Dobroplayer

I really do appreciate all who took the time to help out a newbie! I have been to a nearby cache 5 times now and have not found it yet. (hours spent) I think that a combination of the posts you all left here and my in-ability to find some of these things have cause me to re-think my strategy completely. I personally think I will get more satisfaction knowing that people are actually finding my cache,trading and enjoying it. Than perhaps getting upset with me for making the hide so difficult. Not to say that the hard ones are not any fun at all...don't get me wrong, I love a challenge..... but not beating my head against the wall when the coordinates are just barely in the area or not even actually close to the cache in the first place. I think for me....I don't want someone to see it , trip over it etc....but I DO for sure want them to find it.... for now. Good Caching ALL! Dobroplayer

Where else? EBAY. Keep an eye on the clearance aisle at your local Wal-place. They will often have them dropped down pretty low. I've also seen them in the Clearance aisle at Staples. And keep in mind, no matter what the packaging says, your range isn't going to be as good as they advertise. I'm in flat ol' IlliNOISE and I've never been able to do better than 3 miles and that was in near perfect conditions. Well.....all I'm saying is... it could just possibly be the one tool you had with you that might save either my life or yours. I also think for the horsepower to weight ratio.....worth throwing one in the old cache backpack. We'll all pray we never need it in ernest! As for the 3 miles thing.....the pair I have are 5 watt units. (on some channels) the channels thing, that makes a big difference. There are some channels that the units are required by the FCC to drop down to .5watt because of other services using the same band slot. I think I read that 1 thru 8 and then the rest down to the .5 watt. But going by memory here. Being a ham....I will be the first to admit....460 MHZ is mainly line of sight communications. But on the other hand that frequency will punch thru more things like walls.concrete, trees etc. Good old ILLINOISE.... you should have a lot of line of sight. Just like everything...we all get what we pay for. Have a good summer cacheing!!!! Be safe! and God Bless! Dobroplayer

Good old Ebay....

Where else? EBAY.

Indiana Geocachers....I read about this on another forum here on this site. The comments were made about using the cheap,easy to use FRS radio's while geocaching. Bieng a ham operator for many many years this made me stop and take a read. The discussion was to somehow make it known that geocachers use(d) FRS channel 3 while caching. (No security channel or set to 0). Looking at this from several angles, the new FRS radios are good for a fair amount of mileage and easy to operate and require no FCC license, for when (heaven forbid) you or your caching partner needs a hand or have an emergency. I know....everyone carries a cell phone these days, however do you think the EMT's can find you at waypoint XX.XXXXX for you with a broken ankle? A $20 FRS radio stuck in your pack just might just give you an upperhand survival boost by having another nearby cacher at least having the GPS in hand to bring the EMT's to where you are. Or at least another person to go for help. Let's all face it....there are times for all of us we could just use a little help. Could be that no one is close enough to hear you but at least you had just one more tool for this fine hobby. From now on my pack will have a radio inside on FRS channel 3. Dobroplayer

I personally think that is a good idea....Ch3 no PL tone or zero security setting. I'm also a ham. The biggest reason I see here, let's just suppose one of us get's a little lost, confused or your GPS unit decides to quit,die and some other reason now function. That at least gives me another chance of getting out of a potentially bad situation. How can we get/push this idea a little harder.... Dobroplayer WB9HZX P.S. the callsign gives a clue to how long I have been licensed. LOL.

First of all...I'm very new to this, so please excuse my for sure dumb question/topic. I'm sure this topic has been discussed many times prior. Ok here goes...... I recently placed my first cache. the reviewer left me info regarding the rating I had assigned to the cache and refered me back once again to the cache guidelines. So.... here goes a question I have had for some time now been wondering.....exactly what is a 1 for difficulty or a 5 rating? The same for the terrain values. I could not find anything listed in the guidelines or the knowledgebase regarding ratings at all. I want to be fair, realistic and not send some person in a wheelchair to a cache I have placed and them never have even a chance to lay eyes on my cache. Maybe I'm just bieng too technical but that is my background and we all know the devil is in the details. Some of you briar scratched and tick bitten hardcores help me out here. P.S. My wife and I are having a blast with this!!!!!!

Hey anyone else around here doing this? My wife and I are having a blast. Email me back if looking for caching friends. Dobroplayer.