Some additional information on antenna direction as sourced by Bill Marsh.
Magnetic Declination 47A Hope Drive Blenheim
Note that the “Declination” in the attached article is for North America. Please refer to my first article for correct declination in New Zealand.
The data for my home address in Blenheim is based on the NOAA website link contained in the article.
Appendix:
I decided to try out the “Shadow Test” as outlined in the article “5 Ways to Find True North” just to see how my previous compass settings had panned out. Initially I decided to use 3 times ie. 10 am, 12 noon and 3 pm but something did not look right. After some discussions with Paul Ormandy I was reminded about “Solar Noon”. The mid point between sunrise and sunset at any location on earth.
Repeated the shadow test again using “Solar Noon” which was 1.30 pm on the day of the test (NZ daylight saving time). Used 11am and 4pm as the 2 marks i.e. 2.5 hours either side of “solar noon”. Surprise, surprise the marker for solar noon was midway between the 11 am & 4 pm markers within a couple of mm. I now have a reference to true north in relation to my Northern boundary fence. “Solar Noon” of course indicating “True North”.
It turns out my EWE antenna is pointing at 75 degrees and not 80 degrees as first thought. Although the EWE is fairly broad off the front lobe I had been looking for a way to orient my antenna (in a restricted townhouse section) closer to 70 degrees. Without doing anything I have gained 5 deg in the favoured direction. My EWE points straight through Florida. This is probably why Radio Marti on 1180 is the first DX signal to appear on the dial when conditions are favourable. At this direction all of North & South America are within the -3 dB lobe of my EWE. Next job is to elevate the EWE a little higher. Of interest to some, my EWE has an elevated earth wire and the purpose of my proposed raising, is to clear this elevated earth wire above my house spoutings giving it complete clearance from surrounding objects.
