[Dx4win] Headings

[Dick Flanagan]

At 08:11 PM 10/16/2009, I wrote:
 >If I had to hazard a guess it would be that the D4W bearings are
 >great-circle bearings relative to the "True" geographic North
 >Pole.  To be anything else wouldn't make sense.

The trick then becomes making sure your antenna is pointing toward 
the geographic North Pole when it indicates it is pointing North.

As someone else mentioned, the beam width of most HF antennas is so 
broad you can get close enough by "eye balling" relative to the 
geography around you.  If for some reason you actually require 
accurate headings within a few degrees (such as multi-element UHF or 
microwave arrays with beam widths of only a few degrees) then the 
determination of accurate headings becomes an interesting exercise.

I am sure that D4W's headings are mathematically accurate relative to 
the geographic north pole.  Aligning your antennas with anything 
close to that kind of accuracy is left as an exercise for the reader.  :)

Dick
--
Dick Flanagan K7VC
dick at k7vc.com