JamesJM
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Posts posted by JamesJM
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this is tough for anyone to answer for you.
I did a check with Mapsource topo. I started clicking maps to see when I'd reach 8mb.
think of a rectangle around Seattle with these dimensions.....North to EVERETT......East to Cashmere.....South to Olympia (a little further south than Olympia)...and west to the coastline. This rectangle took 8mb....7.7mb to be exact.
Maybe that will give you an idea. - JamesJM
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Not an answer to your question..just a comment.
I'm a farmer, or was, with many parcels. I decided one day to check my Vista with the recorded deeds. I chose a small parcel to begin with....21.13 acres deeded.
I walked the route and when I completed it my Vista showed 21.13 acres! Dead on the money. Now....I do NOT think that is likely to occur again...but I was impressed.
I checked a couple other fields, (parcels), one 155.51 acres deeded the other 80.1 acres deeded. I didn't get a spot on match for either and I don't recall the exact acreages my Vista came up with but I do know that the difference was no more than .02 for either.
Amazing devices. - JamesJM
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IN ALL, YOU MUST CARY A MAP AND COMPASS WHEN HIKING FOR A BARE MINIMUM!!!
I never carry a map. I don't have maps in the GPS either. The GPS in itself is perfectly enough (just mark your starting point), even a compass is unnecessary (although it can help). If you get lost with a GPS in your hand then probably you have not yet learned how to use it. Of course, if the GPS fails that can be a problem.
One of the thrills in geocaching or hiking with a GPS is that you don't need a map, you don't have to follow any trails and still you will never get lost.
Well, this is true...to a degree.
Nevertheless....an accurate topo map, for those who can read them well, draws you a picture of your surrounding area better than ANYTHING. A 'good' topo will allow the reader to understand not only his position but how it relates to the geographic area he/she happens to be in.....and for a hiker, which I am, this has ENORMOUS value. If you stick to the trails then....well, maybe not....but if you ever venture away from the trail then most definitely so. - JamesJM
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This is *NOT* a gripe. if you read it that way...you're weird.
Just had my 3rd 'missing cache report (different caches), within a month. <sigh>
I archived all three. Each had gone missing and had to be replaced a couple of times, at least, within the last few months.
don't know where they went, maybe 'muggles', although for a couple that would surprise me as they were VERY well hidden.
So what I discovered is...I'm not up to being a 'hider'. Too much work. WHICH... makes me marvel and appreciate those who ARE all the more.
Yes, I know..."Good thing you're out of the 'hiding' business'. <smile> Yeah, I agree.
But ya know, it IS a hard job. I have discovered that even the BEST hidden caches can disappear for whatever reason.
Sooo, to those who have the energy and fortitude to keep hiding and "MAINTAINING" all these little treasures we others seek.......a tip of my hat. - JamesJM
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Yes. Using various software made for PDA's you can basically see the web page for individual caches exactly as you would on your PC.
You can also use mapping, once again many software programs. You can mark geocaches on the maps, navigate to the geocaches, read about the caches, make notes regarding your finds, and then use all that info to help log your finds when you once again access the site. - JamesJM
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Hmmmm.... the new 60CS seems to hold from 15 ft to as good as 7 feet for me. I am AMAZED at just how good it seems. Very repeatable walking around the park too. I am sooooo glad I upgraded from the Vista!
Ya know, the REAL truth is that they are all precisely the blessed same. From the EBAY $2.37 model to the 60 umphmfft, what is it? C something?
Of course, we don't all have a dog the size of a small moose to back us up....so, ya know, I agree with you. - JamesJM
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You should have gotten a Garmin. They are only off by 19-29 feet.
I have a Garmin, and I beg to differ. 18.67 to 31.33 is more like it. Oh, wait, I have a Vista, maybe that's it. Besides, my stupid Vista has NEVER gotten "north" right once. - JamesJM
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I have never owned a TB, or rather, I do, but I just got them and the first hasn't even begun its journey as yet.
But the first I ever found came about very quickly after I discovered and began geocaching, within a month or so.
I was excited. WOW. Did everything I could to fulfill its quest. THEN...I watched it. Been watching to to this day, nearly a year later.
Tonight I checked and its gone, history. The last cache it was placed in was stolen. the TB is gone.
Now that just struck me as incredibly sad. Really. I mean, I knew it was likely to fail. Having read the board for a nearly a year since finding that TB I knew the chances for any TB's success was next to nil but still......I took it hard.
I'm going to miss that TB. A big part of my 'geocaching experience' went with that Bug. - JamesJM
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Tomorrow, April 6, is my 1 year anniversary of geocaching.
You beat me by about two weeks.
Seems longer than a year to me, for some reason. When I think back to that guy out meandering around, stumbling over rock clods, cursing the hider, and all the while soiling my Nehru jacket and scuffing the soles of my platform shoes.....(uhh, I think I regressed a bit too far), anyway...seems a long time ago. - JamesJM
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Umm, I'm very new to geocaching and am not a computer pro, should I wait to worry about this program, or will it help me in my new hobie now? thanks all.
Pete
that's a very good question. Shunra may be right.
If GSAK cost anything I'd say hold off...make sure you like this activity AND that you want to get more involved technically.
but GSAK is free, and frankly 'playing' with my database, mapping, etc., has increased my fondness for Geocaching a great deal. I can always find some new and entertaining way to relive cache hunts, explore other caches, plan excursions...whatever and all while sitting in my comfy chair ignoring another night of horrid HBO reruns.
- JamesJM
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my pda actually runs usb, so i know this isn't the problem, but thanks for trying
Doug
Just for the sake of double checking...my PDA ALSO synchs via USB but it STILL ties up comm port 1 if I allow it too. With ActiveSynch I have to choose to disallow the PDA access to the comm port even if it's not using it and synching with USB. - JamesJM
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Having backpacked through some of the worst mosquito country on earth...thick enough to blind you, I have discovered that there is Deet and then...nothing else.
