Ortovox S1 Avalanche Transciever Calibration

Ortovox S1…Ready to Calibrate!

As many of you who own altimeter watches know, digital compasses often need calibrating, and the same goes for the new-school, signal separating digital avalanche transceivers on the market today. The internal compasses in these units help navigate you smoothly to transmitting beacons and should be calibrated every time you change the batteries, travel far away from home and I’ve even heard that big temperature fluctuations can be a reason to recalibrate. In most units, you will only be prompted to go through the calibration process when you change batteries, so you have to manually go through the menus to activate the calibration mode if you choose to do so any other time.   Here’s how you do it with the Ortovox S1.

Finding the calibration mode on the S1 is easy. After pressing the menu button, and then scrolling down to and selecting the wrench, or “tools’ icon, you then scroll to the calibration icon. By selecting the calibration icon, the S1 then brings you to a confirmation screen where you can proceed with the calibration process or bail, because you are afraid of technology. It is recommended that you calibrate the S1 on a wood surface, away from computers or electronics, and away from any large magnets you might have laying around the house.

After choosing to recalibrate, the first step is to rotate the S1 360°,
LCD screen facing up, on a wood surface and away from
computers and other electronics or strong magnets.

Things move relatively quickly from here, and first, you slowly rotate the S1 360 degrees with the LCD screen facing up, until you are then prompted to flip it over. Proceed to flip the unit over (battery compartment facing up) and let it sit stationary until you hear a beep. Flip it over again (LCD screen facing up), wait for a beep…and you’re done! Happy searching!