I figured the sign thing out just a few minutes ago and was turning to PerlMonks to post my stupidity when I saw that you had figured it out ahead of me. The rhythmic thumping sound you hear in the background is me pounding my head against my desk.

V&H is VERY US centric. It's a Ma Bell invention from the late 50's when they were THE telephone monopoly. My guess is they were throwing in their own obfuscation to keep themselves a monopoly. BTW, if you go here, you'll see a map showing the V&H grid system. Note the relationship of the grid to a North-South axis and how the origin of the grid is upper-right as opposed to the normal lower-left. Add to that the fact that the paper describing the V&H system and the conversion to/from Lat/Lon is 109 freaking pages long and I don't think clarity and ease of use were primary considerations.

Anyway, thank you VERY much for your module and your help. You've been a life saver.

Jack