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Another possible exception I see, in addition to event caches, where an owner could log their own cache, is where the cache involved a challenge, like finding 100 caches in a day. The big part is meeting the requirements of the challenge, not finding the cache. I don’t see that as a problem if the owner has also met the requirements. The guidelines do say that there is an expectation that the owner also be able to complete the requirements of their own mystery/puzzle/unknown challenge cache but doesn’t say yes or no on logging it.

This small error was corrected in the schematic in post #41.

That is correct. I responded the way the question was asked because I knew what they meant. Technically it is modulo 360.

The analogy Cardinal Red used was good but to stick to degrees, minutes, and seconds, here’s another explanation. As you say, a circle is 360° or base 360. To find what half a circle is in degrees you multiply .5 circle by 360°/circle to get .5x360=180°. The conversion factor for that step is 360 as you pointed out. For most of the conversions you want to do you will either be multipling or dividing, depending which way you're converting, by the factor 60 Now let’s take some arbitrary coordinates, say, N28° 35.876 W081° 12.012, and convert the north 28° 35.876 from this DD MM.MMM format to DD.DDD format. You take the minutes (35.876) and divide that by 60min/° to get .597933°. Expressing the entire north answer in the DD.DDD format gives 28.597933°, rounded to 6 decimal places. To convert 28° 35.876 from DD MM.MMM format to DD MM SS format, you take the decimal part of minutes (.876’) and multiple that by 60sec/min to get 52.56”. Expressing the entire answer in the DD MM SS format gives 28° 35’ 52.56”. If you were given coordinates in this DD MM SS.SS format (28° 35’ 52.56”) and wanted to go to the DD.DDD format, you would do it in 2 steps. First, convert the 52.56/60 to decimal minutes to add to the 35 to get 35.876 then convert the 35.876/60 to get decimal degrees to add to the 28 to get 28.597933°”. 28° 35.8767’ 28.597933°, 28° 35’ 52.56” These are all equal, within the rounding I’ve done. A much easier way to convert is to download and use the FizzyCalc calculator ( http://www.fizzymagic.net/Geocaching/FizzyCalc/ ) which can do the math instantly and simultaneously for all formats. Converting N28° 35.876 W081° 12.012 to the UTM format of 17R E 480426 N 3163458 would be hard without FizzyCalc.

Cardinal Red and I are right on the schematic symbol for battery polarity. Do a Google search for "battery symbol" and you will find the following, as shown in this screen capture.

I’m sure that with your vast knowledge you could offer many more constructive comments. The battery being schematically drawn backwards I sure was a slip, no different than the misspelled words we all let slip now and then. Before anyone picks further and says the rotary switches are also drawn incorrectly, I’m sure they were drawn the way they were to allow people to follow the logical path for both N & W. Physically both sections of a rotary switch will be on the same position terminal and not on different ones as shown in the schematic. I saw nothing wrong with showing the two sections in different positions to illustrate a point. But just to make it clearer for some, here is yet another version of the schematic with the battery test switch, which I feel is necessary, included. I eliminated the push to read switch I had added and went with Capt. Bob’s suggestion of a momentary 1P2T center off switch to accomplish both N-W check functions and power off in one switch, a better idea.

Capt. Bob's schematic is exactly what is needed. However, by adding two momentary switches, you can prevent battery drain when not in use and the second switch will verify that the batteries are good. To check your numbers you set the rotary switches to the numbers you derived from the puzzle and push the switch to check to see if the LED lights to verify your answer. The battery test switch will eliminate the question of whether you have the right numbers but the LED doesn't light because the batteries are dead. Added switches

Thanks to the string of caches along the Stud Mill Road near Old Town, Maine, I was able to do the 36 required caches for an alphanumeric challenge cache in one day.

Pots would't be a good way to go because LEDs are current devices, not voltage. If a particular LED needs a minimum of 1.7 volts to produce light and has a current limiting resistor in series with it, any voltage above the minimum will cause the LED to light, with the higher voltage causing more current to flow through the resistor and LED, and thus producing more light until you reach a level of current flow that destroys the LED. What you are trying to make is an analogue of a combination lock. The way to do that is to use a number of multi-position rotary switches wired in series so each switch represents one digit of the required number. Use a 1-pole 10 position for each digit you want. Go to THIS LINK ( http://info.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Labs/...SwitchHowTo.pdf ) to see how it's done. You need to connect a wire to the switch common and another to the switch position representing the number for that digit. That wire will now be connected to the next switch's common with another wire to that switch's position representing the number for that digit and so on until you have the same number of switches as you need digits. The wire from the last switch goes through say a 1K ohm resistor to the LED and the entire string could work from a common 9 volt battery. You could use just 5 rotary switches if you just need to find MM.MMM and not degrees, which probably won't be changing, or 8 rotary if you need DDD MM.MMM. You could use a toggle switch marked N/W and have 2 paths through the rotary switches to give you the numbers for both N and then W without doubling the number of rotary switches.

One of my heroes, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, had an 11.8" piece of copper wire hanging on her wall to represent one of her favorite measurements.

The very fact that you'd know what a smoot is probably disqualifies you.

Nice easy puzzle cache with all the information you need to solve it. I might rate it a 1.5D, not 2.

The L1 frequency that your handheld GPSR uses is 1575.42Mhz. In my home workshop I use specialized fixed position timing L1 GPS receivers to access the atomic clocks on the GPS satellites to get frequency accuracy to parts in 10 to the minus 12 (parts per trillion) to synchronize my atomic clocks (doesn't everyone have an atomic frequency standard in their house? ) One limitation on getting greater accuracy is the processor (CPU) speed in your GPS. Even now accuracy isn't that bad for geocaching if done properly and with care. My gut feeling is that geocachers won't see any significent difference between the old and new series of satellites. Paying attention to proper proceedure when placing a cache will have a far greater effect on accuracy. Newer GPSr will marginally improve accuracy over time as well.

