Recommendations for a quality sighting compass

Thanks all for the information.

The problem with folk using compasses of old age is they may have not been built to a price as I appear to have found with my Silva, although I may have just been unlucky.
The military range of Silva compass’s may well be different though.

I do like the look of the marine compass and the fact it may stand up better to my clumsiness :slight_smile:

So not sure what to go for yet, buying from distant sources it always a bit of a gamble.

Nick G0HIK

1 Like

@G0HIK
Wish you luck to find an MK III in good health
https://thejungleisneutral.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/find-your-own-way-vintage-mkiii-marching-compass-part-1/
It has a 1/4 degree of resolution.
I am happy with 1/2 a degree from my Silva 54

@G0AZX
Thanks for the type 55’info, just realised by your update, I got my 54 7 years ago, the tritium shows signs of dimming.
@W6PNG
Seeking forgiveness and indulgence from Nick…
I prefer long distance solo bush walk in which weigh, autonomy and ruggedness are main priority. Commercial radios for SOTA and POTA are not up to my taste, so I brew my own, will open a thread when ever I have a chance.

73 de Pascal

2 Likes

Interesting to read about the restored old compass. There is an Indian company advertising modern replicas made in brass on eBay. They also make brass sextants for that old-school navigation feel.

OT:dial illuminators

The failure of the Tritium powered illumination is expected. With a half life of 12 years, it will probably useless as an illuminator after 20+ years. Though it’s much safer than Radium powered illumination. That has a half life of 1600 years and so should be fine for longevity. Radium’s issue is the actual radiation that energises the phosphor to make it glow also eventually destroys the phosphor. So whilst there is plenty of radiation still emitted, most Radium phosphors die after 50years.

When I was a spotty schoolkid, we had a radio club at school run by a teacher with a love for military surplus, especially teleprinters. He had to take a load of scrap control panels once as part of the deal to get some Teletype Corp TTY28 units. The panels were remote control units for radios fitted into WWII American fighters (possibly P47 Thunderbolts). There were some switches and meters on them and as kids we were roped into dismantling them for the components. The controls were painted with Radium based paint which was no longer glowing after 30 years. A check with the school Geiger counter showed they had a scary level of alpha emission. ISTR about 30000x stronger than the school’s alpha source which was used in A-level physics experiments. I still have my switch 45 years later. It’s a strong alpha source but even a cardboard box stops most of the emission. It’s in the loft, quadruple boxed. Along with a about 50g of Mercury collected from broken thermometers during school. I’ll leave them as a little surprise for Mrs. FMF to deal with when I have shuffled off my mortal coil and joined the choir invisible.

The current dialillumination favourites are variations on Strontium Aluminate doped with a rare earth like Europium. This is light powered! You expose it to the sun or strong artificial light and then it will glow for 24+hrs. I have some on my wristwatch and after 10mins in strong sun the glow is visible outside in the shade! Mrs. FMF has complained the green glow has kept her awake as it can be seen on our bedroom ceiling in the dark. It really is that bright.

Back on topic. Nick’s description of the spring clips breaking on his Silva is familiar. Mine is 15 years old and I have found the sping clip on the bezel coming undone twice. This is despite the compass living in a hard case in my SOTA bag. I have a cheap lensatic compass clone I bought in 1973. The lens snapped off as the plastic has gone brittle over 50 years. It’s undamped so takes an age to settle but it was under a £1 so probably worth it at the time.

1 Like

After handling a couple of pairs of GaelForce 7x50 binoculars recently at the boathouse, I went for some of these for when I’m setting dishes and aerials up from the van.
Usefully they have a compass built in that you can see when you are looking through them, so perfect for getting a sighting.
Unfortunately when they arrived one of the hand grips fell off. GaelForce were excellent at sending a courier and a replacement. Sorry to say the next pair arrived with another minor fault, but Hey Ho, I’ll live with it.
So as with everything it seems the quality of them may have got worse, time will tell how well they last, but they were excellent value for money in a sale, they seem not to be stocked by them moment, although under another badge, still available elsewhere.

Nick G0HIK

1 Like

Somewhat difficult to use when its cloudy/thick fog or in the dark perhaps?? :smiley:

no, the Plastimo Iris 50 is photoluminescent :wink:

2 Likes

I’m still looking at getting one of those also as they are currently on offer I see

1 Like