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED
WV ARES BULLETIN NR 09.20 DATE: May 17, 2009
SUBJECT: WHICH WAY IS NORTH?
Being an avid outdoorsman, I understand how easy it is to be very Inaccurate when guessing which direction is North, or South, or East, or West, and so on.
This is a difficult thing to do unless you have the knowledge to use natures compass. A question I would like to ask is; can you stand outside your home and point to magnetic North? Then South? How about East? Or West? Answer this truly; I don't think we'll find many who are sure. Some of your guesses will be more than 40 degrees incorrect. That is almost the difference between North and Northwest.
I'll tell you now, I'm not pointing fingers here, but, if I was, I'd have to turn point it at myself. I merely want to point out that not many of us know (not approximately) which way is North. While listening to a few reports on weather nets, I've noticed while one radio operator has a storm moving in from the West, another has one moving in from the South. Well, this could be close enough to tell me that the storm is probably coming in from the Southwest. However, I have also heard reports that a storm is moving at them from the North when the weather service and radar show the same storms moving from the Southwest to the Northeast. This could be determined that the head of the storm is moving Northeast and the operator is seeing it to his North. Hooowwweverr, I have also heard "I see another storm moving in from the East". I DON'T THINK SO!
I feel it is a good idea to take a compass every now and then, walk outside your house (where you normally check your weather from), and test your direction finding skills. I don't believe the directions we receive on weather nets are sometimes correct. East is drastically different than Northeast, especially when ten or twenty miles is added.
Get a compass and as they say now, JUST DO IT. I think you will be surprised how incorrect you have been. I was! (This is a reprint, with modifications, of ARES District 3 Bulletin 06.37, written by Duane Jones N8LDM)
Ken Harris WA8LLM
Wood County WV
WV ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
WV ARES District 3 Emergency Coordinator