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Magnetic Inclination and Declination

Magnetic declination is the angle between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a compass needle points) and true north. The declination is positive when the magnetic north is east of true north.

Magnetic inclination is the angle made by a compass needle when the compass is held in a vertical orientation. Positive values of inclination indicate that the field is pointing downward, into the Earth, at the point of measurement.


For the AutoQuad calculations the magnetic inclination is vital. For flying, the magnetic declination is also needed. The http://magnetic-declination.com/ page will display the values for your location in degrees/minutes. The AutoQuad ground station software has a built-in widget for converting those to decimal values, which is what you will use in the calculations and flight parameters.

Remember the numbers in the example? 67.6 and 0.3 East. Entering the numbers in the  converter will give: inclination 67.1 and declination 0.5.

Inclination is always reversed in AQ, meaning that on the northern hemisphere number will always be negative in the defines and positive for the southern hemisphere.For the inclination value, always reverse of what the online tool comes up with for inclination.For declination, use the same sign (negative or positive) as indicated in the online tool — do not reverse this.

The final numbers for use in this example will be : -67.1 and 0.5
The declination (0.5) will be used in the final setup.  The inclination is needed to complete the calibration calculations.

A tool to determine your declination & inclination: http://magnetic-declination.com

This page was created on 23-Jun-12 by menno. Last modified on 8-Jul-14 by kinderkram.