ohgr
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Posts posted by ohgr
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Mine dropped off the roof of the car also, I turned around about a block away from where I was parked, and it was already gone. A knock at the door 6 hours later and my gps was returned because I had put my name and address into the startup screen (Garmin ETrex).
Ohgr
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Content is king, if you put crap in your caches that nobody would dream of taking, then nobody will take it.
Seriously, there's no REAL that I know of to keep someone from taking it. Listing it here lets everyone know EXACTLY where it is. You might try a multi where the first cache is a micro with your e-mail address and the person has to e-mail you for the final coordinates and supply their user name, and then you can kinda check up on them and see if they play nice.
I wish you luck.
Ohgr
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I've put a couple of these out before, with a few songs, and a giant .jpg aerial photo of the area surounding the cache. And also some photos of fire areas, from when the fires swept thru Southern California.
A regular cd-rom tray usually has a smaller indentation in the tray to accept the smaller disks. Good luck with yours...
Ohgr
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When I put something nice in a cache I try to look at it a little differently... I look at it as entertainment expense. If I went to the movies, it would cost me $9, I would sit for two hours on my butt, and MAYBE be mildly entertained.
For $2 - $3 I can hike into an area I have probably never been, see things that people should get out and see more of. And if I'm lucky, have a story to tell the guys on Monday morning. So even if I spent the whole $9 on schwag for just one cache, it's a good value. Plus it makes other cachers happier when they find something really nice. ANd don't forget that walking/hiking is one of the best excersises there is.
Everybody wins.
Ohgr
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Left my e-trex legend on the roof of the car, drove about 2 blocks, remembered it, walked the same 1/4 mile strip of road 5 times, couldn't find it. Then about six hours later the guy who had found it returned it to me.
The guy who returned it told me he would have brought it back sooner only it was on when he found it, and he couldn't figure out how or if it would turn off, then he figured out you had to hold down the button for a couple seconds, and when he turned it back on, he saw the little owner info screen. He wouldn't take the reward.
But now I know how fast he drives (84mph) and the location of the place he said he had breakfast while he tried to figure out how to turn it off.
I am now a little more carefull where I set it down.
Ohgr
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As the Legend was, and is my first GPS I will have to say that it was very easy to start using right away, and it hasn't failed me yet.
Last week, I left it on top of the car and drove off, it fell off at around 50mph, and was picked up by someone else who luckily returned it. The GPS was fine, although it was in a Garmin neoprene case, I expected damage, but it received none.
Ohgr
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Thanks CacheCreatures for posting the pic for me..... And thanks all for the compliments.
I'm hoping to get the compass design a little cleaner in the next version, and to get it double sided, compass on one side, and our names on the reverse. I'm down in SoCal, and will hopefully get some done this weekend.
And to answer Fritz_Monroe, Yes, they were poured into a mold carved into a piece of Red Oak.... I don't know how long the mold will last, it seemed to be doing fine with the first five or six trys, but then when I started using a small propane torch to heat the solder (Be sure and get the NO-LEAD kind) instead of the stove top, I noticed that the wood was blackening a bit. I think I'll go back to the stove top, or maybe move on to soapstone as has been reccomended by a co-worker. Good Luck if you try it....
And wish me luck with the double sided one....
Ohgr
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The ones I made (3 of them) are fairly rough, although 1 turned out pretty good, I have a clean 30k picture of all three, The mold however is no longer, I revamped it for a skull and crossbones design which didn't turn out so hot.... This weekend I'll be doing the design for the two sided coin, Wish me luck....
I would be glad to post up the Photo, problem is, I don't have the webspace, If you really want to see it, mail me with a subject line of "COINS", and I'll e-mail the pic back to you. And if you would like to share the pic with the rest of the group, feel free to post the picture back into this thread....
These coins can no way compete with the State geocoins, as they look more like pirate treasure coins, but I've only made three, so cut me some slack if and or when the picture gets posted.
Ohgr
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I've been working on a new sig piece, here's what I did...
I made a mold out of Red Oak, then melted up some NO-LEAD silver solder (Contains very little actual silver) and poured it into the mold, and then squashed another piece of wood on top of that, the second piece of wood helps push the solder into the carving, and leaves the back side flat. Once I take it out of the mold I trimmed the edges and buffed the coin.
Once the mold is made, making a coin from start to finish only takes about 5 minutes from pouring to finished coin. I'm now designing a 2-sided coin, I will be using alignment pins so that the top piece of wood lines up when pushed down into the hot solder.
The solder is really quite hard once cooled, I couldn't bend the coin at all and it's fairly heavy. Price for a 1lb spool is about $9.00, I'm still sourcing bricks of the stuff. The stuff I use is made by Oatey. Available at Home Depot.
I think the U.S. & Candian mints do a WAY better job, but theirs dosn't look like pirate treasure like mine does.
Ohgr
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Hey Skitty,
Boy/Girl Scouts would be a good place to start if you like to get outdoors.
Our first few caches were done without the help of a GPS, We used maps, and aerial photos that you can find for free online to help guide us. There are a lot of caches here that can be found using free tools and costing no money. I would try this approach first and see how you like it. Then maybe later you could look into getting a GPS.
