Compasses going crazy...Theories and Research

I'm in Central Florida on the East coast and both compasses I have on my phone work fine.

I used the Droid app and then the compass that goes with the GPS navigation, they all point in the right direction.

All seems fine here in South India. Points where it's supposed to.

Second line.

Saskatchewan Canada here....just 1 degree south of east is North for me. Anyone know anything?

Also, made a compass from a needle and magnet...same reading. could be one or two degrees south of east.

Please post where you are from!

I dont know if this is worth mentioning but, a few weeks ago I remember a thread on here and on other sites that reported that an area of the US coast was going to be GPRS free for a time and that all pilots should be aware.

Was it not to the right of the map where those with off-compasses are reporting from?

Apologies if Im barking up the wrong tree here, but thought it worth mentioning.

Respects

I've got enough results on the Google map now that I'm seeing a pattern. Get the zoom just right and you'll see what I mean. When you add your balloon, just move whichever line to your position.

Be sure to adjust your compass before the readings.

The blue line is the off reading line.
The green line is correct readings.
I placed a red line for the Atlantic rift. Someone change that to the correct spot please, I can't find the location.

This is only for the U.S./Canada where this seems to be happening - maybe if we can get worldwide readings that will change. So far UK seems to be further west readings off.

I'd say to be far away from your cell-phone before trying this. You'd be amazed at how strong the speaker magnet in those things can actually be. (The speaker in a cell-phone can erase magnetic strips and make CRT screens go wavy.) And like any other nearby magnet, it'll cause your compass to deviate.

Also anything like CFL bulbs and CRT computer monitors can throw off your readings. I've had my compass in my watch go from NE to N when facing N simply by moving it three feet while sitting here and typing this. Once away from sources of EM fields, it gives a reasonable heading for the direction it's pointed. Nothing weird here at least.

Click here for more information.

Northeast Ohio here... Not a very good compass, but is very clearly not pointing North - more North Easterly. I know exactly where Magnetic North is and where this compass is pointing ain't it! Can't tell you how many degrees I'm off by, I need to fetch my better compass for that... but I'm guessing it is more than 20 degrees.

New reading from northern PA this morning....

Checked my compasses a few minutes ago and they are now showing North as off to the southeast, 157 degrees from where it "should" be.

reply to post by MadDogtheHunter


I'm in vermont.

My compass is showing north as north.

I got caught up on all the replies since I retired last night. I have to conclude and agree, that what is happening, may very well be related to something with the New Madrid/Mid-Atlantic Fault Systems. It seems this is the area of the US where the most faulty compass readings are occurring. Now, to just figure out the exact correlation of this phenomena with the fault system.

I wonder how airplanes are navigationg through this swirly soup of magentic fields. Flying over the US would make the compass spin.

So... umm... Is north now east or what? How many people's compasses are showing north where east is?

Nothing has changed in the southern hemisphere with north & south (according to magnetic compasses) being exactly where they always were. Although when sitting very near the PC there is a slight eastward deflection of the north point which goes back to normal as I move away from that corner of the house (there's a lot of equipment, cables and power supplies there).

I'm in Oregon. I was waiting for my son to get home this morning to do a compass reading, since something about me makes compasses (and most watches) go wonky. He's home now, so here we go.....

Looks like magnetic North has moved significantly to the NE here. Not sure about degrees because we're using a crappy compass. I'll dig around in my husband's den and see if we can find the military one. It isn't fluctuating like it does when I hold it though - its just showing NE as magnetic N.

This is very interesting and strange. Possibly scary.

I think if the magnetic fields are influenced, I think pilots would definitely point it out, and aviation would be greatly influenced.

interesting.
i'll dig my good one out of my pack and check, but
i was driving home yesterday, a straight shot almost due east for 150 miles,
basically east-central new mexico.
my speedo is broke, so i use mt relatively inexpensive gps.
speedometer, altimeter and compass were all acting up.
gps was acting like i was driving on a hilly, curvy road, almost like a rollar coaster.
don't know how this relates, but the compass was almost swaying from south to north and back and forth.
like i mentioned almost a perfect straight line down the interstate.
does anyone know how a gps compass works?
i'm assuming it's built in and not a satellite signal.

reply to post by AwesomeOverload


I was thinking that too!

My husband is due to fly home from Hawaii today and I'm concerned!!

All day yesterday I wanted to open the app Peak.ar on my and my mothers's iPhone, but the compass on it didn't work. After about two hours I gave up making the figure eight with the phones, cause my arm almost fell off. That was the only weird thing I noticed, it is working correctly now and so is my physical compass. I'm in the south of Austria, btw.

My readings have started to normalize over the last hours.
The only explanation i have is wild fluctuations in earths
magnetic field.