Major Catastrophe

The amount of improvement in coordinates from averaging is minor at best, and takes an inordinate amount of time to make an effective difference (hours, not seconds.) My own technique for averaging a waypoint is as follows: 1. After determining the spot I want to mark, I move away from the spot about 10 to 15 feet in each of the cardinal directions (N, S, E, W.) Take a reading at each of those points. 2. Repeat, but go to the 4 points in a different order (E, S, W, N.) 3. Once more, this time S, E, W, N. 4. If desired, add a few readings from the actual point in question. Just move to the center at some point in the above sequences. 5. Put all of the latitudes and all of the longitudes into a list or spreadsheet. 6. Throw away the highest and lowest latitude readings. Average the rest. 7. Throw away the high and low longitudes. Average the rest. I believe this method will give the most accurate fix possible given the inherent inaccuracies in the equipment most of us have access to. In particular, I believe this helps to negate the tendency of some GPS receivers (like mine: Magellan) to overshoot when you arrive at a point.

Yeah, that'd do it, but what I was getting at was more dough for more bandwidth...

I've made a couple. The first one, Baudot, I intended as a vehicle to introduce some people to an older type of digital communication. In fact, the so-called puzzle is no puzzle at all if you use the second method I provide. My most recent cache is Double Cross. I won't make any excuses for this one except that I wanted to see if I could create a good puzzle. You can be the judge of whether I succeeded.

While it might not guarantee speedy service, one way to improve the odds would be for more people to pony up the funds to become premium members. This stuff ain't really free...

Thanks, I was hoping someone would say that. The "Send" button at the top of the EasyGPS window defaults to "entire list."

I know someone's gonna disagree, but IMO all consumer-grade GPS receivers are practically identical. They all use (obviously) the same satellites, along with similar algorithms to process the information and suffer from similar problems. With some minor differences due to antenna construction and bells and whistles, they are functionally the same. On a good day with an ideal satellite constellation any of them will take you to within a couple of feet of a spot. On a bad day you might as well be looking in the next county because it will take you there anyway!

Whoa, bad form! If you can't put it inside the cache, it's just litter. So you didn't find it, big deal, log the DNF and try again another day.

Oh, that was the guy who showed up for a date with his pants sagging halfway to his knees. I used my pneumatic staple gun to help him keep them up!

Wow, that's a big joint! How many miscreants call it home?

FWIW, I always cover the VIN plates in my vehicles (the one that's on the dash, visible through the windshield.) It's a fact, that some dealers will cut a key for someone who comes in and says they're locked out of their car, here's the VIN....without proof of ownership. This makes a simple way for some creep to pick, choose and drive away. Yeah, I know, somebody is going to tell me that it's illegal to cover the VIN in some jurisdiction or another. I'll deal with that when I have to...

What makes me not seek? Cache is in a park next to an elementary school and I'm caching alone. Cache is surrounded by muggles/mundanes/non-cachers (choose one.) Cache was hidden by (name withheld.) 'Nuff said.

No........ bentgrass is what they use on golf greens!

That's what I love about these forums: I can sit back, read, and learn all kinds of new varieties of deviousness. My goal is to place a cache that has people checking in for therapy after they try to find it...

Create a Pocket Query that includes all of the caches in the area where you want to hide. Load all the waypoints into your GPSr. Then, go out and search for a place to hide your cache. When you find a likely spot, check the nearest cache that is in your GPS waypoints; if it is farther than the minimum distance, make the hide! (To run Pocket Queries, you would need to become a paid member.)

I think you're after EPE, estimated position error.

My avatar is a meerkat photo that I took at the zoo. It's low-resolution in honor of the satellite signals I seem to mostly get, and it's a meerkat because, well, he/she is cuter than I am...

There's a cache in Lincoln City that is located inside a coffee shop. I patronized them...

I don't think you're missing anything. Obviously you've thought through most of the problems with the hide, especially getting permission. OTOH, you are expecting cachers who are seeking your book to have that most uncommon of senses...

Are you using the Ipaq with a wireless connection? How is the file making it from GC.com to your Ipaq?

I like to save the cemetery caches for night outings. It adds so much to the ambience.

I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with that. It's hard enough being a nut job without having them involved in placing my caches...

If you're in my area, I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend using a large sum of money as a First Finder prize. OTOH, if you aren't near me, or if you are in possession of your senses, almost anything (reasonable) might make a great FF prize. Some people put cool buttons in their caches for the firstie, some a signature item like the pocket watches already mentioned. I've considered making some custom cache containers (probably micros so they'd fit into my caches and including one of them.

Are you using the link that appears at the top of each cache page? I do get a GPX file if I use that link.

Since you're using an iPAQ, you might take a look at GPXSonar. I use that on the iPAQ, GSAK on the PC. While I'm still learning the finer points (especially in GSAK) I find that between them they do a great job. My GSAK database has many more caches than my SporTrak can hold, so I use the filters in GSAK to take a subset of the database with an area I want to cache in, then I export that to a new GPX file. I copy that new file onto the iPAQ and also send it (waypoints) to the GPS. Additional GPX files on the iPAQ let me have all the stuff I want. As soon as I find a null modem connector (NOBODY in this area has any in stock!) I should be able to load waypoints directly from the iPAQ to the SporTrak.

Go to the "Find a cache" page. Do a search by latitude and longitude, using the coordinates of some point along the trail you'll be hiking. Then on the results page, click on the "Map It" icon at the top of the page to see an area map, or go to the individual cache pages and click on the Topo Zone map link to see the USGS map for that cache.