How to Determine a Magnetic Azimuth Using a Lensatic Compass

Using a lensatic compass, a compass that has a magnetized dial, you can find the magnetic azimuth relative to the magnetic north. This allows you to navigate based on specific degree directions or to find the series of compass angles you are traveling along.

• 1

  Examine your lensatic compass. At the minimum, there should be a floating dial with numbers ranging from 0/360 to 359 on it, possibly with mills (20 mills per degree) on the outside. An indicator of some sort will be marked at the front of the compass, the part pointing away from you. Once you line up the 0 degree tick with this mark, you are pointing at magnetic north.

• 2

  Open the cover of the compass to ninety degrees, and the eyepiece to 45 degrees from the base. Hold the compass with its thumbloop, which should position the eyepiece closer to your face than the cover. Line up the slit in the cover with what you are sighting on, then look down the eyepiece to the azimuth degree that is marked under the indicator line. This method is very precise and works to within approximately 3 degrees, but requires you to be able to see through the sight the object you are trying to get to, which may be difficult at night. This method is called compass to cheek sighting.

• 3

  Open the cover of the compass all the way so that it lays flat along a plane with the compass itself, and open the lens so that it is out of the way. Put the thumb of your right hand through the thumb loop and brace the compass on the right with your right index finger. Put the thumb of your left hand in front of the hinge of the lens and brace the compass on the left with your left index finger. Intertwine the rest of your fingers to provide a strong base for the compass, and pull your elbows in to your sides for stability. Point your body at the object you would like to sight and read the azimuth degree indicated by the indicator line. This method is called the center hold method.