SSO JOAT

Was? Geomate.jr And per the description it displays the cache header info to include size and D/T ratings, so it's not exactly "no nothing" and plugging it into the computer allows the database to be updated just like any other GPS. I wouldn't get one as I use real Garmin GPS (which are NOT worse than the geomate).

Posting an NM automatically sends an email to the CO. You don't have to do it twice.

Technique-wise, my method was always to start the online form, enter name, type, size, D/T, coordinates, etc. and then just type one word in each of the description boxes. Save the cache page and you get your GC# issued. Once that part is complete, go back and edit the listing and you have all the time you need to fiddle with getting your listing just right. I hand code all my HTML, so I have a great dislike of the wysiwyg editor on the new creation form (though I really like how it runs through setting up all the header and attribute info during the rest of the process). I find it's much easier to hand code in a plain text document (e.g. Notepad) and then C/V to the page editor. With each follow-up tweak, you just save the page and go right to viewing the page to see how it looks. Really simple to bounce back and forth between edit and view with a page save in between. One more thing... for those who claim they've never seen the time limit warning at the top of the submission page, if ya'll can't see that, how could you ever find a nano cache in the field?

You completely missed the point. The Challenges were a means of steering existing challenges off of traditional caches and into a new and expanded realm that was separate. That's exactly what keeps being suggested for challenges. Get rid of the physical cache and make it a separate stat based on completing some kind of challenge. The caching community didn't allow that to blossom into the system that would have replaced a challenge with a traditional cache. And for the record, we most certainly did make some of the new challenges based on what was historically a "challenge cache" with a traditional container. The new challenges listed the requirements to log it by finding so many of whatever other type of cache. When they dropped the challenge system, those challenges (most of which went unclaimed to that point) went away as well. It had the potential to be a great replacement for traditional challenge caches. It just wasn't used that way. And the attempt to make it a new form of virtual cache essentially swamped the system from the beginning, making the value of each challenge completion less significant. Like mixing a film can PT with a mountain top cache. The 1 noteworthy cache stat gets lost amongst the 500 PNG micros.

Do ya'll not remember last year? They DID separate out the challenge thing. Apparently most of the folks hated it (I thought it was fine, though I didn't use it very much). How many months did that last before GS scraped the program? Challenges are never going to succeed on their own, if last year's challenge program couldn't do it.

Not gonna happen until the "Chirp" is no longer a Garmin-specific device, made by and for Garmin GPS. They are listed as puzzles because GS mandated them to be puzzles when they added the radio beacon attribute. BTW, there are radio beacon caches that do not use a chirp, so the category is larger than just that device. Personally, I don't see the justification.

You have to make up your own mind on what you're going to do. The way I made my decision was by asking, "do I know the CO?". If I do, are they an ethical geocacher? If yes, then I perform maint on their cache and note exactly what I did in my online log. Down the road, if given the chance, they'll return the favor. If I don't know them, or know them to be a shady or low-info cacher and the maint is more than a quick fix, then I'll just mention the needed maint in my log. I'll never look back or check to see if they did the maint. That's the CO's problem.

If the CO "can't find his own cache"... then how did he put it there in the first place? He most certainly did find that spot, just before there was a bison hanging there.

Naw, you just need to know the declination difference between the 2 maps (lat/long vs UTM). It's printed on your local USGS map. There's a grid north, true north, and magnetic north.

Makes me wonder... if the OP pulled up in the parking lot of a fast food joint 40 minutes before closing time and sat there contemplating the menu for 2 hours, would he be ticked off at the management for closing the place before he placed his order, or upset at himself for taking too long to make it? Personal responsibility. The lack of it is the root cause of most of today's societal problems.

Not a bad write up overall, though you'll want to give it another proof read. I noticed several spelling and punctuation errors on my way through. I'd argue a few of the technical points that were made, but don't really see a need to go there since it is an opinion piece anyway.

