Sue and Bernie
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Posts posted by Sue and Bernie
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I have 2 redundant bike mount back plates for the old eTrex family going spare if anyone needs one.
They are left over because I now hav a Vista C which still clips onto the original handlebar parts that are still in use on my cycles (one mountain bike for work and local stuff, a hybrid for longer trips).
Anyone need one of them?
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Dave,
...I reckon you mean 23 mA - a 23A battery will need a truck! You might find one on an old milk float... or do you need one that big to jump start your Magellan?
Bernie
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It's a caricature of us. The A3 original is framed on the wall of our dining room.
Sue cannot see herself there - but everyone else can! Sue gets recognised at meets from the picture. Sue thinks my crinkly lips are spot on.
There's a bigger, more detailed version on our website (link through our profile).
We've also had a stamp made up that we now use to log our entries at caches.
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Using the KISS principle we just use our names!
Sue has regularly been recognised from her half of the caricature we use as our atavar. Sue doesn't though!
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On a similar line, we have just found 2 caches that have been achieved!
We missed the fact that they had been closed because I had not updated my GPSonar file on our Ipaq. Oblivious of this, we went on a 8.5 mile walk to seek 3 caches, got them all as described. We did not realise 2 of them were archieved until afterwards because we posted our logs via GSAK.
We were updated afterwards by the cache owner and now have to go back to collect a Travel Bug we dropped off.
Since the caches are still in place, I have asked if the owner needs someone to adopt them...
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Lovely little article about this subject on the Times Comments page today (P19 by Martin Samuel), I paraphrase:
How many company/goverment/rich owners do you think were priced out of the London Congestion Charge zone? A nice exact answer - none at all!
All the other ordinary joes like us end up footing the bill.
It is just another Orwellian move by the "Socialists" to price the riff-raff off the road.
Just like when Blair, Harriet Harman and Diane Abbott all found reasons for their kiddies to be sent to selected schools when their offspring were facing going to their ordinary local schools - no comprehensive for their children.
...and now it is roads...
...just get out of the way peasants!!! Take the bus!!!
...and I think it is all pie in the sky too, the well argued points above will not be considered - until of course they hit them smack in the face!
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...on our bikes, we use a eTrex Vista C.
It came with an adaptor to screw onto the back so that it can be mounted on the handlebars using the standard etrex bike mount.
The Garmin eTrex bike mount originally came with an additional backplate/battery cover for the original, older monochrome eTrex family.
...and the eTrex family is waterproof too...
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We bought one of the aluminium jobs via eBay.
We use this whenever we take the Ipaq out in the field - it lives in our geocaching backpack. We use the standard leather pouch for the rest of the time.
The aluminium case comes with a good plastic clip that fastens right around a standard belt. It will not accidently come off the belt. The case has a stud that engages with the clip with a ratchet mechanism that ensures the case is firmly and positively engaged with the clip. You have to press down on a button at the top of the clip to be able withdraw the ratchet and take the case off your belt.
Without a doubt, we are pleased with this solution - the way we stumble about in the woods, lean against trees etc etc, the hard case give the added protection you need when you take the Ipaq out into the wild.
Until they come up with the rubber Ipaq, it is a good solution..
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We use an Ipaq 6340 with a BT GPS to drive the dreaded TomTom3 & Memory-Map combo.
The BT fighting problem is well-known and there is a lot of relevent info on the IPAQ forums. TT3 is the problem, its sister program TomTom GPS hogs the bluetooth stack. There are workarounds but too much trouble for us, we "invested" (New Labour-speak for spent) in the GPS Gate program from Fransom. This has resolved the battle over the BT GPS.
Why do we want both programmes running - TT3 gets us to the area but like all stupid computers, it will direct you to the place where the road is nearest the destination - even if it's on the other side of a river! When we get close to a cache, we stop TT3 and switch to MM. We then use that to guide us to the best place to park using the moving map display. It's brilliant.
Mind you, we agree that the Pocket PC option is dead flakey compared to the dedicated GPS units, we regularly have to reboot it to restart everything - just like a normal PC! But when the technology is working, it is very impressive.
PS: if you do download GPS Gate to try it out for the 2 week free trial, hang on before lashing out, they will send you a 30% discount.
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GSAK, mentioned earlier, is the solution but it does need Premium Membership of this site to be able to generate pocket queries.
From GSAK you can feed the same set of data into directly to your eTrex, GPSonar and TomTom3 all formatted as required.
GSAK has all the filters and doodads you could possibly need to compile "sets" of caches around any chosen focal point (such as the homes of relatives and friends). Once you have used the program to select a batch of caches, you squirt them directly into whatever program or hardware you use.
Each week I receive pocket queries to update my GSAK files with all the cache details about our various focal points - including for our upcoming trip to the Canaries.
I personally use GSAK to feed data into my Ipaq (into TomTom3, Memory-Map and GPSonar), my Vista C and into my trusty old Streetpilot 3 depending what kit is going to be on the trip...
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Being in the military takes my team and I erratically to all sorts of corners of the country and even to different countries.
When we go off on these trips, I always take cache details with me and, much to the amusement of the team, I trundle off into the countryside rather than spending most of the free time sampling the local brews.
I've taken several others out on these trips - and we've seen more of the place in these latter geo-geeking driven trips than in the dozens of previous visits.
In particular, I've enjoyed walking in the parks and neighbour areas of other countries, mixing with people walking their dogs and going about their business just like at home! Whether in the UK or abroad, geo-geeking has taken me off the cliche-deleted track and into the real world of the people actually living there. Unusually sights, lovely backwaters (particularly around your own home) - you are guided by local experts to some of the best corners. Surprise you family and friends by taking them to new spots on their own doorsteps.
The "anorak" label soon pales...
