Baladeo PLR020 - Manuel (Page 2)

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à chacun sa nature // to each his nature // jedem seine natur www.baladeo.com
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The compass is a reliable, accurate and lightweight which is have to be always in your backpack. To
use a compass, it is essential to read and use a card.
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Dial with incremental
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Ruler in cm
Direction of travel arrow Magnifier
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DESCRIPTION
TO FIND YOUR WAY WITHOUT A MAP
Example: You are in the mountains. You see a shelter and you want to go there but during your progression
you will lose eye contact with this building. How to get there?
You must "register" the direction of the house in the compass. This is called taking an "azimuth."
• Take the compass in your hand, making sure that the arrow is aiming ahead.
• Point the travel arrow to the house (note: the needle should be free to move in the dial. For this, you have
to keep the compass in horizontal position)
• Make the base of the compass turn until the red needle will be between the two green
marks ( ) .
• The target is complete. You've memorized the direction of the refuge according to the North position. Now
you only have to line up the compass needle between the two green marks (make sure that it does not turn
and the travel arrow will give you the direction to follow.
Note: to move forward, it is better to proceed step by step. Take a point (a tree, a rock, ...) which is
adjacent to you and in the axis of the direction you have to go. Move forward to this point and repeat the
process as many times as necessary until you have achieved your goal.
If you do not take this precaution, you may drift to the right or left of the point you want to achieve.
Indeed, the compass gives you the direction relative to the North and not in relation to your goal. If you
move away from the ideal trajectory (for example if you have to turn because of an obstacle), the compass
will give you a direction parallel to the original one and, unless you take a new sight (if the landscape is not
hilly ...) you won’t notice the deviation. It is therefore essential to keep fixed points along the
trajectory.
HOW TO USE WITH A MAP
1. FIND YOUR WAY WITH A COMPASS AND A MAP
To orient a map means that the map and the reality matches geometrically using the compass.
This is necessary to find your way with a map.
• Find the north with the compass (red needle)
• Find the magnetic north on the map (written on the maps)
• Put the compass on the map, near to the magnetic north.
• If both of them are not parallel, rturn the whole compass-map until the both North correspond.
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The map is correctly oriented when the North indicated by the red arrow and the north of the map are
in the same direction.
WARNING: when the map is oriented, you must keep it like this. No rotations are allowed. The best way is to
place it on the floor-and to put a heavy object on it (stone, backpack, ...)
With the map oriented like this you will be able to identify a characteristic point of the landscape in front of
you and precisely find out wher you are.
Base plate
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Scale 1:25 000
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Magnetic needle with red north
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Liquid capsul
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Mark of the base
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2. TO FIND OUT WHERE YOU ARE ON A MAP
Example 1 : You are not lost. You are following a hiking trail but you do not know exactly where you are. You
want to estimate the distance you have to your final destination. You want to know exactly where you are on this
trail.
• Orient the card as explained above. Warning: do not turn the map when it’s oriented
• Find a landmark in the landscape around you which appears on your map (eg a mill)
• Take the target on the mill.
• Report your target on the map and symbolized it by an imaginary straight line.
• You are at the intersection of the trail shown on your map and the imaginary line of sight.
Example 2 : You are lost. You don’t know where you are on the map and you have lost all traces of the original
trail on which you were. To find your way, you need to know where you are on the map. To do this, you will have
to make a triangulation.
• Place the map as explained above. Warning: do not turn the map when it’s oriented.
• Identify in the landscape at least two significant landmarks (mountains, buildings, villages, ...)
• Make a target of the first significant landmark. Place it on the map. Make a target of the second point, place
it on the map like the other one.
• You are logically at the intersection of two targets (if two landmarks chosen are not parallel).
• To check that you are right, take another target. If this target is not too far from the previous, your statement
should be correct.
3. FIND A TRAIL:
Example : you are in the mountains and you know where you are on the map. You are near to a trail
on the map but you cannot see it from the place you are. You want to find this trail while going to your
destination.
• Place the map as explained above. Warning: do not turn the map when it’s oriented.
• Draw a straight line connecting the point where you are and your place of destination.
• Place the left edge of the compass along the straight line you have drawn.
• Turn the base of the compass until the red needle was between the two green marks.
• Take the compass in hand. Place the red needle of the compass between
the two green marks by turning the base. Make sure the compass is placed horizontally and that the red needle
can move freely).
• The travel arrow gives you which direction to take.
Note: Same as the first example, it is better to do it step by step. Take a sepcial point in the landscape (tree,
rock, ...) which is close to you and in the direction you will follow. Go to this point and repeat the process as many
times as necessary until you reach your goal.
When you used a compass, you will make some mistakes: they are due to the compass itself, to a slight
misorientation of the map, to an obstacle which you wil find on your way... An error of few degrees can get you
quick away from your goal, as it is shown in the table below.
Error in degrees Error in m for 1 km
1° 17 m
2° 35 m
4° 70 m
6° 105 m
8° 134 m
10° 173 m
For example, an error of 4 °over a distance of 2.5 km and there you are at 70 x 2.5 = 175 m from your goal.
One method to limit this error is to make volunteer mistakes and ensure the position of your goal.
CONCLUSION
Note that all these indications seems easy in theory. In practice, it is sometimes long and difficult to find
appropriate benchmarks in the landscape. Before you venture into the wilderness (where a dune is like any
other dune ...) it is necessary to get used to walk with a compass and a map. The orientation is a useful discipline
as much as entertaining. Some people do it also as a leisure activity.
Some people will tell you that there are now modern guidance such as GPS. The compass is a light, simple,
inexpensive, autonomous (which do not need batteries) and it is useful to know how it works.
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500m
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1 1 1:50000 2km 3 6
1000m 1:25000
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Templates for marks
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We thank you for buying a Baladéo product. We have given particular care to its
production and hope it will entirely fulfill your expectations.
Boussole d’orientation
MAP COMPASS