not the sport, but basic map and compass navigation.

i don't know how to do it and i want to learn. i know it takes practice practice practice, but i dont even know where to begin. i know the army will teach it to me if i join, but if that happens it'll be a ways off.

anyone have good suggestions on books to read? what about maps? where can i get the proper types of map? also, are there any national clubs or organizations that i can look into? no, i wasn't a boy scout and i think i'm too old for that now :)

it just seems like reading a map with a compass is a good thing to know how to do...

thanks!

I recall the boy scout handbook having a decent section on land navigation.

However this one rocks if it doesn't bore you to death first:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/3-25-26/index.html

not the sport, but basic map and compass navigation.

i don't know how to do it and i want to learn. i know it takes practice practice practice, but i dont even know where to begin. i know the army will teach it to me if i join, but if that happens it'll be a ways off.

anyone have good suggestions on books to read? what about maps? where can i get the proper types of map? also, are there any national clubs or organizations that i can look into? no, i wasn't a boy scout and i think i'm too old for that now :)

it just seems like reading a map with a compass is a good thing to know how to do...

thanks!


The older Boy Scout handbooks are good basic info, the maps are nothing more than a topographic map of the quad of interest available at most decent sporting goods-mountaineering stores (leastwise thats what I use). A *good* engineering or geological compass will save ones bacon.

Reading a map is simple, brown lines are contours that represent an incremental change in elevational change with a few dark lines identifying decade elevational change. The closer they get the steeper the terrain, blue lines are water, you'll note that the contourlines point "uphill" on those. BM is a bench mark sited by the USGS so its *theoretically* a reference spot with known location and altitude. Beyond that is more or less knowing how to orient the map relative to the compass.

D.

A while back, I bought a compass and the "directions" were some of the most concise and educational ones I've ever seen. It discussed all sorts of map reading/nav. skills, gave aerial symbols, talked about survival situations, and even gave an address to send an SASE for even more information.

fuck learning how to read a compass for now. learn to READ A TOPO MAP !!!

once you learn how to navigate by map alone THEN learn to use a compass and then put the compass away and get a GPS and save it for "oh fuck" situations :flipoff2:

fuck learning how to read a compass for now. learn to READ A TOPO MAP !!!

once you learn how to navigate by map alone THEN learn to use a compass and then put the compass away and get a GPS and save it for "oh fuck" situations :flipoff2:

X2 on what the Doc said. Get the most detailed topo you can of an area you are familiar with. This will help you equate the map features with terrain in a given location. IE: this circle of brown lines must be that hill in the middle of this field where I fingerbanged Mary Jo Rottencrotch, etc.

Learn it. Know it. Then buy a GPS. Handily, my Magellan Explorist 500LE also serves as the speedometer in my Bronco :flipoff2: .

fuck learning how to read a compass for now. learn to READ A TOPO MAP !!!

once you learn how to navigate by map alone THEN learn to use a compass and then put the compass away and get a GPS and save it for "oh fuck" situations :flipoff2:

I'd heartily agree with everything except the stuff about the compass iffen only because my own personal experience says that the *batteries* in my compass have never died like the batteries in the GPS I inherited... :D:D:D

D.

I'd heartily agree with everything except the stuff about the compass iffen only because my own personal experience says that the *batteries* in my compass have never died like the batteries in the GPS I inherited... :D:D:D

D.

we did land nav a few weeks back, at night, in HEAAAAAVY fucking wooded areas and this is what I told the "operator" that I was paired with:
"Ok here is where we are, OK?"
"This is how you get your heading, OK?"
"We need to go 600meters that way to find the check point"
"You undrstand how I figured this, right?"

and then I turned on my GPS, put the compass in my pocket, fucked counting my pace and went off the heading on it :flipoff2:
oh and I carry extra batteries :p

FM 3-25.26 has a lot of great info in it. Plus its free.
Every "comercial" book I have on the subject says basically the same thing, but in color :D

FM 3-25.26 has a lot of great info in it. Plus its free.
Every "comercial" book I have on the subject says basically the same thing, but in color :D

You forgot they likely have better drawings too....:laughing:

we did land nav a few weeks back, at night, in HEAAAAAVY fucking wooded areas and this is what I told the "operator" that I was paired with:
"Ok here is where we are, OK?"
"This is how you get your heading, OK?"
"We need to go 600meters that way to find the check point"
"You undrstand how I figured this, right?"

and then I turned on my GPS, put the compass in my pocket, fucked counting my pace and went off the heading on it :flipoff2:
oh and I carry extra batteries :p

Thats really one of those "I understand and can use the theory properly but I prefer the convenience of the other" type things... ;)

On an idle curiosity note what are the military minds defining as a *standard* pace distance these days? I had to deal with that in surveying classes in days long gone but had issues pacing because it was defined by ~22-24" and my pace was 3.2 ft (long legs, long gait issue)...

D.

On an idle curiosity note what are the military minds defining as a *standard* pace distance these days? I had to deal with that in surveying classes in days long gone but had issues pacing because it was defined by ~22-24" and my pace was 3.2 ft (long legs, long gait issue)...

D.

find 2 areas:
flat land
wooded

MEASURE out 1000 meters and mark the trail
walk and start counting every time your lead foot hits the ground
write the number
do the same for the trail and then do the trail at night.

Figure the average of the 3

Thats your pace count :D
mine is 63 per 1000, less on flat land.

find 2 areas:
flat land
wooded

MEASURE out 1000 meters and mark the trail
walk and start counting every time your lead foot hits the ground
write the number
do the same for the trail and then do the trail at night.

Figure the average of the 3

Thats your pace count :D
mine is 63 per 1000, less on flat land.

Same thing in my surveying but we did 100 yds.

I always wondered about that scenario where iffen one person set the number of "paces" but didnt provide the *magic decoder ring* iffen one was looking at something vaugely reminiscent of a best guess and miss the pirates treasure burial place... :D:D

D.