Oh some stuff MIGHT slightly repel skeeters and such but only Deet will keep them off.
I use it at 100% as well....but don't go by me, I do it for the andrenalin rush. I also smoke the occasional cigar and have been known to chow down greasy burgers as well...I live life on the edge. - JamesJM
P.S. Deet is definitely NOT for children.
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I'd hire Clyde and have him keep me current on software and hardware. I hate reading manuals and if he was on my payroll I could ask him anything with him knowing that if he replied "read the manual" I would fire his butt. - JamesJM
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s'allright -- still love you guys dearly though! 
Without men, there would be no maps -- only men could devise something where an inch is equal to a mile.....
(normally, I'm not this on top of things with the jokes. You just caught me on a good day
)Bec
(perhaps it's obvious from my comments this evening, I'm still single....
) Wow, Greyhounder hit the ground running with this one huh?
Good job Greyhounder, I'm proud of ya.
- JamesJM ("Abject Silliness" virgin)
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Ok, this might be dumb and I may not be understanding the problem right...but...
Do you have EasyGPS open when you click download? It must be open. Then click OPEN, & OPEN again. - JamesJM
P.S. EDIT...or at least with the older version of EasyGPS on my computer. This happened to me when I first got EasyGPS but is no longer the case.
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True many things can cause interference.
If it's any consolation, and hopefully this isn't just MY experience, I have rarely been further than 15' from a cache even when my GPS, a Vista, is reporting 60' accuracy. Often I'm dead on the cache when the accuracy reads no better than 35' or so. - JamesJM
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Women are better at it than us men. Faster too, at least on rural caches. Men lose a lot of time marking our territory. - JamesJM
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How much memory is required to load the streets for a large city like Charlotte, NC. How much for the whole state?
This is just an estimate but it's close.
The whole state of NC would be around 35-40mb with Mapsource topo.
Charlotte about 750kb but that covers an area quite a bit larger than just Charlotte itself. There is not way to limit it to just the city with Mapsource Topo.
If roads are of primary importance to you some of the other Mapsource products, (other than topo), would be of better use. - JamesJM
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I have no idea. But my personal experience - meaning - people who have found caches I have hidden and found caches I have found that I have sort of come to know because their names show up often...
would indicate that I, with about 150 finds, would represent fewer finds than most but not by a lot. I'd guess 60% of those of whom I have some knowledge of their stats have more finds than I do.
I'd also guess that my experience is no where near what that % would be over all of geocaching.
- JamesJM -
For some reason all my cache information has vanished from GPXsonar on mypocket PC. I have been using ot for about a month. I have tried all the filter adjuments, re config. of filters,I even unintalled and re loaded gp sonar, then re loded pocket quaries and I still can not get the cache informatin displayed.
This could be a problem discussed here recently - the info isn't gone it's just that the columns have been resized to squeeze them all over on the left side of the display.
Try clicking over on the left of the column headers and resizing by dragging to the right. - JamesJM
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I have 142 hides. 35 of those have since been archived. The hardest part about maintaining caches is that it usually takes up valuable caching time.
Around here, the cachers are pretty nice and will often do minor maintenance for the hider so that helps. All in all, it isn't a huge effort to keep them active. Of course, the closer to home, the easier it is to maintain them.--Marky
That's a very good point. Geocachers here do the same. It's very common for me to read logs wherein a finder did some maintenance to a cache.
So much so that after just a couple of finds I stocked my caching bag with many materials I could use to repair caches. Zip-locks, new logs, pens, etc.
Even so I have come across a few I was unable to repair but the owners are usually quick to make repairs once notified. - JamesJM
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Wow, you mean I can spit out the crow from last time and try some real meat?
I feel better knowing I brought up something that wasn't a stupid mistake on my part.
Gary
Fret not, Gary - I'll carry the stupidity torch in your stead.
congrats on your advancement to 'worthy contributor' but don't forgot us little folk ok?
- JamesJM -
Brand new user, just purchased Garmin 60CS, with Mapsourse Metroguide usa, and Topo. Two questions:
1. Can you just enter Lat/Lon Cooridinates into 60CS? and How?
2. Can I download Geocache file into Mapsourse and then download locations inot my 60CS.
These probable seem ultra simple questions, but nowhere on the web sites, nor documentation is there any help. Thanks
You can download Geocache files into Mapsource and then to your GPS but there is a conversion process.
I know GPSBabel can do it, probably many others, but I recommend and use GSAK. Download your GPX files from the geocaching site into GSAK and then EXPORT them into a Mapsource file. From Mapsource you can then load them onto your GPS.
Of course, you can also load waypoints into your GPS directly from GSAK. I do a few from Mapsource that are not geocache waypoints but that's because I haven't taken the time as yet to load these 'other' waypoints into GSAK, which is possible now. - JamesJM
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I own the Vista. If I only used my GPS for geocaching, or short trips, I would say the Legend is quite good enough.
As a backpacker who occasionally takes long treks the altimeter and electronic compass are very nice to have. In geocaching I don't think I have ever used either although I suppose some probably do.
The memory should be fine with the Legend. With my vista I can load far more area than I could ever cover in a day so I would assume the Legend with 1/3 of the memory would be plenty unless you're going cross country. - JamesJM
s'allright -- still love you guys dearly though! 
- JamesJM
Around here, the cachers are pretty nice and will often do minor maintenance for the hider so that helps. All in all, it isn't a huge effort to keep them active. Of course, the closer to home, the easier it is to maintain them.
Caching In Foreign Countries
in How do I...?
Posted
altavista.com has a translation site.
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
You can translate the entire webpage. - JamesJM