Phoenix2001

I found one ammo can that was wet inside. The lid had been closed on the plastic blister pack a toy was in so the ammo can wasn't sealed correctly.

I wonder how a heat gun would do. Might not be as hard on the container as the open flame.

Does the hot glue adhere well to the plastic? What's about the most severe temperature range that combination has been through and for how long? Thanks!

I agree with beejay&esskay. The description of "A Median of Paradise" says: "Original Contents: * 7 Beads (2 are Cloisonné) * Log (Please bring a pen)" I hope pcassel gains some experience (and tries some "regular" sized caches) and then tries this one again.

If possible, I would recommend checking the log to see if the person took a trade item in exchange for the TB. If they just dropped off the TB then taking the TB won't leave the cache short-changed. If they took a trade item in exchange for the TB then leave a trade item in exchange for the TB.

Just tell her she should get the pink shoes to go with the red dress. Problem solved.

I've just read the thread so I couldn't jump in before Thot.... When SA was in effect it was by far the largest single contributor to the error in position but it's not the only source of error. That's probably why Magellan said that about EPE and SA. In simple terms: EPE (1-sigma) = HDOP * (User Equivalent Range Error) For more information see: http://www.edu-observatory.org/gps/gps_accuracy.html Manufacturers add anything else they want to or can such as signal-to-noise ratios. Because of marketing concerns they will generally aim for 50% probability. The typical consumer would buy the receiver that gives an EPE of 20 ft. (about 50% probable) as opposed to the receiver that gives an EPE of 40 ft. (about 95%) under the same conditions. Long ago a mainframe computer manufacturer came out with a machine advertised with 64K (K=1024) of memory. The competitor came out with a machine advertised with 65K (K = 1000) of memory. People bought the one with 65K because it had "more memory". Of course both had 65,536 bytes.

In a sense it is an "Estimated Potential Error" and someone could easily have written it that way on a message board or explained it that way. All the definitions I've seen are "Estimated Position Error" and I started using GPS receivers in the early to mid nineties.

That must be the Lowrance version.

Some of the thoughts I've had for when I place a cache are: For multiple hints I'd identify what it pertains to such as parking, route finding, “container looks like”, a complete spoiler, etc. possibly using a different rotation for encrypting. If I ever gave a complete spoiler I'd definitely use a different encryption so they couldn’t accidentally see it and have to work a bit for it.

Testing

I doubt the non-mapping Garmin GPS receivers have support in the firmware for line vector data. I tried downloading "maps" from both Mapsource Topo and Metroguide into a GPS 76. I didn't get any line objects but I did get the points of interest information. So it looks like you don't have to purchase Mapsource "Points of Interest" to get some more detailed information for a small area. Note that the map area selected can not be greater than 1 meg or Mapsource won't send it. The amount of POI data that ends up in the receiver would be less than 1 meg since the selected map area also includes line data. I believe you could take some of the third party mapping tools and extract just the POI data to download but that's more work than I'm willing to do. I used Mapsource Ver. 6.3 for this experiment.

Mapsource Topo is based on USGS 1:100,000 scale maps. They show roads too but are out of date. Smaller roads may only be identified as "road". Some rural type roads on Metroguide Ver. 4 were taken from the USGS 1:100,000 scale maps. That is if I switch the map view from Topo to Metroguide V4 the roads are identical except that Metroguide also shows their name. Other roads have been updated in Metroguide V4 as compared to Topo. Metroguide V5 and V6 uses a different data source so I'm not familiar with the combinations. You can go to the Garmin web site and check out the maps with map viewer: http://www.garmin.com/cartography/

Since some people will take a trade item in exchange for a TB type item, I suggest reading the logs. If a TB was dropped off (a net increase in the number of items in the cache) then just take the TB. If TB's were exchanged then you have to work back in time to the initial drop off. If someone exchanged a TB for a trade item, the cache will end up shortchanged if you just take the TB. So I would suggest leaving a trade item in that case.

I have about 63,000 waypoints in one combined directory and maybe about 10,000 more elsewhere. Most of them are for hiking trails and organized by area. When I go out, I try to load no more than 300 into a GPS 76 that has a maximum of 500. I also have a GPSmap 76 that holds 1000 waypoints. I don't pay attention to the capacity of the map76 because I'm not likely to load more than about 500 waypoints for a fairly large area. I limit the plain 76 to 300 because I want about 150 to 200 free slots for marking waypoints along the trail. These new marks could be a repeat of existing ones which I then average for better accuracy. For instance I have over 15,000 waypoints in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness representing about 3,000 locations. I divide them up into sections (per file) such as NE, NW, SE, SW, north central, east central, etc. Someday the hard disk on a computer will crash. I back up all important data to alternate hard disks and CD-R's and put some CD-R's off site in case of fire, etc.

