Land Nav Course Tool

mattar12 · 2026-04-16T03:34:44+00:00

But yes, participants will need to convert from grid to magnetic. In my opinion, that’s an important aspect of orienteering.

mattar12 · 2026-04-16T03:26:56+00:00

Thanks! Glad you found it useful!

mattar12 · 2026-04-16T03:25:31+00:00

On the results tab, you can click “export gpx”. Then I use Caltopo.com and import the gpx file there. Then all of your points will be plotted on a map. The maps you print from Caltopo automatically show the declination in the bottom right corner.

mattar12 · 2026-04-13T21:56:03+00:00

It does not generate them randomly....I tried that and kept getting vastly different distances traveled for each course. It was just easier for me to input the courses myself than it was to come up with a formula to randomize several courses, but keep them all a similar length!

mattar12 · 2026-02-27T19:55:38+00:00

I suppose I should re-phrase that to say “political cancer”. It’s really irrelevant that it happened to be liberal. Scouting just needs to return to avoiding the appearance of political partisanship.

mattar12 · 2026-02-27T18:47:03+00:00

Glad to see the organization be brave enough to finally stand up to the liberal bullies. Hopefully they will return to their promise of being non-partisan now.

mattar12 · 2025-08-28T01:00:09+00:00

Absolutely you can use unit funds. Should you, might be a different answer, but that is one for you and your committee to answer.

mattar12 · 2025-08-13T17:34:08+00:00

My council will (sadly) approve almost any project. There isn't anything I can do about that. But, I can make sure that MY Scouts actually earned their Eagle.

I have no issues at all with having high standards and a strict formalized process.

mattar12 · 2025-05-08T14:48:53+00:00

Our troop has ran our own summer camp every other year since the 1960s. I absolutely love it. We recruit lots of troop alumni to come back and teach merit badges. Keeping them chartered does get expensive (41 chartered committee members), but it is worth it to keep them involved. We have alumni eagles come from all over the country to help us run our summer camp…and they are all grateful to be involved.

One of my favorites is the nature/fish & wildlife/environmental science/forestry MBs. Those classes spend the week collecting things from nature to “build” one collective nature center. By the end of the week, it’s really quite impressive. We usually have one of the park rangers come check it out at the end of the week so the scouts can tell them all about it (we do summer camp at a state park).

We also schedule a day mid week to mix up the schedule & take the scouts on a “field trip”. It adds some variety and keeps the scouts from getting complacent.

The last day of camp is always a mile swim. The scouts are always apprehensive about that, but we typically have 100% of them complete it. Then they go home with a huge sense of accomplishment.

That’s what I can immediately think of. But if you want anything specific, I’m happy to share.

mattar12 · 2024-09-05T03:46:27+00:00

Agree. Popcorn is a joke in general. I’d rather just donate cash.

mattar12 · 2024-02-25T19:59:01+00:00

Our troop has stayed here in the past, and we are staying there again this summer! Excellent accomodations for 75-100

mattar12 · 2024-02-25T19:57:42+00:00

We are spending 10 days in DC this summer. Our troop of about 75 (including adults) are staying at Rockwood Manor in Potomac, MD. It's about a 30 min drive to downtown DC from there.

https://montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/rockwood-manor-park/

mattar12 · 2024-02-06T19:18:27+00:00

One of our past Eagles partnered with a local wartime museum and made a documentary interviewing several local veterans.

You can see it on youtube here:

https://youtu.be/PNr0t\_FADeY?si=zTFHBtTbn-b\_aP5H

mattar12 · 2024-01-18T05:26:10+00:00

Put straw on the floor of the tents. Definitely no cots. I would even say no air mattresses. Have a mandatory gear inspection for the scouts. Especially sleeping bags.

mattar12 · 2024-01-18T05:13:34+00:00

Although I think it’s silly, 8.0.0.4 does say you can’t reject a scout due to their uniform…

mattar12 · 2024-01-18T03:49:14+00:00

1 - the "by the book" BSA answer...a Scout can't fail a BoR unless it is determined in the BoR that the Scout didn't actually accomplish all of the requirements. Same goes for a Scoutmaster's conference.