Yeah, it goes to a Yahoo search page stating the resource is missing. Hence, the reason why I suggested posting it here, since it is no longer "there".

Big glass buildings get just as good reception inside as most do outside in the big city with tall buildings around. I'm amazed at just how good a signal the modern Garmin high-sensitivity receivers are inside buildings.

Why can't you post the article here instead of making us go to some other site?

Try this... φ2 = asin( sin(φ1)*cos(d/R) + cos(φ1)*sin(d/R)*cos(θ) ) λ2 = λ1 + atan2( sin(θ)*sin(d/R)*cos(φ1), cos(d/R)−sin(φ1)*sin(φ2) ) where φ is latitude, λ is longitude, θ is the bearing (in radians, clockwise from north), d is the distance travelled, R is the earth’s radius (d/R is the angular distance, in radians) For final bearing, simply take the initial bearing from the end point to the start point and reverse it (using θ = (θ+180) % 360) Easy as π You could also just switch your GPS to UTM and take the grid coordinates and apply the Pythagorean theorem. At short distances, you really don't have to worry about the Great Circle effects.

Make it a letterbox hybrid with the coordinates at the front door or walkway leading to it. Now the coords don't have to be for the exact site of the cache.

OP wyrdsister... Can you post a screenshot of what you have in GSAK? I don't see any way that you can shut off logs in the PQ setup at GC.com or strip them while importing your PQs to GSAK. You certainly can strip off logs when you export from GSAK, but you are saying that logs are not arriving via the PQ in the first place. I don't understand how that can be.

My Garmin's handle them just fine. I know Delorme's bricked when they got attributes. But I'm not sure if GSAK exports them on a send to GPS if they are present. Don't want to drag this way off topic, but when I moved from a Garmin that required individual waypoints to the newer OS that could handle GPX files, the Garmins would NOT recognize a gpx file in version 1.0.1 and that was just last year. I switched to using 1.0 and everything started working fine. Never looked back. If Garmin has put out firmware upgrades that correct the 1.0.1 issue, that would be great and I'll have to look into it and see if this is really the case.

Actually, you are correct on GPX version. It is the GPS that cannot read the 1.0.1 file, not GSAK. I've gone away from all the 1.0.1 stuff because of that. Loading that version to a GPS makes the file unusable.

On a brighter note... at least there is someplace in the world where the police actually SHOULD send the bomb squad to "remove" any caches that are discovered. Of course, I'm actually very surprised that the military has allowed any geocaching activity, on or off of a base. A complete violation of commsec rules on multiple levels. Heck, we can't even get a US base in America to allow geocaching on their public accessible lands in our area. They flat-out banned geocaching a few years ago. Big black hole on the cache map.

So, when you are looking at a cache listing in the GSAK window, you do not see a section (default on the right side under the map) that has the recent log entries? What GPX version do you have your PQs set for? You should use GPX 1.0 and not the 1.0.1 version. This is set in your gc.com profile.

There is no warning pop up. The instructions clearly state you have 40 minutes to complete the online form. It ain't GS' fault that you didn't follow the directions.

It's actually rather telling. Sounds like the 'puter-puncher's problem is at his interface, not Groundspeak's. Just sayin...

This has got to be a chart topper from last weekend... We're on the first of 4 back-to-back CITO events held over 2 days at 4 sites in 4 different towns. As we're walking through the brushline at the back edge of a softball field, the cacher I'm CITOing with finds a red iPod nano. It had apparently been out here for at least the winter, but on the back there was a guy's name and his phone number engraved on the case. So, out comes the cell phone and call the number. The guy's sister answers the phone and when told that we found the iPod, she says that her brother lost it 5 years ago! It was probably junk by now, but it was still pretty cool to be able to make the connection. They came down to the park to claim it, though we had to leave and get to the next CITO, so the iPod was left with the park director until the owner arrived and we missed out on the happy reunion.

Oh, look at what is written at the top of the cache submission page... Just can't seem to manage any sympathy on this one.