Degausser, what is it?

[Robert M. Gary]

It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my
compass to behave more reasonably. I called a dealership that rents
it, they are asking $50 plus shipping for 1 week's use. They said it
requires power. I'm having trouble invisioning what this thing is. I'm
also curious what it would be like to ship. Is it something big like a
vacuum cleaner?
-Robert

[John Harlow]

Robert M. Gary wrote:
> It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my
> compass to behave more reasonably. I called a dealership that rents
> it, they are asking $50 plus shipping for 1 week's use. They said it
> requires power. I'm having trouble invisioning what this thing is. I'm


It is a freakin coil of wire. If you knew what you were doing, you could
bust open an old computer monitor or TV and take the one which is around the
CRT.

[Rosspilot]

It's really a large round electromagnet. I have seen them used to fix color TV
screens.


www.Rosspilot.com

[Dylan Smith]

In article >, Robert M. Gary
wrote:
> It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my

To find out what one is, if you still have a CRT monitor on your
computer, go into the Setup and look for the degausser, and press it. It
may be represented with a picture of a magnet crossed out - which is
what it does - it demagnetizes the shadow mask (or aperture grill if you
use a Trinitron) in your monitor. Your monitor will go
BBbbbbbBBrbrrrrrrrr! when you hit it, and the picture will wobble around
a lot for a couple of seconds. (Some monitors degauss on power-up, and
that's why they make the noise they do when you turn them on).

I assume they think the steel parts of your plane have become
magnetised.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

[jsmith]

Not for an airplane!
I suppose the next thing you would say is that it works on any aircraft?

John Harlow wrote:
>
> Robert M. Gary wrote:
> > It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my
> > compass to behave more reasonably. I called a dealership that rents
> > it, they are asking $50 plus shipping for 1 week's use. They said it
> > requires power. I'm having trouble invisioning what this thing is. I'm
>
> It is a freakin coil of wire. If you knew what you were doing, you could
> bust open an old computer monitor or TV and take the one which is around the
> CRT.

[Ross Oliver]

Go on ebay and buy a "bulk tape eraser" like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3088246451&category=48642

degauss = erase = scramble an orderly magnetic field into a disorderly one

[Corky Scott]

On 31 Mar 2004 11:51:51 -0800, (Robert M. Gary)
wrote:

>It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my
>compass to behave more reasonably. I called a dealership that rents
>it, they are asking $50 plus shipping for 1 week's use. They said it
>requires power. I'm having trouble invisioning what this thing is. I'm
>also curious what it would be like to ship. Is it something big like a
>vacuum cleaner?
>-Robert

Robert, during WWII, the Allied response to German magnetic mines
which were laid on the bottom of shallow water passages like the River
Thames, was to degauss the ships. That's right, entire ships. The
ship would be wrapped entirely around with huge electrical cables and
then they would be energized and the ships magnetic field would be
altered enough to avoid setting off the mines. Or so the engineers
calculated anyway. It's still being done according to sources brought
up with a google search. Some ships have permanent degaussing coils
built into the hull and superstructure.

Corky Scott

[Brian Cox]

(Robert M. Gary) wrote in message >...
> It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my
> compass to behave more reasonably. I called a dealership that rents
> it, they are asking $50 plus shipping for 1 week's use. They said it
> requires power. I'm having trouble invisioning what this thing is. I'm
> also curious what it would be like to ship. Is it something big like a
> vacuum cleaner?
> -Robert

I had a problem with the compass in a Mooney M20C. It was also
recommended that I try degaussing the steel cage. I got a lot of
conflicting advice about degaussing. Since I'm based in Colorado, I
also considered the effects of P-static. That is because the compass
errors (approximately 40 degrees) were intermittent. In the end, I
bought a kit of static wicks from Mooney and installed them per STC.
The compass problem was fixed. I haven't seen any other Mooney's in
this area with static wicks, but most all Cessnas have them.

On the price of $50 for one week's use - that sounds about right. It
may be my error, but I'm assuming you have a Mooney, and that the
degausser is avaiable from LASAR (Lake Aero)? Another alternative is
to put a remote compass sensor in the tail and the compass head in the
panel, but that is a bit pricey.

Good luck,
Brian
Former owner M20C

[mikem]

Robert M. Gary wrote:

> It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my
> compass to behave more reasonably. I called a dealership that rents
> it, they are asking $50 plus shipping for 1 week's use. They said it
> requires power. I'm having trouble invisioning what this thing is. I'm
> also curious what it would be like to ship. Is it something big like a
> vacuum cleaner?
> -Robert

I have previously written about degaussing; dont want to rehash it here.

Google Groups search netted 69 hits:

http://tinyurl.com/2p9ef

MikeM
Pacer 00z
Skylane 1MM

[Gene Seibel]

Just go to your local TV repair shop ..... oh never mind ....... those
don't exist anymore.
--
Gene Seibel
http://pad39a.com/gene/broadcast.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.


(Robert M. Gary) wrote in message >...
> It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my
> compass to behave more reasonably. I called a dealership that rents
> it, they are asking $50 plus shipping for 1 week's use. They said it
> requires power. I'm having trouble invisioning what this thing is. I'm
> also curious what it would be like to ship. Is it something big like a
> vacuum cleaner?
> -Robert

[Big John]

Brian

Same problem I had with my Mk20C (turbo normal, manual gear :o)

Cage is great for safety but hell on compass headings.

Big John
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````

On 1 Apr 2004 07:09:40 -0800, (Brian Cox) wrote:

(Robert M. Gary) wrote in message >...
>> It was recommended to me that I should rent a degausser to get my
>> compass to behave more reasonably. I called a dealership that rents
>> it, they are asking $50 plus shipping for 1 week's use. They said it
>> requires power. I'm having trouble invisioning what this thing is. I'm
>> also curious what it would be like to ship. Is it something big like a
>> vacuum cleaner?
>> -Robert
>
>I had a problem with the compass in a Mooney M20C. It was also
>recommended that I try degaussing the steel cage. I got a lot of
>conflicting advice about degaussing. Since I'm based in Colorado, I
>also considered the effects of P-static. That is because the compass
>errors (approximately 40 degrees) were intermittent. In the end, I
>bought a kit of static wicks from Mooney and installed them per STC.
>The compass problem was fixed. I haven't seen any other Mooney's in
>this area with static wicks, but most all Cessnas have them.
>
>On the price of $50 for one week's use - that sounds about right. It
>may be my error, but I'm assuming you have a Mooney, and that the
>degausser is avaiable from LASAR (Lake Aero)? Another alternative is
>to put a remote compass sensor in the tail and the compass head in the
>panel, but that is a bit pricey.
>
>Good luck,
>Brian
>Former owner M20C

[Paul Sengupta]

"Corky Scott" > wrote in message
...
> Robert, during WWII, the Allied response to German magnetic mines
> which were laid on the bottom of shallow water passages like the River
> Thames, was to degauss the ships. That's right, entire ships. The
> ship would be wrapped entirely around with huge electrical cables and
> then they would be energized and the ships magnetic field would be
> altered enough to avoid setting off the mines. Or so the engineers
> calculated anyway. It's still being done according to sources brought
> up with a google search. Some ships have permanent degaussing coils
> built into the hull and superstructure.

Deja-vu?

http://www.forpilots.com/archive/rec.aviation.owning/17/msg18350.htm

Read back in the thread for more info...

Paul