PRECISION COMPASS. * LENSATIC *. PROVEN • RUGGED ACCURATE. CAMMENGA. FAX ( ANILINE AVE. HOLLAND, MICHIGAN Learn how to use the lensatic compass used by the US Military. I get lots of questions via email from people wanting to know how to use a lensatic compass, and I think I’ve covered that pretty well in a series of two posts.

Return from Lensatic Compass to Home. From your known location on the map, you take your protractor, line it up to true north, find the angle to your next point, adjust for declination, and then shoot that angle with your compass. Be sure you understand magnetic declination.

Determining a Bearing, or “Shooting an Azimuth”. You now have your target’s bearing. The mils are in black, and are compasa outer measurements manula the ring. You need to write things down, draw lines, perform math, and make sure you do so with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

This, in a nutshell, is how to perform a resection with a lensatic compass. All you do is take you compas and line it up from your current point to your desired destination and look at the compass reading. Turn your entire body as a unit until your predetermined azimuth falls under the fixed black index line. That’s the heading that you need to move along to reach your desired end or way point.

So with that in mind, I’ll start a series of short articles that each focus on a single tip for getting the most out of your compass.

The back azimuth is nothing more than the opposite direction of the reading you’re taking. The more back azimuths you can draw, the more accurate your location will be. Hold the compass steady and level, and up to your face. The azimuth is the angular measurement of an object’s direction in relation to the viewer. Now, hold the compass level and squarely in front of you. According to United States Army Corps of Engineers, the engineer compass is also called a lensatic compass.

Use the engineer compass to measure the azimuth to take a bearing or direction.

In lensaric event that you’re under strict light discipline in a military setting, for example you can simply sup your hands around the compass and the head of the flashlight so that no light escapes. A compass is a floating magnetic needle that always points toward a magnetic north pole. Making sure you don’t move to change directions, turn the glass compass housing until the short luminous line is directly lined up with the luminous magnetic arrow.

Some of the components’ terms are used in the explanations below. The bezel clicks as it moves–three degrees for every click.

How to Read an Engineer Compass | Sciencing

After reading those two articles anyone should be able to go out and perform basic land navigation with a map and lensatic compass. Imagine that you want to hold it as if it were firmly maunal in that position.

The fact that they glow in the dark especially, if they’re the tritium kind which will glow for years without having to be exposed to light means you can use your compass without a light for night navigation. This is a low level radioactive isotope that is used in a multitude of applications where self-powered illumination is necessary. Using your protractor or other straight edge, you draw a line from your current position in the direction of where you want to go. The key to the whole operation is having a map and being able to locate these features on that map.

There’s a lot of room for error and mistakes, and it takes time, which is sometimes a very precious commodity. Open the compass completely and hold it level in front of you.

Check that the dial is floating freely. You then see where the line you drew intersects with the protractor’s numbers, in this case degrees. You can use this feature to set your compass in the dark. Lenastic start from the beginning, and go through everything you need to know to find your way over the terrain.

Let’s say you see a water tower off in the distance. Point of Interest In addition to degrees to measure directions in a circle, the military also uses 6, mils. Copyright Leaf Group Ltd. An “azimuth” is pretty much the same as a “bearing.

Lensatic Compass Guide

Keep doing this until you get to where you want to go. Putting the two in a opaque bag or enclosure is effective as well. From here it’s simple. How to Use a Bushnell Voyager Telescope. Most people are aware that lensatic compasses are fitted with small amounts of tritium around the dial.

I get lots of questions via email from people wanting to know how to use a lensatic compassand I think I’ve covered that pretty well in a series of two posts.

Get your own customized topographical maps, built according to your specifications.

Lensatic Compass Guide

Warning Always double check your compass readings. Take your lensatic oensatic and open it up all the way so it is one flat line. As long as you can hold the compass level and steady, the exact grip doesn’t matter.

When hiking, use a map to help you navigate unfamiliar terrain. This means that at around the 12 year mark, the tritium in your lensatic compass will have radiated about half the energy that it has to offer.