Just a couple of comments:

The way the monitor *responds* to magnetic fields is obviously
no different in the northern hemisphere than in the southern
hemisphere.

One aspect of the magnetic field, however, is different.

The earth's magnetic field has both a horizontal and
vertical component.  (The vertical component becomes
more pronounced near the magnetic poles.)  You can
picture this by just thinking of the earth as a giant
bar magnet.

In the northern hemisphere, the vertical component
points down, causing the picture on the screen to
deflect slightly to the viewer's left.  In the southern
hemisphere, it points up, and causes a deflection
to the right.  If you turned both the monitor and the
viewer on their heads, the deflections would switch
to being to the viewer's right and left, respectively.

So technically, there is some hemisphere effect on
the monitor.

However, it's really no different than the effect you get
from the horizontal component of the earth's magnetic
field, whose effect changes as you change the way
the monitor faces, pointing it, say, first northward, then
eastward, and so on.

And in addition, the shielding effect of steel is strong enough
that the magnetic field near a steel-clad fire door or a
sheet-steel table top can differ a lot from the earth's
nominal magnetic field.

So yes, there is an extra little bit going on when you move
from one hemisphere to the other, but it's part of the same
overall story.  The notion that you would have to build special
versions of monitors, or tune the monitors differently for use
in the southern vs. northern hemisphere would imply that
you would also have to build special versions of monitors to
sit on steel tables or be west-facing rather than east-facing.


"Dr. Dean Kukral" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ...
> My interpretation of the
> answer is that there is some inherent difference in the way the
> monitor responds to the magnetic field in the different hemispheres.
> I still say that this is nonsense.  Assuming a uniform latitude-dependent
> magnetic field, I do not see how a monitor facing East at the same
> latitude (N or S) of the Equator will perform any differently.  The
> external magnetic field will "appear" exactly the same to the monitor
> in either position.  There should be no "tilt" in the picture that requires
> adjustment.
>
> Furthermore, the comment not to despair if you are planning to travel
> also seems ridiculous.  Turning the monitor around on your desk should
> have more effect than  a latitude change (within reason, of course - a
> move to near a Pole might have a big effect).

     Frank R.Brown
     Frank.R.Brown@MailAndNews

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