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...mind you, to get rid of your personalisation of the Garmin, you just need to download the latest update and install it without inserting your details into the update.
This will install an unadulterated flash image hence removing your personal stuff.
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I did this too on my old Vista using "GPS Warn" by Otto Milvang here:
I still have a copy in my download folder if you need it (dated 12 Oct 2002).
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If you use other Garmin products, you will find there is a lot of commonality in the menu screens, options and functionality. The control selections and actions vary between the units but the processes and actions are very much the same.
We have a Vista C and a Streetpilot 3. The sequences/functions/actions you describe are not unfamiliar to us.
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...and if you get the chance, don't forget to have a bash at some of the backwater public footpathss of the country.
We still get amazed by the funny, forgotten corners in our own backyard! You think you know an area - until you get to walk it - usually by the courtesy of a geo-cacher.
When we are not caching or cycling, we just punch out a brisk 8 mile circular walk virtually at random using public footpaths. We plot the route on an Ordnance Survey map on the PC, drop it into the GPS (and Ipaq) and bimble off for the day. We have always enjoyed following these routes that criss-cross the countryside from days of old.
You simply see so much more...
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Lacto & Ecko...
...any chance of pinning this very handy thread to the top for a while to enable others to spot it and reap the benefits of Lordelph's super work?
After all, he has kindly shared his efforts to all the players but the thread is getting swamped out of sight.
I feel it would be appropriate that as many as possible get to see the thread and LD gets due credit for his contribution ...before the thread get trampled down and gets lost to the masses.
Keep up the sad work LD...
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If I remember correctly, you have to include the Mozilla (or wherever) website in the list you allow installs from...It won't install. It can't decide between blocking it from being downloaded, or allowing me to save or run it. There is nothing installed which will run a .xpi file on my machine apparently? So I'm stuck. Any help please?Absolutely correct! Got it working - lovely addition too.
After "adding" the site to the list via Tools/Options/Web Features/Allowed Sites, I was indeed able to add the GreaseMonkey Extension. It was listed under Tools/Extensions as described.
I closed down Firefox - and it smartly refused to open again! A quick reboot of the PC, running the script and bingo! All working as advertised.
Well done Lordelph for sharing a super add-on to the site and Littlejim for showing the way...
...and thanks for a most positive and constructive thread.
...and if you need a beta tester for any future wizzy bits, gimme a bell.
Ta!
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If the extension is installed, you should also see it listed under Tools -> Extensions
Not on mine it isn't!
Firefox locked up, had to use TaskManager to shut it down, would not restart, had to re-install Firefox.
Process repeated again with same result. Drat!
I installed an (automatic) upgrade to FF this evening - anything to do with this result?
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I fit the bill
...but after doing the GreaseMonkey bit, I do not have an"Install option..." under Tools in the dropdown menu!!!????
What changes does clicking on the "Install GM" link cause? I cannot detect any...
...where am I going wrong?
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We found a fault with the cable of the speaker/power supply unit for our Streetpilot 3. Where the cable divides, the power supply lead had pulled out of the conduit. While it all worked normally, it would only be a matter of time before the exposed, flimsier cables failed.
Bernie phoned Garmin to see about getting it fixed or repaired - "Give me your address. We'll send you a new one"!
Garmin's hardware and customer service are excellent.
...now we've got to hope this philosophy will permeate to their software pricing bods!
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Actually, Garmin have got themselves in a bit of a bind on this subject.
The Garmin data CDs (City Navigator for sure) are dead easy to copy - but before you all get excited, they still need an official "unlock" from Garmin to work.
Each "unlock" you own/buy will enable the software to work with 2 different Garmin GPS units. The internal reference number of the GPS unit is recorded during the unlocking process and the software will only work with these units.
We own a Garmin StreetPilot 3 that originally came complete with City Navigator V5. We upgraded to V6 and subsequently bought a Garmin Vista C. We used the second "unlock" option to enable the CN V6 to work with the Vista C. Excellent result, we now have fully auto-routing for our bicycles!
We found the Vista was much quicker at doing its sums than the SP3. Time for an upgrade? flog off the SP3? buy a newer model?
We spoke to Garmin for advise on how we should "split" the software since we would still want to us it the Vista with its street-legal unlock. Would they give us a seperate single code? or what? how?
Garmin's surprising offical advice to us was to copy the disces. We should pass the original discs to the new owner of the SP3 complete with the customer reference and unlock codes - but to make and retain copies of discs and codes to enable us to continue using CN6 with our Vista! The use of the both unlock options for the code we had, once used, is unrevokable, unchangeable and fixed for all time. The original unlock code will only ever work with the specific SP3 and Vista C we currently own.
The copied CDs Bernie made work fine and are used whenever a re-installation of the software onto an alternative PC is required.
We have not yet flogged off the SP3. When we do, we will also offer the Vista C to the new owners since that's the only way they would be able to get fully use of the original software.
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...and of course at the top of the page there is an indication of any new messages you may have waiting for you.
It is next to "My Controls" - to the RH end of the line that starts "Logged in as:"
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We do exactly the same!
To keep some sort of control, we use the "Rules" to sort them out and push them into a folder of their own and then we peruse them at leisure, block deleting every day.
We're spamming ourselves!!
High Tech Games
in United Kingdom and Ireland
Posted
It still gets you out of the house and around all the fantastic hidden corners of the country.
In our mid-50's, Sue and I love the unexpected newness off wandering up and down the public rights of way that criss-cross about the countryside. Before geo-geeking, we simply drove past all these little wonders. We never cease to be surprised by the cracking little corners of this tiny island that fellow cachers draw us to with their caches.
This game also gives us the impetus to get out and about on our bikes, using caches as a destination.
Enjoy!