Johnnie Stalkers

When we bought our 200 I sat down at the kitchen table, put in the batteries, turned it on and began fiddling with the menus. After a few minutes I noticed that it had achieved a lock! I have yet to encounter a situation where once I have a lock I lose it. I think the 200 is a very solid little GPS for the price. If your isn't running right then there is something wrong. I say exchange it.

That's correct, the radios I selected have manual on/off-volume switches and no time delay shutdown. This actually helps keep the cost down because the cheaper radios fit my needs. So far testing is going well. I have researched some less expensive radios and I can get my per unit cost down to $10. Of course, this envolves an initial cost of $40 for 4 radios and 4 solar lights. So does the need of an FRS radio to complete the cache qualify as special equipment? We don't have a 5/5 cache locally and this concept on the proper terrain could potentially be a 5/5.

Yea, it's almost a cache-22 (hehe). Right now these days are long, which limits night caching time, and the batteries are going to get full charge. In the winter, when there is a surplus of darkness for caching, there will be limited power supply. I'm hoping that by not transmitting I am increasing the energy conservation enough to balance it out. The LED drai is minimal. For a cache name I am considering Nocturnal Remisson. To risque?

Ok, I've been toying with this idea for a while and thought that maybe I'd bounce it off the forum community. These solar powered walkway lights are getting pretty cheap and I wanted to see if I could incorporate one into a cache. I went to Home Depot and picked up a set of 4 for $20.00. Then I went to Radio Slack and got a 2 pack of cheap 2-way radios ($20.00). So I'm out $40 bucks. Now what? The light charges during the day and when the photo cell stops detecting light it turns on the LED. I clipped off the LED and soldered on wires and then ran them to the pos and neg posts on the Radio. I then soldered the LED to the speaker output. The radio fits inside the light chamber, so the unit is self contained and 'mostly' waterproof. During the day the radio is now off. When it gets dark the radio powers up. When a 2-way signal is received by the radio the LED pulses to the audio that would otherwise be heard. My idea is to place the radio-light in a tree and have the cacher go to a set of nearby coords and 'call' on a specified channel. (I think it would be funny to make the cachers sing yankee doodle dandy but I've got a wierd sense of humor.) The radio- light picks up the signal and pulses to the call signal, indicating the location of the cache at the base of said tree. Field test (my back yard) provided really good visability at 50 yards without any obstructions. I am currntly testing the units charging and battery life capability in the lab (again, my back yard). The light, on a full charge is supposed to run for 8 to 10 hours. I predict the radio will put less drain on the batteris than the constantly lit LED would. $15 bucks a piece isn't THAT bad.

I actually ordered the 400 at the end of May and was informed that it wouldn't be available until June 21st so I bought a 200 just to get me through. June 21st came around and the release was delayed again. According to TigerGPS.com (posted on June 22, 2005): DUE TO A SOFTWARE PROBLEM, MAGELLAN HAS AGAIN DELAYED SHIPMENT OF THE EXPLORIST 400. YOU CAN STILL PREORDER IT (TIGER GPS DOES NOT CHARGE YOUR CARD UNTIL WE SHIP) OR LOOK AT ANOTHER MODEL Apparently they did ship some units around the first of June but then delayed the second shipment. I have talked to two Magellan sales reps on the phone and one told that they where already shipping and the other told me to watch the website for press releases announcing the 'release' but he wouldn't give me a date. Now I'm waiting to see what happens with this unit. The cost difference between the 400 and 500 isn't that big. I should probably just order the 500.

It does create and save a text file each time you print. I hadn't considered a need for it other than for my own programming purposes, but I see your point. A 'save as' option is a good suggestion. For those of you that would like a copy, give me a day or two to tweak the things that I want tweaked and to consider any suggestions made. Thanks for the input. JS The data I am including FYI: GC keyword, Cache name and owner, URL (double click on a cache opens webpage), coords, cache type, container type, difficulty, terrain, short description, long description, decoded hint, last find date, last finder name.

