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January 2014

Smartphone Compass

My smartphone has a built-in compass that seems to be unaffected by local metal structures or magnets.  Is the phone using cell tower triangulation or some other method to determine direction? If so, does the phone indicate true north or magnetic north?

#1144
Robin Stahl
Cincinnati, OH



Answers

All smartphones include a GPS and it would get the direction information from it, from the satellites. Try turning the GPS off to see what happens.

Phil Karras, KE3FL
Mount Airy, MD

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