Re: Dialist's Companion
Fred and Thibaud As one of those people who live in the southern hemisphere the convention of looking south does not work real well up here ;-)) When teaching students of architecture solar geometry I used to suggest the convention of 'Equator facing' to look toward the sun - this deals with both hemispheres. Now that just leaves the people on the Equator having to look both ways and up ;-)) On Friday, September 26, 2003, at 10:35 PM, Fred Sawyer wrote: Simply because dialists tend to look south towards the sun - with hour angle and azimuth calculated from the sun's meridian position. At this point we don't have any definite plans for a new version of the program. If we do an update, Best regards John Hall 41.5 South 147.1 East
Re: Dialist's Companion
Thank you for the description, Fred. However, somehow I felt knew this already, so I must have been in the program somewhere. When in the main screen, hit F1; then, select Dates and Times. Ah! _That's_ where I've got it from. great program, that... thank you Fred, and Bob. Rudolf - Original Message - From: Fred Sawyer To: Sundial List Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 9:11 PM Subject: Dialist's Companion In a recent response to John Carmichael, I referred to some capabilities of the Dialist's Companion program. It seems that a number of people where unaware of these features. After checking the Help page, I discovered that we evidently did not document them - so no wonder that they are still a bit mysterious. This will give a little more detail: (...)
Re: Gnomons and screws
Hi Mike, I've had responses that indicate that Melville used a variety of methods to attach gnomons, from leading them in, fitting them with "flanges" underneath to the twisted tenons that you mentioned. No 2BA screws, though! So I am convinced that the ones on the Dunmore (Ireland) dial are replacements. If you have a picture of the actual shape of an authentic Melville gnomon, that would be useful - thanks for offering. (I have the one of the Salisbury dial that Nick Nicholls published in 1995). Otherwise, we will just re-fit the existing replacements which are acually quite reasonable. Regards, John -- Dr J R Davis Flowton Dials N52d 08m: E1d 05m -
Re: Dialist's Companion
Simply because dialists tend to look south towards the sun - with hour angle and azimuth calculated from the sun's meridian position. At this point we don't have any definite plans for a new version of the program. If we do an update, we'll consider that option. Fred - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 1:39 AM Subject: Re: Dialist's Companion Why is the sun's azimuth shown as 180 degrees east or west of south, when my Astro Compass and I daresay navigators work in 360 degrees from north ? Can the Dialist Compansion show both. Message date : Sep 25 2003, 08:15 PM From : Fred Sawyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To : Sundial List Copy to : Subject : Dialist's Companion In a recent response to John Carmichael, I referred to some capabilities of the Dialist's Companion program. It seems that a number of people where unaware of these features. After checking the Help page, I discovered that we evidently did not document them - so no wonder that they are still a bit mysterious. This will give a little more detail: If you are at the main page of the Dialist's Companion, you can toggle the clock on and off by hitting the End key (part of the home, end, PgUp, PgDn, and arrow keys arrangement). Notice the small box just to the left of the Julian Date on the screen; once you have hit the End key, the rotating line in this box changes to a V - for virtual mode. When in this mode, the clock is off. You can set the date, latitude, etc. as usual, using the D, T, O keys - or you can change the date and time by using the PgUp, PgDn, Ins, Del and arrow keys to step your way through the hours and days. Note that with each change in time or date, all the values are recalculated and remain on the screen until you change the time again. This makes working with calculations much easier. size=2> To start the clock up again, hit End. Note that the clock progresses again as before - but it picks up where you left off in the calculator mode. So you can mimic the clock's functioning at any time of the day or year. The box to the left of the Julian Date will still show V, meaning you are still in virtual - not real, current mode. To change back to current mode, press Home - this brings you back home to the real world and synchronizes the software with your computer's clock/calendar. Note that the box now changes from V to the rotating line/arrow you are familiar with. Be sure to have the clock going when you hit Home - otherwise the program synchronizes with the clock for only a split second - the clock continues but if you have the program still in calculator mode, it will not change. size=2> I hope this helps - and perhaps uncovers capabilities that you didn't know the program had. size=2> Fred Sawyer
Re: Re: Dialist's Companion
Rene Vinck of Antwerp, Belgium has written about using an Astro Compass for finding wall declination in the current Volume 10 of the NASS Compendium. The dialist's Companion would be so very useful to all those folk using these accurate instruments if it showed the sun's azimuth in 360 degrees from north, thereby avoiding errors that could creep in by converting from 180 degrees E or W of south to 360 degrees. Perhaps both could be shown to extend this very useful program, well done to those who created it ! Does anybody else agree with me ? Regards and best wishes to all those that contribute to the sundial list. David. Newbury UK. Message date : Sep 26 2003, 08:35 AM From : Thibaud Taudin-Chabot <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To : sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de Copy to : Subject : Re: Dialist's Companion A navigator is not a dialist.A navigator always wants to know where the North is, that is why North is upon your maps.A dialist looks always to the South and is turning left or right from that direction.ThibaudAt 07:39 26-09-2003, you wrote: Why is the sun's azimuth shown as 180 degrees east or west of south, when my Astro Compass and I daresay navigators work in 360 degrees from north ?Can the Dialist Compansion show both. Message date : Sep 25 2003, 08:15 PM From : Fred Sawyer To : Sundial List Copy to : Subject : Dialist's Companion In a recent response to John Carmichael, I referred to some capabilities of the Dialist's Companion program. It seems that a number of people where unaware of these features. After checking the Help page, I discovered that we evidently