OKThumper

Well that would make sense - mine was started in Italy and wanted to get back to the UK... I think it was only taken to Oklahoma by mistake. It may still reappear with a bit of luck! I don't know them either, does their profile give a location, or a town we might look at for them? Thumper On edit, I just checked their profile and it appears they are from up in the Tulsa area, and their names are Suzy, Darby, and Roxy. Maybe we can get some of the Tulsa group to help here, I'll see. Thumper

See, I told you the answer was easy, I just could not find it. I need a computer program seeing eye dog/cat. Thanks, Clyde Thumper

The problem is that caches that I have placed (own) are not being updated in the "lg", "Last Log", "Last Found", fields. If I do a "Show Off Line" request the page does not show any cacher's posts. When I try to import the cache via a GPX, LOC, or single GPX file I get the message that they have been updated and the user flag column shows that they were updated. The fields just don't change or show any change. I sent the debug to you under tracking number 967. I only posted here because it may help another with the same problem and this might save you having to answer the same questions twice. I am in absoultly no hurry for the cure, heck, I am retired which equals nothing much to do and all day to do it. Thanks for the great program and the support given. Thumper

OK, I must be dumb as a brick this morning, please no dumb bunny jokes. So how do I get GSAK to update my owned caches. I have them included in one of my GPX file downloads, and it does not seem to "see" them as they are not being updated. I then tried to download each as a LOC file and a single GPX file and I still don't get them updated. So am I doing something wrong in the downlaod, or have I missed a radio button or check box in GSAK somewhere. I know that the answer is painfully simple, I am just stumped. Thanks Thumper

sTeamTraen: I am not sure about the voltage issue being the reason for not having them on the market yet, after all they could just make the cell with less guts in it. I have heard that they are having problems with the cell being able to develope/discharge enough amps to run many of the items that AA's are used in. That is the reason that NiCd's and NiMh's are used in high amp situations rather than Alkaline cells. Alkalines dont put out (develope/discharge) a lot of amps at a given time. Thumper

The rechargeable battery thing re-visited. This has been the topic of many discussions on this and other web sites for a long time. There is an on going question as to how to treat rechargeable. Many of the above post are right on, however some are not even close. My background with NiCd's and NiMh's comes from the RC hobby were we often use a battery pack made up of six sub C cells and costing up to and sometimes past $100. So we have kind of weeded out the myths. First, if you have a choice always go with NiMh. The NiCd's are on the way out of the market, the nickel cadmium can not be recovered, and it is a huge polluter of our landfills. NiCd's do have a memory, they are not effected that much by cold (they have been used in polar expeditions) and discharging them to zero and even putting them on a dead short is helpful. I often store my old NiCd's on a dead short for a week at a time, let them "rest" off the dead short for a day then fully charge them. I have packs that are several years old and are still raceable. They should also only be cycled (charged,discharged) once per day, this has to do with internal heat of the cell. NiMh's do not form a memory, they also are not effected to a great degree by cold, they will not be harmed by recharging them before they are totally depleted (memory), they don't seem to be effect adversely by deep cycles (that is running till totally discharged, then recharging). NiMh's also are not effected by internal heat as the NiCd's are, in fact many people charge their NiMh cells until they reach 130 degrees on the outside. This is a practices of those that wish to get the most out of the cells for a five minute race in which the draw can be as much a 90 amps (that's a bunch of amps from a small battery pack, and often are hotter after the race). NiMh's can be used as many time as needed in a day, within reason. They do not pollute the landfills. Now on to something we have all been waiting for the Lithium Ion/Polymer. I hope that they are soon on the market, they have the best of both batteries, and so far none of the bad. Hope this serves to help and not confuse. Thumper

My wife and I both love virts. They are a whole lot better than beating down miles of brush, wading through boggs, dodging poision flora, and bitten to death by plasma bandits to finally arrive at a soggy half chewed up "box" cache that has not been maintained. That said, remember there are some of us that are not able to reach a lot of placed caches due to our disabilities. It is a lot of fun, and at times very educational, to do the virtual caches. We have gone to many virts that we feel are more fun and interesting than some of the placed caches. After all the "prize" in the "game" is to find the cache (virtual or boxed) more than what trinket can be extracted. Just how many Mctoys does one need. Sorry for the rant, just wished the virts would be placed back on the menu of caches avalible to post list. It would have to be with the understanding that they would be more closely monitored to insure that they did not become just a lazy way to up your owned cache stats. Maybe the mods could watch the cache page and read what is posted, lame virts would die a quick death, and good ones would survive for others to see. Just my thoughts on the subject. Thumper

fratermus: you could leave a picture of the card in the cache, with a code word, and then watch the cache on this site to see who claims the prize and has the correct code word. Then you could either meet with the claimer or mail the card to the claimer's business (to verify age) address, or home address. Just a few thoughts to maybe help that card escape captivity! Thumper By the way I agree with the no knife policy, even after I scored a bunch of knives for swag. They now reside (still in the packaging) in the same box all of the afore mention cr*p knives I have removed from caches now reside.