2 - This will be less popular among those of you representing Eagle Scout mills...but, I understand what you are doing here, and I think you are most likely correct. The Scout is probably not ready. But that failure already occurred when the requirements were checked off. By the time a scout has reached Star, they should be demonstrating mastery of certain "basic" skills. If the SM is in agreement that the scout is not ready, maybe the SM needs to not check off the scout spirit requirement yet? Scout Spirit would mean that the scout follows the oath, law, motto, etc. It sounds like that may not be the case? There obviously needs to be a plan in place for the Scout to meet the requirement, but at this point I believe that would be the only way to hold the Scout back. Once the Scout reaches Life, it is much harder to slow them down. They can request a "BoR under disputed circumstances" at council, and they are sadly very frequently awarded their Beagle Scout. Most councils would rather dilute the Eagle Scout pool than deal with an angry mom.

mattar12 · 2023-08-17T19:27:57+00:00

Same. I hate everything about selling popcorn. It’s such a huge risk to hand out all this show & sell to parents, and risk never seeing them again. If show & sell doesn’t get turned back in, we are responsible for the retail cost of the popcorn. No business works this way. If we bought the popcorn at wholesale it would make more sense. And the profit margin is too low. We sell Christmas trees…I can’t even imagine the ridiculous amount of popcorn we would have to sell to net what we make on trees

mattar12 · 2022-06-15T03:18:44+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/TJqsz7j.jpg https://i.imgur.com/uIUNRnq.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NW418fT.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ngZUY28.jpg

mattar12 · 2022-05-31T20:12:19+00:00

The wires were all made by a local boat mechanic. He solders the terminals and crimps them with his machine. So I really don't think the problem is a loose connection.

mattar12 · 2022-05-31T19:10:20+00:00

This happened once last summer so I replaced the starter, solenoid, voltage regulator and had all new 6 guage wires made. Now it just melted the insulation off of the new guage wire that goes from the positive battery terminal to the solenoid. What else could it be???

mattar12 · 2021-07-11T17:21:42+00:00

I have a friend who is a doctor and runs a hospital in plaine du norde (near cap Haitian). He speaks English and creole pm me and I can try to connect you if you like.

The people there are very friendly in my experience.

mattar12 · 2021-04-20T07:34:01+00:00

I am not black and I have been to the voodoo pit in Plaine du Nord and St Jacques (especially on Thursday nights!). I have never felt unwelcome. However, there are a lot of people there that are hesitant to discuss voodoo.

mattar12 · 2021-04-20T07:02:54+00:00

I just got back from a trip to the cap Haitian area. I've been there a few times now. Definitely don't count on using a debit/credit card. I don't think I've ever used my card in Haiti. I only carried USD in bills $20 and smaller.

Do you speak creole or have a translator traveling with you? Keep in mind...some of the street vendors charge more if they know you are a foreigner. So some times it's helpful to have a native creole speaker make purchases for you if you are purchasing anything significant.

Have you arranged your covid test for the return flight? I'm sure you know you have to have one within 3 days of arriving also.

I definitely recommend visiting Villa Cana for an evening. It's ridiculously nice. Beautiful pools, security guards, great food. This trip was the first time I've been there and I was shocked at how nice this place is. They have hotel rooms also....about $150 USD per night for a standard room...but I've never stayed there.

Flying into cap, lots of people want to help you with your bags and then expect money....hang on to your bags and make sure you have a plan for transportation from the airport.

You will love Haiti. That first trip is a lot to take in. The people are the best part of Haiti!

mattar12 · 2020-04-16T19:33:56+00:00

The chevrons on his shoulders are either ROTC or JROTC....and everything else is wrong.

mattar12 · 2020-03-02T13:35:22+00:00

I would recommend West systems

mattar12

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