SAR Fundamentals/Compass practical and pacing

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SAR Fundamentals Manual: Ch.13 "Navigation"
Basic SAR Skills Manual: Ch.7 "Navigation"

Aids

Lesson plan

Material Covered:

  • Navigation - section 3 - compass use and exercise

Objective:

  • know cardinal directions
  • know compass degrees
  • know what affects a compass
  • magnetic declination
  • shooting a bearing with a compass
  • pacing
  • exercises:
    • bearings
    • pacing / bearing
  • backbearing
  • offsets

Aids:

  • SAR Fundamentals - Chapter 13 - Navigation


Lesson plan:

1/ discuss Magnetic Declination

  • Where needle points
  • Reading declination from map (add grid N)
  • Adjusting declination on compass

2/ shooting a bearing with a compass

  • using compass
    • avoid metal
      • belt buckle
    • avoid magnetic fields
  • holding compass
    • hold flat
  • sighting
    • using mirror
    • using sighting notches
  • reading bearing
    • rotating barrel
    • "red to the bed"
    • parallax problem
      • parallel needle edge, not needle in the middle
  • walking a bearing
    • setting bearing
    • how far to look

3/ Pacing

  • Step is one foot to the opposite
  • Pace is one foot to the same foot (two steps)
  • counting your pace
  • measure your pace in 10m
  • calculating distance from paces
  • calculating paces from distance

4/ Exercises: bearings

  • hand-out: Pacing and Traverse

5/ Advance

As they come up in discussion, describe:

  • back bearings
  • offsets
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