The bad news is our Geo-vehicle got broken into and we lost the PDA. The good news, well I guess the best I can say is that they didn't get the GPS. So for the time being we are back on paper. Oh PDA where art thou? I despise having to hike around with a novel of cache pages so I wrote a little program to print just the data I want from my pocket query for the caches that I select. It fits about 10 caches per page, depending on the description lengths. This isn't GSAK and surely doesn't have anywhere near the functionality. But I think it may fill a niche. The real question is would anyone other than me actual use it and if so, why hasn't someone else done it yet. If there is a need I would be willing to freely share. IMHO this 'feature' could be better put to use in a more robust geo-application.

When I was eight my grandfather asked me if I had a penny. It was a strange question coming from him but I had one and gave it to him. He handed me a small folding blade pocket knife in return and explained that it was bad luck to 'gift' a knife. Hence the penny. It is one of my fondest childhood memories. I have carried one ever since. For the past 16 years I have carried the exact same 4 inch lock blade (Kershaw Black Gulch) nearly everyday. I don't take it into court houses or airports for obvious reasons. It's a tool that is practically useless as a weapon but has proven invaluable to me on countless occasions. If a child is old enough to cache alone then they are old enough to carry a knife, imho. However, I don't make that choice for other parents and as already mentioned countless times, we can't control who finds a cache. Every knife I've ever seen in a cache was of the dime store variety. More trinket than tool and most likely only appealing to a child.

Our Haunted Hollow cache contains the inner mechanism of a motion activated Laughing Halloween Rock. I paid $10 for the rock and took it apart and fabricated a small container for it that is fixed to the inside of an ammo can. My original intent is that the photo cell would activate when the box was opened, but it turns out that the shock sensor is pretty sensitive. It's hard to get within a few feet of the cache without setting it off and hearing an echoing "Muhahahaha!" Good times.

Well I suppose an update is in order. Over a year and a half later our Cobra is still functioning just fine. We've never had a problem with accuracy or a complaint about the coords on caches we've placed. I have however run into other cachers on the trail who had the same exact unit and side by side the performance was notably different. It would appear that some of Cobra units have an issue. Our Cobra locks on quick and holds a pretty accurate position. Other Cobras I've seen are slow to lock and jump around a lot. All that being said, my next unit will not be a Cobra.

Ms. Step - always falling down. Usually injured. Hates anything over 2 difficulty. Ivan Swag - In in for swag profit. Trades poorly. Flash Totheloot - Speed walks to every cache. All about the numbers. Doc Hidaway - Hides really creative caches but is antisocial. Sita Lot - Sock puppet for a male cacher. Has 2 finds and 2000 forum posts. Grandpa Smiley - Lonely old man who caches just to meet people. When you meet him on the trail he talks. A lot. About nothing. Mrs. D. Sperate - Lonely house wife who's husband ignores her. Looking for male attention.

Yea, thanks, Rub it in why don't you.

We have a few local collge students who cache. The majority are married and mid-20s to mid 40s though.

Only a true geek would even consider trading for an item like that. Where would you find a large group of Techno Geeks that would be interested? Oh, yea. That's us.

There are many things I enjoy about geocaching. The friends I have made. The quality time with the family. The group hunts. The thrill of the hunt. The thrill of the hide. Many more subtle things to great in number to mention. The one thing at the center of all of it, the thing that first attracted me to the sport and the part that keeps me interested is a single moment. It's the sudden realization that while I have been preoccupied with the trail, compass and GPSr I have put my mind and body into a place that is completely and totally alone from the outside world. I'm not thinking about work, bills, changing the oil in the car or family. I'm just being me. Alone in the woods. Life wasn't giving me enough of those moments before. Geocaching sends me out to find them.

