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JoJoJeJe

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Everything posted by JoJoJeJe

  1. For many years I've been both a keen Scouter and a keen Geocacher and today I was extremely pleased to find out that the Scout section are to have their own Geocaching Activity badge! This couldn't have come at a better time as I was just going to introduce my new troop to geocaching as part of Scouting's Jamboree on the Trail day (when all Scouts around the world hike on the same day to show unity)and to have them place a cache near their meeting place soon! The requirements for the badge: Geocaching Activity Badge To achieve this badge you need to: 1. Demonstrate an awareness of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to include: a. how it works b. ownership and control of the system c. benefits to society d. what factors affect accuracy 2. Programme a hand-held GPS receiver to perform the following functions: a. Find your location (grid reference and latitude/longitude) and record it b. Enter the grid reference of a local landmark and navigate to the waypoint c. Enter the latitude/longitude coordinates of a nearby point and navigate to the waypoint, 11 checking the accuracy d. Walk on a bearing using the GPS and a map. 3. Demonstrate an understanding of the difference between Ordnance Survey and latitude/longitude coordinates. 4. Using an Ordnance Survey map (1:25 000 or 1:50 000 scale) plan a route of at least 4km that contains a minimum of 10 waypoints. Discuss the features and challenges that exist along the route. Programme the route into a hand-held GPS and undertake the journey. 5. Sign up to a geocaching website. Find out about geocaching and demonstrate an understanding of what is involved in both locating and placing a geocache. 6. Demonstrate an understanding of the safety and environmental aspects of geocaching, e.g. Highway Code; Countryside Code and guidelines produced by the Geocaching Association of Great Britain (GAGB). 7. Find five geocaches using a GPS, at least three of which must be 'multi-caches' with at least two waypoints. Discuss the accuracy of the information provided and of the GPS receiver you used. 8. With adult assistance where necessary: a. Plan, assemble and hide two caches, one of which should be a multi-cache. The planning should involve making sure the location is suitable and that other navigators have proper access to the land and terrain b. Either submit your caches to a geocaching website, or give the details to other Scouts to successfully find the caches.
  2. I'm sorry if this has been spoken about before. I'm new to hiding caches and when I searched for 'pub' it came up with a lot of events involved in pub or general conversations involving a pub... Anyway, the pub nearby has a fantastic history to its name. We're currently creating a series of caches around our area highlighting its history for our scouts to find... I'd like to place a cache in the far corner of the pub car park under the title "to trap a rat" - the pub is called the Rat Trap and got its name from the owner locking in the 'rats' who couldnt pay their bar bills etc. It has a colourful and interesting history. The landowner will be ok with the cache being there. I've look around this area to place outside of the pub carpark - but right next to the pub is the fire station- I dont want any cachers to park up and block any means of the fire engines leaving! Will it be acceptable to place a cache there? There'll be no encouragement for the cacher to enter the premises, just the car park. It will be available 24/7 and accessible. I know you cant place a cache in a shop etc - wasn't 100% sure about car parks etc... Many thanks JoJoJeJe
  3. LMAO! gives them a more 'wilderness' feel...
  4. I gave up with the Geocaching emails long long time ago... and with it any hopes of being a FTF
  5. in Clive Owen's bedroom. Of course one of the conditions of finding this cache is that he is also there.... failing that... probably the top of kili... with so many visitors I'm sure there's one there now...
  6. just the gps, phone, pen, toys maybe, coins/TB if i have any to drop. that's about it really...
  7. yeah i've done similiar ... especially when caches are really close. i've ended up going back to caches I think i haven't attempted or had tried to find but failed only to find, halfway through a trail, that I had found it before!
  8. hahah that is very good. the only thing we have to worry about in the UK is squirrels... they can be deadlier than a grizzly I reckon!
  9. ive used a lighter on a stick to get some 'charcoal' to write with...
  10. i love kinder eggs but not too bothered about the toys so i leave them in caches whenever possible - for the little ones, i dont want anything in return.
  11. So the guy is trying to have the largest collection of geocoins in the world?
  12. I've been told before that if i have a geocoin I don't want a 'collector' to take then I should scan it, laminate the picture and just release the picture. I've been told there are people out there who keep the coins for a 'collection' (not just tourist cachers)- not sure how true that is though. Although when I first started geocaching i didn't realise (until my friend helped me) that to log a coin/TB as retrieved I had to go directly to that coins page and do it there... it might be easier if Groundspeak had a feature where (when you write your 'found it' log) you can also select the coin/TB in that cache that you've found... thus making it more featurable to newer members...
