# Magnetic North Shift



## prestone683 (Aug 16, 2010)

Has anyone found that the recent shift in magnetic north is screwing with your compass and your ability to properly sight in a dish? 

*Yes, my age and lack of spelling tests lately are showing...* 

I'm not saying it is, just wondering if you see such a difference.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Not sure about the magnetic variance, but it's _sight_-in, not site in.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Poles shifting, birds falling out the sky, fish floating belly-up.


We're toast I tell, burnt to a crisp.




Heard that some airports have to close long enough to re-mark and label their runways and taxi-ways to reflect the shift.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

SayWhat? said:


> ...Heard that some airports have to close long enough to re-mark and label their runways and taxi-ways to reflect the shift.


 Please cite your source and provide a link, if available.


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## HIPAR (May 15, 2005)

The DoD World Magnetic Model:

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomagmodels/IGRFWMM.jsp?defaultModel=WMM

They update it every five years because the magnetic poles are moving.

--- CHAS


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Nick said:


> Please cite your source and provide a link, if available.


Tampa International closing runway for re-marking.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/07/5787088-pole-shift-forces-airport-makeover

Not the whole airport, but the main runway.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

> "The changes are required by the Federal Aviation Administration, which wants the numeric designations to reflect magnetic-north headings to the nearest 10-degree increment."


That should be 'to the nearest _1-degree_ increment.'


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

Nick said:


> That should be 'to the nearest _1-degree_ increment.'


Runways are rounded up/down to the nearest 10 degrees for naming and signage purposes.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

on ils/vor/vfr and approach charts not on runway designations. still round to nearest 10.


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## timekeeper (Aug 23, 2009)

I'd have to agree with the 10 degree thing......although I didn't check the ruling. Pilots can know how to handle minor changes, but when you get closer to landing, everything need to be tight!


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Well, it was not really a recent shift, but a constant, long term ongoing small shift that just happened to reach a tipping point at one airport and therfore made the news recently.


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## Kev (Jan 15, 2011)

I did not know people still use magnetic north. I thought everything was GPS these days.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Kev said:


> I did not know people still use magnetic north. I thought everything was GPS these days.


Many GPS's can show either. Hand held compasses, not so much. Many light aircraft have magnetic compasses, and the pilot is expected to know the local variation from True.

Runways have been marked to the nearest ten degrees for at least 50 years.

Further re the apocalypse: (From the link upstream)

"Earth's magnetic poles have been known to reverse themselves every 400,000 years or so, in a process that's outlined in the video above.
This NASA Web page explains that the shift in the magnetic poles, or even a pole reversal, need not be feared. "As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn't cause any harm to life on Earth," NASA says. But a lot of runway numbers might need to be repainted."


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## prestone683 (Aug 16, 2010)

But no one in particular here has noticed that if they typically install every day (say, HSP or pro installer) and they use the same heading for sighting in a dish, that they are actually off a couple marks now?


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

sighting


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## prestone683 (Aug 16, 2010)

Nick said:


> sighting


Checking to see if you were paying attention.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Uh, what?


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## prestone683 (Aug 16, 2010)

Nick said:


> Uh, what?


You caught me earlier mentioning 'site-in'. So I misspelled again...


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Huh?


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