I need a USB receiver/antenna and cable only. Lots of them on e-bay but they are to much for me. If you got one you don't need and can sell it cheap I will paypal you. Thumper Truck broke into and lots of stuff stolen, insurance did not cover most of it, imagine that. They sure took the premimiuns though. I'm in the wrong business.........oh wait a minute.........I'm unemployed. Thumper

Thumper here, All is still well in my camp. Gsak and the 60CS are still communicating in great fashion. Does not seem to matter which OS I am using (Win98 or XP SP1 or SP2). I have tried several different upload/downloads of filtered databases and it has accepted tham all without error. I did find one little hickup though, if your USB port is in the back of the puter, and there is a serial port right next to it, then GSAK will not work if you plug the USB cable into the serial port.........even if you unplug and re plug it. For some odd reason the USB cable REALLY needs to be in the USB port, imagine that. Though I had a problem to report, until I pulled the USB (read my head out of my ....) out of the serial port and put it in the proper port. What a great piece of software.......super work. Thumper

I did finally get the files copied over to the other puter. I just copied the backup files in the host puters directory to the floppy then to the slave puter. I am not sure it was a files size being to big for the floppy error as I used the same floppy with the unzipped files which should have been larger. Let me tinker/mess with it a bit and see if it will work correctly with another floppy or CD. Just like any kid (all be it an older one) with a new toy to play first and read directions second........er, last. Many thanks Thumper

Clyde, I hate to waste your valuble time, however, I need to ask you a question about the "backup/restore" function. I ask it here because others may have the same question and it would save you time to answer one question for many users. I have tried to backup my file on the desk top puter, send it to the floppy (1.44) then restore it on the laptop. I got a "cyclical error" a couple of times. So I tried to send the zip backup file to the hard drive on the desk top, then copy the file to the floppy, that worked, kind of. I get the first four or five fields but lose everthing after that. What am I doing wrong, most likly something stupid knowing me. E-mail me if you need more info or a copy of the zip file. Thumper

Maybe if the Garmin USB thingy really works we will have an answer to all our connectivity problems. Or maybe just more problems. I quit one hobby and started this one because the first was to frustrating. Hope I don't have to start another, maybe collecting Wal Mart bags is easy enough for me. Thumper

I actually spent over 18 hours re-installing xp and sp2 hoping it would help correct the problem, did not work. Thumper

Nobody........Anybody!! Thumper

OK I need help. I have a HP laptop, Win XP, SA2004, 60CS, USB to serial cable. Problem: SA 2004 will not "see" com four. Maybe because I have a problem configuring the virtual com four. I have tried to do the plug and play thing but it will not work. I tried to install the USB to RS 232 drivers but XP just says the best driver is already in use. I have the virtual com four in the list of com ports in the divices list but it has a Code 10 error. Can somebody send me the info to configure this com so SA 2004 will put it on its drop down list of ports. Thanks in advance. Thumper

OK I need help. I have a HP laptop, Win XP, SA2004, 60CS, USB to serial cable. Problem: SA 2004 will not "see" com four. Maybe because I have a problem configuring the virtual com four. I have tried to do the plug and play thing but it will not work. I tried to install the USB to RS 232 drivers but XP just says the best driver is already in use. I have the virtual com four in the list of com ports in the divices list but it has a Code 10 error. Can somebody send me the info to configure this com so SA 2004 will put it on its drop down list of ports. Thanks in advance. Thumper

