ziggy2000

Here is #4 just before we placed it in it's new home! Retreived on our way north from STL last week, near Hannibal MO. We put it in a fairly easy one, so it should be moving on soon! ziggy2000 P.S. The good-looking one is molly07, my geopartner...

I read earlier in this thread that v4 supports multiple finds for a single cache, as in an event that allows you multiple finds. How does this work? My found count seems to be off by exactly this amount. Also, I'm requesting an addition to the "macro" automation list... I use Street Atlas as my nav & mapping program. GSAK does a GREAT job of exporting the txt files I need for this, but I don't see it listed under the "Export" type options in the "Automating GSAK" section. Great program, you'll be getting my registration soon!!! Marty

I had Cache mate working on an old Palm 515 til I got tired of LONG import times. I'm sure it will work on a zire 21 - not sure what the color pictures you speak of were all about, cachemate is primarily a text-based database. Try it, I'm sure you'll like it! With the CacheNav plugin and a bluetooth GPS on a Tungsten T, it's unbeatable! I'm gonna throw my eTrex Legend in the trash!!! Uhhh.... well... maybe not....

Hmmmm... now that I look, it's been a while since I checked out GSAK, and now it looks like it may output just about everything I need. Here is my mindset: I have 3 groups of caches that I want to keep track of; found (anywhere); not found (within a radius of my home location); and events that may be nearby. I have pocket queries set up for each of these, so I get 3 files twice a week. These need to go to several locations, each of which has it's unique requirements: 1) My Garmin eTrex Legend. Duh. 2) Palm Tungsten T. Plucker and CacheMate are both here, and as I mentioned before I'm waffling between them. This is also the destination for some other critical files listed below. 3) DeLorme Street Atlas/Topo on desktop/notebook. Here's some fun! Importing cache locations on a draw layer lets you add them to a route. You can input a geocaching outing ahead of time and let the software plan the trip. OK, it's not foolproof, but darn close. Even if not planning a route, you can see where caches are located, and the road/trail system around them. I use this for in-car navigation with my notebook, and hope to expand it to my Tungsten PDA with DeLorme's export facility and a bluetooth GPS. So far, so good! Looks like GSAK can do all of these, I'll be testing how it works for my purposes very soon. Hope the filters are easy The comment about finding what works best for you is so true - I encourage all to experiment with the wonderful tools that are out there, and support the ones that help you the most!!! Marty

This is all very cool stuff! I have a Tungsten T that I've been using for a while now, and waffling between Cachemate and the Spinner/Plucker stuff. Cachemate is a very nice program, with the editable database features and all. I paid my $7 and happy to do it. But mostly I use my Palm for checking previous logs, hints, and directions to the cache. For this Plucker is most adequate. I save my logging until I get home, because, really, is there anyone who sits there by the cache and enters all that stuff with Grafitti just so they can cut/paste it into the log when they connect??? I find it much easier to save the logging for when I'm sitting in front of my machine in cool air conditioning with no maskittaz feasting on me, typing clumsily away rather than trying to remember arcane stylus strokes for command shortcuts. With the Tungsten I can record a short voice memo while walking out to remember the took/left info, and a time stamp is automatically generated for that. Done. With Cachemate I'm always frogetting to set the start/end times, and really that's not important enough to me to go back and edit the database. To each his/her own!

There IS an option in Plucker that will allow you to DL the pictures with the cache page! Warning: This will vastly increase the filesize of the plucker file and the time required to update the "channel" in plucker. It also involved installing some additional image conversion software (ImageMagick) and tweaking the plucker.ini file. There are instructions on how to do this on the Plucker homepage. This option is NOT for the faint of heart or impatient! I'm using it with Spinner/Plucker on my Tungsten T and it is quite nice! I'll admit I do have a large query file (over 500 caches) and if you were selective about your pocket queries it would probably be much easier to manage. I don't think Cachemate offers this option (though it would be nice... hint hint...) and I'm investigating the html possibilities with GSAK. Stay tuned...

I have been using Utopia to FLAWLESSLY export GPX files to Street Atlas 2003/2004 - and then use the routing function to set up a geocaching trip with a few right clicks. I have only recently begun to appreciate the links to USGS photo imagery... AMAZING...