Our 5 year old has gone with us many times. He loves it. Locally there are a few cachers who take their toddlers out. They seem to enjoy it greatly, as long as the hikes aren't long.

The Great Technology Travel Bug Race of 2004. We are holding a travel bug race from Cincinnati, Ohio to Silicon Valley and back again. The race will begin Saturday August 28th. All the travel bugs are technologically themed, like this: The problem we have is that none of us are familiar enough with West Coast geography to accurately define and communicate what constitutes 'silicon valley' in regards to where the bugs need to land before heading home. I am seeking a volunteer, or volunteers, who would be interested in allowing us to use their Silicon Valley cache(s?) as a checkpoint. Some of the bugs are a little bulky so the containers would need to be atleast a 50 cal ammo box. Thanks in advance. Johnnie Stalkers.

Hail West Coast Cachers! I am looking for a cache somewhere in or near Silicon Valley to serve as a checkpoint for a technology based TB race beginning August 21, 2004. The start and finish line is in Cincinnati, Ohio (45069). The generous cacher who agrees to host our checkpoint will get a free TB entry into the race, TB tag included. When the race concludes the bug is yours to keep. Here is a sample TB entry to the race. Ramification We also have, encased in lexan, CPU, HD disk, cooling fan, heat sync, mouse ball, ribbon cable, cat5, mini cd and an usb mouse adapter. More possibilities but that’s what we have completed at this time. Cache must be at least large enough to accommodate some moderately sized TBs (50 cal Ammo or bigger?). Preferably a cache that experiences a fair amount of traffic. Thank you, Johnnie Stalkers

For years after these became popular I could never see them. Then one night while shooting pool and enjoying my fair share of adult beverages I went to the mens room for some relief. Above the urinal was a copy of the Sunday comics with a stereogram on it, right at eye level. I am just standing there paying no particular attention to anything when all of a sudden a huge 3d train was hovering above the urinal. Have not had a problem seeing them since. So for those of you who can't see them, try getting a few drinks in you first.

A Dan Brown cache?

After many months of grueling research and work I have compiled a comprehensive map of the approver regions. Granted this list may be slightly off the mark. I have very little first hand experience with any approver outside my area. I have done my best; I apologize in advance for any errors in the following data. Obviously I am in the process of submitting a new cache.

Even if the GPSr would work you'd never get approval. It's a vacation cache.

Ummmm, no, CO does not deserve any respect. CO has the ability to earn respect. That's about it. Usually a mistake is something you do by accident. This was no accident. I am sorry if I was unclear in stating my opinion, please allow me to rephrase. I am certain that CO has earned my respect. His contributions to the game severly overshadows the severity of this thing he 'might' have done wrong. Worse case scenario, he did it out of pure spite, an blatant abuse of power. That still wouldn't trump the respect he, and every approver I have had contact with, has earned through their actions. He is just a man, prone to mistakes like us all, who may have made a mistake. I haven't noticed any 'how about the time he did this and that horrible thing' posts here. I've never had a friend who reacted to one of my mistakes the way the wagons circled over this issue. Sure hope I don't offend someone here.

Glad to see the mood here has turned to the more 'gentler and kinder' version. Thanks to those of you who had the brass to make apologies and / or back off. Shame on those of you who are still sitting at your PCs trying to figure out how to zing Sparky or Diablo without getting warned. I agree that it appears CO made a mistake and definately feel the need to be reassured. It's a trust issue and cachers have a very REAL and VALID stake in it. HOWEVER, CO deserves our respect and IF he made a mistake he deserves our forgiveness with or without an apology. IF CO or Jeremy chooses a public assurance then great. If they choose to low-key it, then they choose to deal with whatever fallout may come. We are a family, like it or not, and conflict comes hand in hand with affection. I like to envision conflict and affection as a blond and a brunette, but I digress..... Finally, thanks to Mountain_Man. Way to be a rock dude. It is appreciated. Cache On.

did someone say NORM?