Hi, I downloaded a few days ago a compass application for my LG Smartphone, Android based. It seems handy but questioning how accurate it really is.
Has anyone had any particularly good or bad experience with handheld smart phone compass apps? Alternatives (other than handheld hiking compass)?
Thanks in advance.
I have an iPhone. The Compass is one its many bundled apps. It gives GPS coordinates to within 1 second latitude and longitude. It also gives the direction, both true north and magnetic north. The iPhone Compass app works great. There were GPS apps for mobile phones before either the iPhone or Android existed. I can only assume that they all work well. They should most certainly work well enough to aim a TV antenna.
Some phones have a hall sensor and can detect magnetic fields with out needing the GPS functions. The one i saw was in a building and couldn't see the GPS satellites but knew where north was still.
I cant say if all phones are like the one I tested but it had a hall sensor.
A Hall sensor is a very sensitive magnetic-field sensor. This makes a Hall sensor-based compass a magnetic compass. I would be concerned about its accuracy in or near steel structures. That said, directional accuracy is not critical when aiming a TV antenna. The recommended direction is the starting point for manually optimizing your reception.
If direction is critical, then GPS is the choice 100 times out of 100 over magnetic when those are your options.
Actually, by using the "start maps" option, you can end up with a Google map with the azimuths to the stations superimposed. You can zoom in far enough to get landmarks or to see where to aim in the attic.
Android app for Compass
