Nope... it is about 3/4 degree off true North - but 3/4 of a degree in which
direction? As the earth spins, so does Polaris. There is a second star in
the constellation Ursa Minor, called Kochab. This star is almost exactly
the other direction of true north. Kochab is the star at the other end of
the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor). Correction then is simple, align the
antenna on Polaris, then correct 3/4 degree towards Kochab.
But then, most antennas have a beam width much larger than 3/4 degree, so
aiming at Polaris should be more than accurate.
Scott, aka KBOFHP
[mailto:email@example.com]On Behalf Of Jim Miller
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 7:49 PM
To: Rajiv Dewan, N2RD; firstname.lastname@example.org
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] And now for something completely
According to "true north", is the North Star really at 0.00 degrees from
north? Is it our actual "true north"?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rajiv Dewan, N2RD" <email@example.com>
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 9:15 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] And now for something completely different
> The stick at high noon is a very good method and a lot more useful
> than stars at night. You do not have to live exactly at the time
> zone meridian. You just have to find the sunrise and sunset for
> *your* location and date. So here are the steps:
> 1. Find the sunrise and sunset time for the location and day you are
> going to do the experiment. You can find that in your local
> newspaper or visit
> http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.html and type in the
> state and city. (For even greater accuracy and greater generality,
> you can enter the exact latitude and longitude instead of using the
> city/state combination) The web site has the times in ST without the
> daylight correction.
> For example it lists the sunrise and sunset times are 0530 and 1852
> EST for Rochester, NY on August 28, 2006. With the daylight
> correction the times are 0630 and 1952 EDT.
> 2. Compute the mid point which is high noon for the day and location
> specified. The duration of the day is 19:52 - 06:30 = 13 h 22 min.
> Half of that is 6h 41 min. Adding that to 6h 30 min (sun rise time),
> I get 1:11PM EDT.
> 3. The shadow of a vertical stick (use a plumb line for greater
> accuracy) at 1:11PM on August 28, 2006 at Rochester, NY points due
> Raj, N2RD
> > Here we go again.
> > This method only works for those who live exactly on the time zone
> > meridian.
> > Don
> > N8DE
> > J A Ritter wrote:
> > Two sticks, one vertical, the other horizontal placed along the
> > path of
> > the
> > shadow at high noon will show True North...
> > 73,
> > Jack W0UCE
> > Website: www.w0uce.net
> > ailman/listinfo/towertalk
> TowerTalk mailing list
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