Good Luck! Ohgr
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One of the Sig items I was working on has started as Sculpey clay coins, hand carved after being baked to hardness. I also am going to be working on minting some coins. The coins won't be maybe as nice as ones you could buy, but you will not have seen another like it.
I think to be on the safe side, I'll just leave my sig item, and if I want to trade for anything I'll dig in the pack for something nice.... Thanks for all the replies.
Ohgr
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When the topic of crappy cache contents comes up around here, I usually read that it's the hunt, and the trinkets don't really matter "Unless" it's a sig item that the poster dosn't already have, then they'll usually trade.
This got me thinking, as I have spent some time working on a couple different sig items, one for regular sized caches, and one for smaller caches and wondered what the trade value of a sig item actually is. I understand that if your sig item is a 1oz. gold coin, then you can trade for anything in the box. But what about cards, coins, handmade things etc....
Should I try and calculate it by the time I spent making it? It's monetary value? It's coolness factor? Store bought -vs- Hand made?
In short, What vlaue do you place on sig items?
Thanks in advance!
Ohgr
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In photoshop or most any other program that will save JPG files. You can change the compression level before saving. Sometimes saving lots of valuable drive space and only losing a little quality.
In photoshop you can "Save for web" and you'll be able to see the effects of the compresion in real time. You should be able to get it well under 100k and still have a descent image.
Good Luck!
Ohgr
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We're fairly new at this, and the stuff we have found in caches hasn't been all that great but we have agreed to leave the cache a little better off than when we found it, and have therefore tried to trade up. I think the coolest thing we have found so far is a Laminated sig card. Absolutely ZERO value in the real world, but the coolness factor is what I like.
I think that if you could change the rules to:
Nothing is to be left in caches that wasn't made by you.
Then lots more people would trade, just to have a sig item that is missing from their growing collection.
Ohgr
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We just bout a pair of Motorola T5700 radios at our local target for $48, they are the 5 mile ones, FRS/GMRS with privacy codes, backlit screen, and Channel scan.
They take 3 AA batteries but have the option to upgrade to a rechargable battery and a charging base.
we haven't done any long distance testing yet, but while in scanning mode, But I can tell you what a lot of kids in the neighborhood got for Christmas... (FRS Radios!)
I will say that the Motorola's seem to be way better put together (Sturdier) than the other models we looked at.
Good Luck!
Ohgr
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As others have said, but I will add the following....
From the Geocaching FAQ
What shouldn't be in a cache?
Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, ammo, knives, drugs, and alcohol shouldn't be placed in a cache. Respect the local laws. All ages of people hide and seek caches, so use some thought before placing an item into a cache.
Food items are ALWAYS a BAD IDEA. Animals have better noses than humans, and in some cases caches have been chewed through and destroyed because of food items in a cache. Please do not put food in a cache.
Have Fun!
Ohgr
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You might want to keep your eyes on the road when you're on the edge of anything. And stoping to check the gps. a few miles from home we just had a kid who was hiking with friends fall off a 400' cliff. So be very careful.
After that, and the local Mtn. Lion attack, I got a pretty good lecture about being out there by myself.
I think the others answered your question, but I had to interject a little safety.
Ohgr
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Is a Local cache for me in SoCal. It's a foreign coin cache. When we found it people seemed to have been sticking with the theme, so we pretended like we hadn't found it, and will go back when we have some "International Booty" to leave.
Ohgr
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If you're a good cacher, you always carry extra ziplock bags, you should have bagged it, chased him down and said "Hey I think you dropped something back there!" and given it back to him......
Ohgr
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My girlfriend and I have also been caching since just about the end of the Summer, we haven't been to too many, and only placed one, but every time we've gone out, it's been extremely fun for the both of us.
I do most of the techy stuff, looking for newly placed caches in our area, posting the "Found It" on the cache pages etc. and she helps me find them, and also surfs the site and reads the forums etc.
And I did away with the who gets to hold the gps argument by buying two gpsr's when we started.
Have Fun!
Ohgr
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Cache pages signed by a bunch of cut up bloody cachers... Yummy....
We went to check on a cache after the fires here in CA, the only thing in the ammo can that survived was the log book, barely charred.... We used a burnt stick, as there were PLENTY of them around.
Ohgr
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Maybe another option?
USA PhotoMaps Available HERE you put in the starting coordinates and it retrieves the maps from the TerraServer, will also download Topo maps under the Aerial so you can switch back and forth.
Only downside is that the Aerial photos are a little old, and the topos' are even older, at least in my area, but on the bright side you don't have to do any scanning... Good Luck!
Ohgr
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There are two caches within a few miles of the house that used those type of ends, They were both bone dry inside, and really easy to get open.
Ohgr
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Oh, and I would like to see the 5 gallon bucket caches added, too. Finding them wouldn't be near as much fun as HIDING them!!
There is already a 5 gallon.....
Cache Types
Cache sizes for all caches that have a physical container.
Micro (35 mm film canister or smaller, typically containing only a logbook)
Regular (Tupperware-style container or ammo can)
Large (5 gallon bucket or larger)
Ohgr
Good Luck! 
Geo Bikes
in General geocaching topics
Posted
Have only biked to a couple caches, but that's because my other half dosn't bike, but I'm working on changing that.
Ohgr