I run in a team with my wife and grandson, so it is hard to tell what we will find in a cache that hits our fancy at any particular time. The grandson likes dice for some reason. The wife likes artsy stuff. I just like what tickles me at the time. We try to trade up always, but more often than not we TNLN. For a time we left a signature item of a Prayer Rock, and a poem about what it was and how to use it. Hey we live in the buckle of the Bible Belt. We have run low/out on rocks til I find another good quanity deal. We had a slew of six point screwdrivers we gave out for awhile, little Greatneck levels, that kind of stuff. I will always take a knife, just me I think they should not be in a cache. I used to leave butane cigerrette lighters until I was told that they were taboo as well. I question this as they are not listed (that I can find) as a no no. Are they considered an explosive? Don't know. Only one person said anything about them. I guess that is it for us. Thumper

Thanks guys. I am a little overwhelmed by all the things that GSAK can do, so the learning curve is a little steep at this point. I tried the method Team Demp suggested and it worked perfectly. Then I got a little more brave and started banging away at the database with different filters and learned a bunch about what can be done. I think it would be a good idea for any new user to use the "default" database to practice using different filters. If you mess it up or even lose it you can easliy recover it, and not be worried as I was about losing my own data. As to why I wanted two different databases, at this point I am not sure (after seeing the filters work) but at that time I just wanted to have "found" and "not found" caches in two different databases for non clutter loading of the GPS'r. Now I see how it can be sorted before loading so the two databases are moot at this point. However, as a neat freak I think I will keep the two at this point. Thanks especially ClydeE for a great program, and to Team Demp for helping ClydeE to answer some of these mundane questions. Thumper

The answer to my question is most likly so simple I almost hate to ask it, almost. If I have two databases (Found and Not Found) how do I move a cache from one database to the other? I just got GSAK and I am in a real learning curve, but so far I like the program, just need a little help from my friends. Thanks Thumper

Thanks wornout, I PMd you. Thumper

Boy do I know how to kill a thread or what. Just asked a simple question about SA 2004 and the CS and everybody bales. Sorry I messed it up for all the others (and myself) that have been watching this thread for tidbits on the feeding a careing for the CS. Thumper

This is a great thread, I have read it all and I am copy and pasting info to a word processor for future reference. On to my particular pain. I have a laptop (XP), I have SA2004, and I have the CS running the beta fim/software. I use easygps to load the CS via USB, but can't seem to find a way with either USB or serial (thru a USB to serial converter, my lap top does not have a serial port) to download from the CS to SA2004 the waypoints in the CS. Should I dump easygps and go to GSAK? Would that make the pain go away. Also, while asking I might as well shoot for the moon, can I load SA2004 into the CS? The mapping software they send with the CS is really lame, could be losing them customers to Magellen. I have lots of time to play with the laptop and CS connection because I am home bound until I can clear up the case of poision oak from the last caching trip. We are lucky here in Oklahoma, we have poision oak, ivy, shumack, snakes, ticks, chiggers, plasma bandits, and a host of stinging and sticking plants. All of which seem to love me dispite all precautions. Maybe Geocaching.com should have a rating for these as well as terrain and difficulty. Thanks is advance, Thumper

Geocyclist, I echo what runaround says, and I also do not store in a cold climate, just room temp. After the cells have been charged in a fast charger I would remove them, also if charged in a slow charger after the given charge time I would remove them. Just seems like a waist of time and electricty to try to put five pounds in a two pound sack, so to speak. Thumper

So answer me this! If the Garmin 60CS will operate on two standard AA's at 1.5 volts each for a total of 3 VDC, rechargables at 1.2 VDC each for a total of 2.4 VDC, a car power cord at 12 VDC, and a external power source of 36 VDC, then why would it not be able to handle Lit Ion at 5 VDC each for a total of 10 VDC? There is a range in which many unit will work, GPSrs will work until the batteries are dead, so that is way below the starting voltage, and apparently they will work with way more voltage the the typical AA will deliver. By the way NIMH cells will get hot (at least 120 degrees when charged with a fast charge unit) and will remain cool when on the maintenace charge. NIMH will discharge at a slower rate if charged a a slower rate, and discharge faster if charged at a fast rate. Store NIMH cells with a surface charge, not fully charged, not fully discharged. Cycle (charge then discharge) NIMH cells at least once a month to keep them potent and increase the life of the cell. Never dead short the cells when fully discharged as some may suggest (this was a hold over from the NICD cells that liked the dead short thing for storage)when storing the cells. NIMH will not develope a memory like the NICD cells did but it is still benificial to discharge them all the way before recharging them, helps them on capacity. I run battery packs for RC cars that run in the $100 range of six sub c size cells, so you might say that I have had an expensive education on rechargables and their habits and treatment. Thumper