1. Garmin eTrex Legend, closing in on 100 finds with this flawless performer! 2. Paperless for the most part, I usually only print the pages out if it's a complicated multi and needs calculations/clues done. My first PDA was an old Palm m105 that I paid a whopping 9 bucks for, and it worked great with the gpx2html/Plucker combo! I recently upgraded to a Tungsten T (also used) which gave me color, more memory, etc., and I've been using CacheMate as well. I like using the PDA for hints and clues that may be in previous logs! (I can also use it to create a quick voice memo at the cache to record the trade items!) For in-car navigation I have a HP laptop running DeLorme Street Atlas with the eTrex connected via serial cable. I love the voice nav capability of Street Atlas! I can use Utopia to create map objects from my GPX files and import them into Street Atlas, then use the routing capability to plan the trip. Once I drive as close as I can to the cache location I unhook the eTrex and hoof it in to the treasure. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close! I have a Bluetooth dongle for the laptop so it can talk to the PDA, right now that's mostly used for hot syncing, but it's the perfect segue to... 3. My next upgrade will be a Bluetooth GPS unit that can talk directly to the tungsten and laptop without cables. I don't think it will replace the eTrex, and I don't think the PDA will totally replace the laptop, but I'm eager to do some experimenting! Marty

You're running an older OS. TomTom apps will not run on OS5, and their site states quite clearly that they do not plan to support it. On my Tungsten, the older TomTom Palm programs cause it to crash.

Thanks, Maeglin, I thought that might be the case since I read about "ealier OS's" in the readme. I'm running it on an OLD Palm m105, the OS is 3.5, which may be as high as I can go... Perhaps it's time to upgrade! Thanks for the tip on scrolling, too!

I just bought & installed the regged version and it looks like a great value. However I can't seem to successfully search by waypoint ID. I enter the ID in the "Find" function, but don't get any results. Searching by name seems to work fine, it's just the GCXXXX waypoint searches that don't work. I have tried with both sort options, no luck. What am I doing wrong???

I've been having tremendous luck with an even older palm, a m105 that I ended up paying exactly $9 for - long story, but a good deal! I don't have a need for a high-powered handheld, so this one serves well. Lo-res and no color, but it does the trick! I use GPX2HTML and Plucker - haven't worked much with Spinner cuz I like the fact that GPX2HTML doesn't need to be online to do its thing. You can search by waypoint designation or alphabetically by cache name, and also show the list sorted by distance from a reference point. (This has to be done ahead of time, you can't change it on the fly.) But as an added bonus, the pages generated by GPX2HTML each list the 5 nearest caches to the one being displayed, so it does have a limited "search from here" capability. I've been very happy with my "paperless" solution so far! Marty

I've been using DeLorme software on my laptop for a while now, and am very satisfied with it. Mostly this has been Street Atlas USA, but I recently got the Topo USA package and am looking forward to trying it out! SA will do live positioning when connected to a GPSr, and save the tracks. (You can even replay the trip if you so desire!) It has the ability to print full color maps as well, on a single page or multiple pages. For the topo stuff you'd want Topo USA, which looks like it has the features you ask for. I've not tried the NG stuff, so can offer no comparison, but have been very happy planning my geocaching trips with Street Atlas!

OK, then what??? Utopia is an _extremely cool_ program, and I exported the GPX data to the SA2003 format. Now I have a bunch of "red flags" on my SA map, but no data to go with them. Does SA not import at least the waypoint name??? Perhaps my extreme newbieness with the software has blinded me... Help!!! Marty

I have been wondering if there is any software, for desktop or PDA, that will do this: I'm going on a short trip this weekend, to the Okoboji Lakes of Iowa. I'd like to plan my driving route from home (Ames) and enter it into some mapping program (i.e. DeLorme Street Atlas). Then, based on that driving route, search for caches that are within, say, 10 miles of my route, and come up with a .loc file or something to load into the gps. Is there anything that can do that??? I know I can just load all the waypoints into the GPS and pick then up as I drive along, but I'd like to have some idea ahead of time how many are worth going after. TIA! Marty

So my question is, why do my image previews look so doggy??? You know, the one that comes up when you first click the picture icon in the log. From there you can "click to see original image", which looks great. But my previews are horribly blocky and hideous. I've looked at other previews and they look much better than mine, even on images of comparable size and detail. You can see it in my log for GC77BF - my daughter's pic (preview) looks really doggy, while others just an entry or two down look fine. Any idea what might be going on??? Not life threatening, but just a little annoying... Thanks! Marty