Andronicus

I think the answer is International Geocaching Day: 3rd Saturday of August International EarthCaching day: 1st Saturday of October

Bolded part is just nonsense! As the owner of a cache, I get to pick who should be able to find it. I may not want freeloaders to have access to the cache. Maybe I don't even want geocaching.com members to have access. Maybe, only members of my local Jr. Forest Wardens troop. Since it is my cache, that is my choice. With believes like yours, I am surprised you have door locks on your house and cars. Shouldn't all houses be open to everybody to sleep in? Every car open to everybody to drive? PS you don't need a premium membership to find PMO caches. Try messing around with the different search options until you find one that lets you play "hotter/colder". I used that way to find more than one PMO caches before I was a PM. You can also log your PMO cache finds using the well documented "Back Door" method.

I give up. We have address every one of those concernes already, but you refuse to listen. Re-read the pro-phone posts, and you will see good easy answers to every one of your concernes. Most new phones are IP rated (not apple though), so your rain, dropping in the creek, etc. dirt etc. is becoming irrelevent. I tend to do all-day runs 6 to 10 hours. No way either my Samsung Galaxy Nexus or my friend's iPhone5 would last that long in geocaching mode. You didn't even read the post you commented on. SPAIR BATTERIES!! There is no battery problem with phones (apples, with non-removable batteries, need an external charger... but who's talking about those...)

A little earlier you complained Apple doesn't let you use generic bluetooth GPSRs - yet here you're saying the cheap generic GPS is a pain to use with Android. It may be a bit of a PITA, but it does work (unlike iOS) You just made my point. Now manufacturers have to make normal bluetooth GPS and special non standard iOS bluetooth GPS. Increases their cost of buisness, and that is passed on to you, the iOS owning customer. No thanks, I won't participate in that sillyness. I think I have already answered that question. i.e. If they don't have thier sensitivity numbers published, don't buy it.

Just log a "Note", and drop the bug in the usual manner.

What makes it different from a bison? I think it likely has a unbalanced electric rotary motor.

I wouldn't be against the idea, but may still decide to boycot them (like I did with Challanges).

For starters, there's a solid reason for the fact that a typical purpose built GPS isn't as thin as a typical smart phone -- the size of commonly available batteries. Frankly, I'm always happy to know that A: I can replace my GPS cells with two others should they become depleted, and B: that I can replace them with any old AA I can find in a pinch, and in both cases, do so in the field, not on a workbench with tiny tools. Given the larger dimensions and low cost of all but custom lithium packs, don't expect a GPS to look like a smart phone any time soon. And that's OK with me. Most smartphones do not have a battery issue. It is primarily the Apple phones that have that problem. The rest of us just have a few spare batteies with us that we can quickly swap out. They are quite cheep on ebay etc.

Well, I am not a GPS designer (although, out my office window, is Novatel GPS, maybe I could ask them) so I don't have the answers to this. But, I would think that by now, there is likely an open source algorithm that is considered "as good as it gets." I suspect that the math side is not nearly as big of an issue as it once was. I guess the true test would be to do some comparisons downtown. Are there any brass caps downtown anymore (or did they all get archived)? Maybe we could host an event and let everyone try their GPSr out for accuracy and stability in the middle of all the tall building.

Just did a quick google. I currently have a QStarz Bluetooth GPS. I don't really use it much anymore (it is a pain in the butt to use with Android). Anyway, if you jail break your iOS device, it looks like you can use normal Bluetooth GPS, including QStarz, and GlobalSat models. I think the jail break process enables Bluetooth SPP (serial port profile), allowing normal Bluetooth GPS to work. From my understanding, iOS intentionally does not support many of the standard profiles in the Bluetooth stack. So Red90 said "somewhat custom Bluetooth language", would probably have been more accurate to say "somewhat crippled Bluetooth Stack", or "somewhat incomplete Bluetooth Stack".

Just to finish my iOS hate rant... While the industry had standardized on NEMA via serial protocol, and have been using it for years very successfully, apple in all their wisdom decides that they have a better idea. And, instead of adding their better idea, they remove the old method; thus making all the great cheap products available incompatible, and likely requiring developers of iOS compatible devices to pay a license fee. While it may be a good business strategy as long as you have an army of iDiots mindlessly buying your product, this, and other similar "featurs", are the reasons I will never buy an iOS device.

You're right they don't. I wonder how we can get the sensitivity value? Is there an industry standard in determining the sensitivity values or it's subjective? I don't think you can 'get' the sensitivity value. This is a value that is determined by the RF designers. Some manufacturers will publish these numbers (especialy if they are proud of them), and others won't (expecialy if they are ashamed of them). My rule of thumb is "If the sensitivity is not published, JUST SAY NO!" There is nothing more dissapointing than trying to use your new GPS, but it can't get a lock because of tree cover.

