[Is it vandalism?]

Or encrypt the message using what's on the sign as the keyword. The playfair and vigenere ciphers are pretty straightforward and can be decrypted in the field.

 

For one cache I used the vigenere cipher and the keyword was the last letter from each word on a sign, and in another I used the playfair with the two words on the sign as the keyword. I also suggest you post a sample encryption on the cache page for people to decrypt before they hit the road - it's incredibly frustrating trying to figure out how to decrypt in the field without prior practice.

 

I keep the messages simple, like "add point zero sixty two to west and point zero thirty seven to north." Decrypting a long a message is just frustrating.

 

Have fun,

 

Jerry

[GPS Antenna]

I made a patch antenna for my Garmin GPS 45 a few years back just for the fun of it, and it worked great until the magnet holding it to the roof of my car let loose. I didn't have to deal with the SMA connector since my GPS45 used BNC, and the line losses of RG-168 were so bad that I had to switch to RG-58 immediately.

 

A quick web search revealed plans for these two, the patch version is what I built:

 

Helical:

http://home.iae.nl/users/plundahl/antenne/helical.htm

 

Patch

http://home.iae.nl/users/plundahl/antenne/patchant.htm

 

Jerry.

[Hiking with a GPSr...]

I carry my GPS III+ in a cell phone pouch on my backpack shoulder strap. I let the antenna peek out of the velcro closure flap and haven't lost lock yet. I'm pretty sure the it would work with the Vistas but haven't tried it.

 

Jerry.

[Hiking with a GPSr...]

I carry my GPS III+ in a cell phone pouch on my backpack shoulder strap. I let the antenna peek out of the velcro closure flap and haven't lost lock yet. I'm pretty sure the it would work with the Vistas but haven't tried it.

 

Jerry.

[Most clever cache you have found]

Great! Another Caching Angelino who wants more than the drive-up geocaching! The geocaches that require more than just footwork are more interesting to me, and I don't mind doing mental gymnastics to get me close to the final location.

 

Take a look at the caches planted by WM6P ("Surveyor’s Delight" for example) and JudgeCrater ("Hide and Seek #1" for example), they're about as far out as I've found and they're mostly in Thousand Oaks / Simi Valley area so they're reasonably local. Like you, I also try to go out of my way to make things more, uh, interesting. I placed my third (LA-43 saboteur) last week, and so far I only know of one person that's looking for it. Another area cacher known for his antics is Otispug, but from what I understand the mystery is in the hiding of the container more than in the thrill of the chase.

 

Feel free to contact me via the Geocaching site if you want to discuss some ideas outside the forums, there are a couple of things that I've thought of but haven't had time to implement yet.