Poindexter

This is for water temperature and is used when on a boat and the GPS must be interfaced to marine electronic equipment that outputs that information via NMEA0183. You'll also note that there is a setting for water speed. My GPSMap76S has one for depth as well.

Garmin has recently started an e-mail list for notifying users of firmware updates. In the top right corner of each update page is a link to a sign-up page.

The buzzing sound is from the inverter circuit that generates around 100 volts AC for the displays electroluminescent lighting panel. It's the same technology used in the little "lime light" night lights.

Here's another one in Maryland that I did a while back that required a 12 mile kayak trip. Unfortunately, a large tree had blown down and buried the cache. As you can see, this cache is not very active as it is a bit remote.

But the datum is not "fixed" with the lat/lon coordinate system. That's why it must be specified in order for the coordinates to be accurate. There are literaly hundreds of datums that have been used throughout the world that all use a slightly different geographic reference point. WGS84 uses the center of the earth as a reference point while the older NAD27 used a point on the earths surface known as Meades Ranch in Kansas. Your GPS receiver stores locations in the WGS84 datum but uses a coordinate system know as Earth Centered, Earth Fixed XYZ. It then converts from this system and displays coordinates based on whatever you have set them to display as.

OK, I'll answer the question. Yes, newer units display distance to single digit resolution in feet or meters, whichever you desire.

You can just enter your present coordinates into Cachemate on your PDA manually rather than have your GPS hooked up to it if you want. It will then give distance and bearing to the nearest caches.

I use this nifty little freeware application that works better than the Windows Print Screen function.

True, but you got your latitude's and longitude's mixed up, it's the other way around.

Seconds only have a resolution of about 100' unless your unit gives decimal seconds. Minutes carried out to the third decimal have a resolution of about 6'. For use plotting your position on a map, UTM is much easier to do with a simple roamer tool with the UTM grid on the map.

Cool, thanks for the link. Iv'e bookmarked it and will keep checking back. I did a few caches while out in little cottonwood canyon this past September, including my 100th at Cecret Lake, and I'll be heading back there in late spring for some more spectacular hiking.

My Garmin GPSMap76S at high speed...and high altitude.

Been taking mine, along with handheld ham radios, for a while now with no problems. Here's a pic from last year.

Only if you are manually entering coordinates, which I should have mentioned in my previous post. My apologies to Balboagirl. I think most of us use our PC's to transfer waypoints. Try this. Go outside, or stay inside if your unit works ok inside your house. Get a fix while your set for WGS84 datum. Write down the coordinates. Now switch to NAD27 and compare the coordinates. Different, right? Yes. Did you magically move somewhere else? No. Well, if you did, were on to something here

It doesn't matter what you have your datum set to unless your plotting your position on a paper map. In that case, you would need to set your GPS to the datum of the map. The only thing changing the datum does is change the coordinate displayed, but it's still the exact same physical location on the earth. The GoTo function of your receiver will still take you to the same exact location. That said, I would just leave it at WGS84, which by the way is not the datum used to store GPS fix's internally, and only change it when your using a map of a different datum. Also, our consumer grade receivers make no corrections between WGS84 and NAD83. The difference is so small that our receivers are not even accurate enough nor have the resolution to make any difference.

Dual Lock. You can buy it by the roll or you can get a small pack of 3" strips at Target or Radio Shack. This stuff is great. I use it to secure my GPS in my car, on my bicycle and to my kayak. You'll find lots of other uses for it and I'm thinking it would make a nice way to attach a microcache somewhere where you couldn't use a magnetic one.

But a two foot one in a backpack works great.

Another plus for the Map76S is that it has an external antenna jack. That alone made the difference for me. I use an external antenna on a short pole sticking out of my backpack. It's great to just stick the gps in my pocket and still have it tracking with good satellite geometry while hiking to the cache. It also allows you to use the internal compass function holding the unit horizontally and not worry about losing reception.

Igage sells the same thing for half the price and it works with laser printers.

Quadrifilar does not = ACTIVE. My Garmin Map76S as well as your Platinum have internal passive quadrifilar antenna's. I get noticeably improved reception with my external ACTIVE patch antenna under tree cover.

No. Face the direction to the cache as indicated by your pointer on your GPS compass page while moving. Now hold your compass in front of you and rotate the dial until the pointer is over the compass needle (this is called boxing the needle). Now continue in a direction that keeps the needle boxed while properly orienting the compass in front of you.

The problem with the eTrex's is they compromise on antenna size. The external patch antenna's are much larger in size and that's one reason they perform better in addition to the amplification.

I highly recommend the book; GPS Land Navigation by Michael Ferguson. Read about it and some reviews here.

Doesn't matter what you have your datum set to unless your inputting coordinates manually. The serial port host mode on Garmins and Magellans always expects WGS84. If your going to upload coordinates to your GPS other than WGS84 datum then you must convert them first. Most third party software handles this automatically.

We Ham Radio operators do this all the time via the ham radio airwaves which include satellites. It's called APRS and there's a ton of information available on how to do it. Many of the "digipeaters" in the APRS network are connected to the internet and allows anyone with internet access to see your position and short messages you may send. It's VERY popular. Poindexter