On a similar note, I thought I found a tricky FTF, but then I noticed the 'cache container' was breathing

Here is a tip. Try something like medoug suggested (quoted below)

Good idea, but all the "bison tube hanging on a branch" caches that I've come across are attached such that the cap stays affixed to the tree and the tube must be unscrewed in place to get it. Kind of difficult to do with a grabber. Personally, while I agree "more or less" with the "must sign the log to claim the find" philosophy, I think there should be exceptions. If the container can't be opened by design, i.e., a combination lock or puzzle to be solved, that's one thing, but if the container can't be opened for some unintended reason (rusted shut, for example), I'd assume the CO would be OK with me claiming the find because it was not part of his "challenge". That's just my take on it. Likewise, if the cache is 30 feet up the tree, then climbing the tree was obviously meant to be part of the challenge....so no sig, no smiley. However, if the cache is just a little out of reach because one is "vertically challenged", or even in a wheelchair, perhaps, well, if it were my cache I'd probably let the log stand. I don't think you are allowed to be this reasonable on the geocaching forums. You better take a stand on one extream or the other. Especialy with Puritan month comming up!

Wow, I drove right by there last December. Too bad you hadn't published this cache 1 year earlyer. I would have loved to visit that bridge.

None of the attributes I see are called "Winter Friendly" or "Winter Accessible". Hmmm. I thought when I hovered over it, it said "Winter Accessible". You're right though, on the attributes page it does say "Available During Winter". In Ontario that would be just about every cache. Very few parks (none that I know of) shut down and don't allow people to use the grounds. Yep. In Winter it's a larger pack for a collapsible shovel and the handheld Garrett detector. - I walk with either a snowscopic or a 100cm SMC Capra after the first snow, so a chopper's available too. I don't do small parks, so no worries of, "There's a man with an axe!". I always worry about damaging the cache. Some of the plastic containers are brittle in the cold.

Why not? If they were the first to find it, that kind of makes them FTF. Especialy because the CO doesn't even know where it is.

This never happens. Well, it would never happen in my reviewer's area. Can't say anything about yours. It seems rather bizzar. While I have seen warnings by our reviewer when many cachers post DNFs after extensive serches, archival after two DNFs is almost unbelievable\unforgivable.

This is why we usually go caching with our bears - these creatures are able to make impression on our police. We call them geobears around here. If we talk seriously, there are several reasons for not doing this. a) Local policemen typically don't know anything about geocaching so you'll need to start from scratch. b ) They hardly can communicate in English so you better be fluent in Russian. (Perhaps you are). c) They typically don't like anything uncommon that they don't understand. You cannot seriously rely on the legal system here that would protect your rights. Anyway, the worst scenario I can think of is that you will be transported to a local police office, questioned here and spend some hours behind bars before they understand you're just another crazy tourist who's most likely harmless though suspicious. I can hardly imagine that you will turn any Russian policeman into your faith after talking about the sport with him. I always love to hear your prospective! You always bring a prospective that is so different from everyone else, it is a breath of fresh air.

In my defense, I have been working on a TB Hotel which is about to be $1100 so far. A nice garden shed in my yard. Sadly, the people that 'bought' our house in Alabama, when I retired from the Air Force, turned out to be criminals. We finally got them out, but we've had 2 house payments since April. So, the TB Hotel has been pushed to the back burner. Couple that with a 95% micro-a-day streak and I've honestly neglected some TBs that I had stocked up for the Hotel. Several pages of the 82 came from doing half of the 1005-cache geoart here in Colorado. I sincerely apologize, but you might have been less of a jerk by allowing me to explain before posting this as if you knew it was malicious abuse. Also, you might have contacted me after a page or two of visits. I prefer that my bugs get a 'visit' if they are traveling through micros... I did not consider NOT using the automatic visit on my browser plug-in. As I noted in my e-mail to you, I will gladly show I meant no harm by removing every log on the 82 pages and will drop the TB in a large enough cache at my earliest convenience. Rule #2 of Travle Bug Ownership: Never speak rudely to the holder of your TB. They have the bug, they have the power. Team Sagefox: You are lucky THeSKuLL seems to be a nice guy. A lot of cachers would just quietly dissapear your bug after receiving an email like that.

I think you said it better than I could. And yes, that is my point. As long as cachers view a DNF as "cast a negative light on the cache", then these sorts of DNFs would be looked down upon. However, in reality, they are just descriping the cache seekers experience. DNFs are neither negative or possitive, they just are.

Are you suggesting that doing this in Russia may result in you being sent to the Gulags?

I have been asked a few times. Two or three times by police, once by Military Police, a few times by residance, once by local kids, and once by a kayaker . Like others mentioned, don't lie to the police. Others, maybe, depends. The kayaker, I told the truth that I was looking for a survey marker. He replied "survey markers are boring". That may work as a good lie for nosy neighbours.

If you have one, it should work. Try it out with a demo version of one of the apps (NeonGeo, CacheSense etc) If you are thinking of getting one, consider a phone that is a little faster. There are 0$ phones available that are better.