The Hole-in-the-wall Gang

In the UK , WAAS only seems to really work when we have a clear sight of the horizon due to the Satellites position and so my Legend seldom receives its signal. As the GPSr has to run more processing power to try and resolve the WAAS signal, it consequently uses more power and so drains the battery more quickly (no details of how much more quickly I'm afraid). Consequently, I have disabled WAAS. I have been able to find all the viable caches that I have searched for without this facility and have not found it to be a disadvantage. Best Regards, John Syhrag va qrpelcg

Hi from the UK too ... Cheers, John Syhrag va qrpelcg

Hi moto south , I also agonised over the Legend / Vista question. It seems to me that there are only realy 2 criteria to consider; 1) Is a real time compass important to you ? NB: The Legend has a GPS based 'compass' which only works when you are moving.The Vista has a 'proper' electronic compass whih works all the time (even under trees) and so is independant of the GPS satellite reception. 2) Are you going to upload (to the GPSr)enhanced (Garmin) mapping sofware covering your route which will make use of the superior 24MB vs the 8MB memory of the Vista ? In Europe, I can upload 3 map tiles covering approx 400 miles to my Legend, this distance may treble for the Vista. Hope that this helps clarify. Cheers, John. Syhrag va qrpelcg

Hi, Kalisti. Another answer from the UK, I am also fairly new to the sport and spent some time agonising over which unit to purchase. I eventually chose the Garmin Legend which was somewhere between 'basic' and 'all singing all dancing'. I have found it to give excellent service and the only downside is that the screen is really too small to use when for navigation whilst driving but is just right for navigating whilst walking.I got the bundled package which included the Garmin Metro Europe mapping SW which is really orientated towards driving major routes in europe rather that walking trails. I recommend that you invest in a mapping program that will allow you to overlay the trail that you walked over a high resolution map. This should produce an accurate map with a detailed trail superimposed. Best Wishes John. Syhrag va qrpelcg

Hi Steve / AuntieMary. Sorry for failing to put the right name to the face. I have been checking out a couple of sites and will be putting a cache in place in the next couple of weeks. Cheers John. Syhrag va qrpelcg

Thanks Steve Syhrag va qrpelcg

Hi , we have a trip to the lake district planned for later this year and wanted to take in some caches, I searched for internet access in the area ( especialy as we have a TB to take with us and want to log it ASAP) but I couldn't find anything in the Ambleside area. any advice would be welcome. Cheers, John Syhrag va qrpelcg

Thanks Omally, Interestingly , I spoke to a friend and he suggested a scrap yard in St Mary Bourne near Andover. I had a nose in there on the way to work and found great piles of ammo boxes of all shapes and sizes ( could be a sneaky place to hide a cache ) small ones were £2.50 each. If anyone is in the area, it is calles J.Hirst & sons, opens 07:30 to 17:00 and is located near N51 15.156 W001 23.755 Cheers, John Syhrag va qrpelcg

Thanks for the advice on getting the co-ordinates fixed guys, sounds sensible. I will bear this in mind when I hide my cache. Thanks also for the info on ammo boxes Steve, I am not too far from Basingstoke so I will give the top of town shop a visit . I remember that you and AuntieMary were kind enough to take us round one of the practice caches at the HCC event, and so; Oaks from acorns grow. Cheers, John Syhrag va qrpelcg

I am planning a cach in the north Hampshire area and would like to get hold of an ammo box. Can anyone point me in the right direction of a source please ? Also , can you suggest methods for making sure that my co-ords are accurate when placing the cache(s). I would try and make sure that the GPSr was seeing enough satellites to have reasonable accuracy ( what is considered as normal ? ) but I know that tree cover can cause errors so any techniques that you could suggest to overcome this would be useful. Perhaps there is a FAQ on the subject that I have missed ? Cheers, John Syhrag va qrpelcg

Hi , I am fairly new to Geocaching and so may have missed the point here ( feel free to point out the error of my ways ) but it seems to me that Redregis has put a lot of effort into Geolutions and many people are getting enjoyment from it. I understand that there needs to be some discipline in any sport to make sure that the core principles are not diluted and that it is undertaken in a way that makes it acceptable to the majority of people but who are we to say that his independant 'version' of travel bugs is wrong. Perhaps, if anyone feels that they do not want a geolution left in 'their' cache then they would be free to point this out on their cache's home page, but I say 'live and let live'.Perhaps we could view this as a cultural exchange of sorts. Cheers, John BTW no poking fun at my dodgy translation. [en francaise] J'espere que vous pouvez excuser mon pauvre francaise; Je suis nouveau a la sport de geocaching et peut etre je n'ai compris pas toute le regles. J'ai vu que redregis a fait beacoup de travaille pour son site de geolutions et beaucoup de personnes s'ammuse avec ca. Je comprends que c'est important avoir des regles dans les sports pour maintenir les principes centrale et pour assurer que c'est acceptable a la majorite des gens, mais qui sommes nous a dire que son 'version' de travelbugs est tort? Peut etre si quelq'un sent que il ne veut pas des geolutions dans son cache, ainsi il est libre donner avis sur le web page de cache. Mais je dit 'habiter et laisser habiter' peut etre nos pouvons voir ce comme un echange culturel. Amities, John Syhrag va qrpelcg

Speaking from the Geomuggles perspective , I just wanted to say what an excellent introduction to geocaching the event was. We all really enjoyed ourselves and wanted to thank everyone who helped us on the day. Since the event we have been scourring the woods and have found 4 caches so far. What an excellent sport .Cheers, John & the gang