did not document them - so no wonder that they are still a bit mysterious. This will give a little more detail: If you are at the main page of the Dialist's Companion, you can toggle the clock on and off by hitting the End key (part of the home, end, PgUp, PgDn, and arrow keys arrangement). Notice the small box just to the left of the Julian Date on the screen; once you have hit the End key, the rotating line in this box changes to a V - for virtual mode. When in this mode, the clock is off. You can set the date, latitude, etc. as usual, using the D, T, O keys - or you can change the date and time by using the PgUp, PgDn, Ins, Del and arrow keys to step your way through the hours and days. Note that with each change in time or date, all the values are recalculated and remain on the screen until you change the time again. This makes working with calculations much easier. size=2> To start the clock up again, hit End. Note that the clock progresses again as before - but it picks up where you left off in the calculator mode. So you can mimic the clock's functioning at any time of the day or year. The box to the left of the Julian Date will still show V, meaning you are still in virtual - not real, current mode. To change back to current mode, press Home - this brings you back home to the real world and synchronizes the software with your computer's clock/calendar. Note that the box now changes from V to the rotating line/arrow you are familiar with. Be sure to have the clock going when you hit Home - otherwise the program synchronizes with the clock for only a split second - the clock continues but if you have the program still in calculator mode, it will not change. size=2> I hope this helps - and perhaps uncovers capabilities that you didn't know the program had. size=2> Fred Sawyer
Re: Dialist's Companion
A navigator is not a dialist. A navigator always wants to know where the North is, that is why North is upon your maps. A dialist looks always to the South and is turning left or right from that direction. Thibaud At 07:39 26-09-2003, you wrote: Why is the sun's azimuth shown as 180 degrees east or west of south, when my Astro Compass and I daresay navigators work in 360 degrees from north ? Can the Dialist Compansion show both. Message date : Sep 25 2003, 08:15 PM From : Fred Sawyer To : Sundial List Copy to : Subject : Dialist's Companion In a recent response to John Carmichael, I referred to some capabilities of the Dialist's Companion program. It seems that a number of people where unaware of these features. After checking the Help page, I discovered that we evidently did not document them - so no wonder that they are still a bit mysterious. This will give a little more detail: If you are at the main page of the Dialist's Companion, you can toggle the clock on and off by hitting the End key (part of the home, end, PgUp, PgDn, and arrow keys arrangement). Notice the small box just to the left of the Julian Date on the screen; once you have hit the End key, the rotating line in this box changes to a V - for virtual mode. When in this mode, the clock is off. You can set the date, latitude, etc. as usual, using the D, T, O keys - or you can change the date and time by using the PgUp, PgDn, Ins, Del and arrow keys to step your way through the hours and days. Note that with each change in time or date, all the values are recalculated and remain on the screen until you change the time again. This makes working with calculations much easier. size=2> To start the clock up again, hit End. Note that the clock progresses again as before - but it picks up where you left off in the calculator mode. So you can mimic the clock's functioning at any time of the day or year. The box to the left of the Julian Date will still show V, meaning you are still in virtual - not real, current mode. To change back to current mode, press Home - this brings you back home to the real world and synchronizes the software with your computer's clock/calendar. Note that the box now changes from V to the rotating line/arrow you are familiar with. Be sure to have the clock going when you hit Home - otherwise the program synchronizes with the clock for only a split second - the clock continues but if you have the program still in calculator mode, it will not change. size=2> I hope this helps - and perhaps uncovers capabilities that you didn't know the program had. size=2> Fred Sawyer
Re: Dialist's Companion
Can the Dialist Compansion show both. Message date : Sep 25 2003, 08:15 PM From : Fred Sawyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To : Sundial List Copy to : Subject : Dialist's Companion In a recent response to John Carmichael, I referred to some capabilities of the Dialist's Companion program. It seems that a number of people where unaware of these features. After checking the Help page, I discovered that we evidently did not document them - so no wonder that they are still a bit mysterious. This will give a little more detail: If you are at the main page of the Dialist's Companion, you can toggle the clock on and off by hitting the End key (part of the home, end, PgUp, PgDn, and arrow keys arrangement). Notice the small box just to the left of the Julian Date on the screen; once you have hit the End key, the rotating line in this box changes to a V - for virtual mode. When in this mode, the clock is off. You can set the date, latitude, etc. as usual, using the D, T, O keys - or you can change the date and time by using the PgUp, PgDn, Ins, Del and arrow keys to step your way through the hours and days. Note that with each change in time or date, all the values are recalculated and remain on the screen until you change the time again. This makes working with calculations much easier. size=2> To start the clock up again, hit End. Note that the clock progresses again as before - but it picks up where you left off in the calculator mode. So you can mimic the clock's functioning at any time of the day or year. The box to the left of the Julian Date will still show V, meaning you are still in virtual - not real, current mode. To change back to current mode, press Home - this brings you back home to the real world and synchronizes the software with your computer's clock/calendar. Note that the box now changes from V to the rotating line/arrow you are familiar with. Be sure to have the clock going when you hit Home - otherwise the program synchronizes with the clock for only a split second - the clock continues but if you have the program still in calculator mode, it will not change. size=2> I hope this helps - and perhaps uncovers capabilities that you didn't know the program had. size=2> Fred Sawyer