  13. I've had similar events to some of you; + dog decided to 'disappear' for an hour, then whilst I was waiting it rained. I couldn't move from the area in case she came back and discovered me gone. She did eventually come back... after visiting some cows. I gave up on the cache and went home to dry off. +Brought the GPS out but forgot my paperwork notes. +Brought the notes but not the GPS and other random stuff like muggles not leaving area, unexpected parade in area and the SNOW this year!!! too cold!!!
  14. So it seems that they are using a car to travel to and destroy caches in the name of Environmental protection? contradiction much? They're probably living in the first area where the first caches were destroyed and seem to be destroying caches with TBs and geocoins in (to me). I'm sure Groundspeak has an IP blocking facility, more reliable than email? I can't see an area where you can report members?
  15. Occurrences like this are going to happen sadly with the increasing popularity of geocaching in the media and with these new 'your neighbours could be terrorists' ad campaigns from the police the hobby will get more focus. Just ignore these people, they will run out of enthusiasm for it. Besides... there's too many caches and geocachers... they can't get them all
  16. Any achievement geocoins for UK people from UK shops? I've tried looking for a 100 one, but have only found 1,000+ please help!
  17. I've had a couple that I've been to where the cache has become water logged and the log book damaged. I've tried to sign but if I can't and it's out of my control that I couldn't (ie weather damage, missing log book) then I don't see the point in waiting for the cache owner to place a new log book just so I can sign it and claim it as a find. For some owners that would take months! I still claim it as a find via a photo if I can (if not a descriptive email to the owner suffices) and many owners seem ok with that. But if I arrived at a cache and there was a log book but I couldn't be bothered to sign (even though a pencil/pen was provided) and nothing was stopping me (ie weather, health, aliens) then my conscience would eat away at me and I wouldn't log it as a find. It's all part of the game isn't it? i would feel a bit uneasy about people logging finds without signing the book or giving a reason why they couldn't [if i were a cache owner] but it's more on their conscience than mine
  18. Hi! Even after 45+ caches I'm still getting lost/muddy/scratched and looooost. It does take some time to get used to the mind of geocachers/cache hiders and realise that pile of bark piled infront of that tree is hiding a cache box! Took me about 20 caches before I cotton'd on and today I couldn't find one because 'it's in a tree' is a horrible description when you're in a thick wood! The majority of mine are ones I know will avoid trees in wooded areas, lovely as they are to walk through; my GPs can not lock in woodland so unless I fancy spending all day going through EVERY tree I don't bother. You can find many more interesting ones in town areas! These forums will be a good place to start for tips! I also found looking at geocaching webshops taught me the difference of nano/35mm/small/camo bag/decontamination container(!) etc. Google maps has been a FANTASTIC help me for as well. I find the co-ordinates on google maps then I check the terrain/route etc so I have some general idea before I set out. Also some cachers put photos of the actually cache on the page, I usually check photos before I leave to get more of a general idea of the area. Hope these might help! Don't give up! The more you do the easier it gets and the more interesting!
  19. hello cachers! I am new to caching and I noticed you can get magnetic car travel bugs (i have one) etc and you can get a sticker TB for a car window also... I have been searching and searching and searching for an answer to my question about the car window travel bug but alas, can't find one. From my understanding you can not put a cache in a 'commerical' place ie shop etc/ anything that forces a person in to a place of business to cache/gain trade etc. What about a travel bug picture in a shop window? It's not technically forcing the person inside as it'll be viewable from the outside... i imagine a travel bug in a home window would be ok? any thoughts and opinions (and maybe links to rules and regs etc) would be a great help!!! regards jojozombie
  20. you actually go to google maps to look at those co-ordinates!
  21. The application looks quiet nice and easy to use. have you heard anything from Apple since about it?
  22. I brought a Etrex H because its simple to use for a beginner, displayed all that i wanted it too and was cheap at the time (plus i work at Blacks and get a nice staff discount too ). I did have to get the serial cable seperate (in sale these go from £29.99 to £9.99) and luckily my acer computer supported it. I find it very simple to use with geocaching dot com (uploading cache cordinates to the unit), memory map and topo too. However! However I find the best accuracy I can get is 11ft, thus can sometimes miss the cache and a bit of searching is required - but it has been very good on signal for me. I don't think I will upgrade to another unit for a long long while (or until the GPS finally gives up on me) because all you basically need is just for the unit to find the long/lat and you're away! A nice unit but I will only recommend that someone gets one if their computer has a supporting serial cable port. (and that you have no use for an electronic compass as the unti doesn't support one!)
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