Evan Gatehouse wrote:

Anybody have any experience using a Northern Hemisphere compass as far south
as say New Zealand? I *know* you're supposed to have a s. hemisphere
compass in an ideal world, but I'm wondering how much the card deflects i.e.
is it still useable, even if tilted.


First I ever heard of such a thing.

I can't believe it matters. A compass is a compass.

Now, if you want to talk about sundials, I can tell you there is a
difference. My birdbath was bought as a yard ornament. The wife
thought it was "cute", with a little sailboat in the middle, the
sail being the, waddaya call it, that casts a shadow on the sundial
markings around the brim.

It is made in Australia, I think, or Malaysia. The numbers are
reversed so that if the sail's shadow falls at 12:00 noon, then a
hour later, if falls on 11:00. Other than that, it keeps excellant
reciprocal time.

Now, that makes sense, since around here, there is much commotion
regarding getting horses in front of carts, etc, that sort of thing.

The pedestrians never notice, but it does set the tone for the yard.
We have 3 large trees, a white pine, a balsam fir, and a blue spruce
all crowded together fighting for space by the driveway, with a
bench huddled amongst them, a good place to ruminate while enjoying
the scent and early morning sun with a cup of tea. We call them the
Father, The holy Ghost, and the Son. I guess it's no wonder that we
got, by chance at the garden department of Kent's, a southern
hemisphere sundial to set nearby.

I just seems to fit, somehow.

It matters, but a southern hemisphere compass? Yuk, yuk, yuk!

Terry K