There are other message boards such as alt.satellite.gps, sci.geo.satellite-nav, and yahoo groups where geocaching wouldn't be the first item thought of.

They're the latest geocaching container. If you can find the cache page you will get the clues to the words to say to get the container to open so you can sign the log.

Me too! They tell me what I can find (go visit) and where I can find it. Who says you need a cache or geocaching.com for a hunt? Older maps give some history too or an historical hunt.

If you don't mind Yahoo Groups - for additional info: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/map_authors/ I record track logs when I'm traveling trails and sometimes cross-country. I try to do it more than once and average for better accuracy. This creates trail and road maps. I also mark locations such as parking lots, trailheads, stream crossings, camp sites, etc. So I have waypoints available for trail junctions, where to start, water, etc. I don't have any track logs posted but for some waypoint examples in Colorado see: http://www.gpsmap.net

I'm another user of the map screen. I have the impression that using the mock compass is very common and in part because "everyone" else does (I'm not talking about the experienced users posting here). My inclination is to encourage people to try the map screen. If it ultimately doesn't work for you but the compass does then, of course, use what works for you. Everyone has different talents/skills. Whether it's called a map screen or a plotter screen depends on the manufacturer. I consider it a map screen (as per Garmin) whether it shows background maps or not. I have a mapping GPS with topo maps loaded and just the other day I could see that I needed to go around a canyon to get to a cache rather than "straight" to it. Note that different techniques may be called for depending on the type of environment. PS. Most Garmin models have a triangle arrowhead for your position. Some basic ones get "cutesy" with the walking man. I also believe the map screen on the basic ones is more difficult to use to find the cache because you can't zoom in close enough to see the relative positions of you and the cache.

Depends on what statistical probability you want to give to the word "probable". I would tend to add about 50% more to the EPE value. So for an EPE of 8m I would say you are probably within about 12m. You have about a 95% chance of being within twice the EPE value. In casual usage it will probably seem better. I've recorded some samples at a benchmark. The last two using a GPS 76 at "Gold Camp Road" also list what the EPE was at the time. Note that the eastings and northings are in meters whereas the EPE is in feet. http://www.gpsmap.net/BenchMarks.html

If the unit gives an estimate of its own inaccuracy at each particular moment, is that estimate also unreliable? The receiver is giving you a guess based on the information it has. If it actually knew where you are then it could tell you how far off it is. There's about a 50% chance the location specified is within the EPE value given. If the EPE value is 15 feet, you could be 30 ft. away but it's not likely. If the EPE value is 50 ft., you could be right on the spot but that's not likely either. In general the EPE = HDOP * UERE plus whatever the receiver manufacturer incorporates. The algorithm used varies with the model and firmware version (and is a manufacturer secret). An eTrex Legend with firmware version x won't give the same EPE as version y at the same place and time for some early versions when they were "playing" with the algorithm. See: http://www.edu-observatory.org/gps/gps_accuracy.html For a look at dilution of precision (DOP) try playing with the positions of satellites in this java applet "DOP" here: http://www.ualberta.ca/~norris/gps/ About a year ago (IIRC) there was a major solar storm. It changed the propagation characteristics of the atmosphere. I was out hiking and recording waypoints along the way. Everything was normal in the morning and then I started getting marks that were around 100 ft. off. The EPE remained at a typical value (probably in the 20 ft. range). The receiver didn't "know" about the changes.

I didn't set this page up as a comparison between mapping products and the basemap but a look at the first two screen samples (at somewhat different scales) might give you an idea of what you get with a mapping product over the basemap..... http://www.gpsmap.net/GarminScreens.html

Use the map screen not the navigation arrow. If you have the map screen set to North up, know which direction is north. If you have the map screen set to track up, possibly record a track log on your approach to the cache so you have a reference for orienting the map screen to your surroundings. Move until the "triangle" is on top of the cache waypoint.

Another mapping program for Palm OS or Windows CE is PathAway. See: http://pathaway.com/ I'm not a user because I was just looking for a program to download tracks and waypoints from my GPS receivers. I almost went with PathAway but GPilotS finally added the functionality I needed. I tried the PathAway demo over a year ago.