If you go to Wendy’s and order a Big Mac they aren’t going to sell you one. It won’t be because ‘Big Mac’ is obscene or they are trying to censor you, it is solely because they have made a business decision to present a certain product line to the public. Feel free to contest that decision all you want by presenting several pages of non-applicable political and social psycho-babble and it won’t get you any further than it has here in these forums. First of all, the others of diminished capacity you referred to, probably corrected your mis-use of the language when you didn't capatalize "I" and said "this questions" . As others have pointed out, you have unwittingly told us all we need to know about you in that first sentence. That, however, isn’t the case with this group, most have you pegged correctly. Hopefully as you mature you will understand the difference between being wise and being a wise a**. I’m sure your questions were answered by others but you weren’t open minded enough to see the replies as legitimate answers.

You really have to read the correct section of the guidelines. The section I have quoted is for puzzle type caches and it is very specific when it says: "For many caches of this type, the coordinates listed are not of the actual cache location but a general reference point" For proof check out the “Picture This” series (#1-#18) in Maine that gets you to the general area then you have to use a photo to find the exact location where it was taken to find the cache. I've done most of these plus many others similar ones in different states. Are you saying all these caches are not legit? If your interpretation were correct it would invalidate countless puzzle caches.

Ah, but a GPS is required to get to the reference point and that is all that is required by the guidelines. Re-read the portion of the guidelines I quoted and you'll see that is correct.

According to the above quoted guidelines the CO is required to give coordinates to a general reference point, in the case of the cache being discussed ( GC22EHW), I see parking and one additional waypoint so there's no problem there. The photos are 'clues' to how to get to the final from this reference point and although they are visual rather than numeric they apparently will get you to the cache as 3 cachers have found it. I see nothing to indicate that this cache is outside the guidelines. As long as the CO has provided the exact cache location to the reviewer so there will be no question about violating the proximity rule, he has done all that is required. I have found quite a few caches like this where you have to match a photo to a location once you get there to find the cache or you have to walk so many paces from a certain landmark toward some object.

Never assume there's no puzzle to solve just because you don't see it. Puzzles can be obvious or just plain evil. For instance, this puzzle cache of mine is simple (that doesn't translate to obvious) and cachers are solving it. Absolutely nothing is hidden as one of the hints states. I get quite a few emails on my puzzle caches and freely give hints after the cacher has described what they have tried to solve the puzzle. Just "give me a hint" doesn't cut it, I like to see that some effort is going into solving the puzzle, even if it is in the wrong direction.

Simply call it: "Meet & Greet: This is NOT a CITO Event"

Not everyone though. A few days ago I logged 8 DNFs. If I do what I feel is a careful search and don't find a cache, especially a low difficulty one, I will log it as a DNF. Occasionally the next 10 people will find it and say it was easy but generally it is gone.

Yes, I was positive of my answer (it’s basically self-checking) but using GeoChecker is a way to check if the CO made a mistake when he set that up-it has happened before. Thanks for your concern though. To be precise, you assume there are more correct solutions, you do not absolutely know that without actual facts, which I assume you lack.

Wow! When I solved it GeoChecker said I was #12 and there are now 32 cachers with correct solutions. Too bad it's so far away from most of us. Nice easy well done puzzle. TFTC

I finished the Massachusetts "Well Rounded NE Cacher (The Fizzy Challenge)" GC15E8N on July 1st, 2008, and 28 other cachers have also completed it. Some of the combinations and types of caches required for this cache were not easy to do. Trying to find a CITO event cache in NH in the winter isn't easy. I do like challenges.

Thanks for explaining your position so logically and succinctly. First, I don’t need to go to FL to find that no Rhino is “ALWAYS within 6 to 8 feet.” Garmin says it isn’t so and from my experience I agree with their specs that state the Rhino’s accuracy is: "position: < 15 meters, 95% typical." Either their published specs are wrong or your statement that you own a super-accurate Rhino that is never off is false. The smart money is on Garmin on this point. Second, although I’ve only found 5000 caches, that is a large enough sample to allow me to gauge how accurate various GPS receivers are and how carefully most cachers take their readings when placing a cache. With close to 350 FTFs I have, in a sense, beta-tested many caches. I stand by my statement that “I've generally found most carefully placed caches to be within the range of 10'-25' which I consider pretty good.“ I also fully understanding how to hide a cache and take reasonable readings. The precision timing fixed GPS receivers I use at home uses the timing encoded on the 1575.42Mhz L1 frequency of the GPS system to correct and calibrate my atomic clocks to parts in 10E-12. To get the necessary positional accuracy these receivers average thousands of readings (although I don’t take that many when placing a cache). I do know a little bit about the technology involved.

You obviously don't understand the technology, equipment, or scientific methodology. Even Garmin's specs state the Rhino's accuracy to be "position: < 15 meters, 95% typical." There is no way that your unit is ALWAYS within 6 to 8 feet as you falsely claim. If you make a reasonable assumption that most GPS receivers will give you an averaged reading that is within 15-20 feet most of the time then the possible accuracy you will read of a placed cache will be the combined accuracy of the hider's GPS plus the accuracy of your GPS, which could be up to 40' off. I've generally found most carefully placed caches to be within the range of 10'-25' which I consider pretty good. If you find the technology does not meet your expectation or you can't find a cache when you get within 15'-20' of GZ, perhaps a less stressful hobby with more qualified people is in order.