Crystal Sound
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Posts posted by Crystal Sound
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Do a search - alot of Mac & GPS unit discussions have taken place here.
What the others have stated is true.
With a USB-RS232 adapter, about any of the Garmin or Magellan GPS units can do waypoint transfers on a Mac. There's a ton of software available - mostly it depends on what GPS you have, and what you want to do with it.
Dont buy the hype about just because you have a Mac, you cant do "whatever". There is very little I have found that I cant do on a Mac.
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Hey all. I'm really new to this sport. I just bought a eTrex Legend handheld unit and was wondering if I could have done better. To me it's alittle annoying to have the backlight go off every few seconds. I know I saw something about changing the timer but still..... And I find it hard to see if its even a little dark outside. The toggle switch is a little hard to use too. Did I not look around enough, are they all about the same? What kind are most of you using? Any helpful pointers would be greatly appreciated.
You can go into the settings, and set the backlight to "always on". With that setting, you can toggle the backlight on/off at will, and it will not "auto-off" after the time delay, like normal.
This is how I have mine set.
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FYI-
The Waymarking site has a category for repeater sites.
Although far from complete, it might be worthwhile to check out.
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Where's the "Wow factor" in any of this? In your "New World Evidence" category, I can see a bit of it, there is none in any of these four. Zero. Waymarking has taken away the problem of "too many crappy virtuals being submitted" and replaced it with "an entire site filled with crappy virtuals" that requires you to wade through the junk to find the gem. Instead of Joe Reviewer being my filter to eliminate stuff unworthy of my time, I now have to do it myself.
I have to admit, my interest in geocaching has been dropping lately. But, I have been trying to "keep it alive". I recently went out and spent a day just geocaching. Although not a huge number, I did 14 caches in just a few hours. Basically, I picked the nearest unfound, and went from there....
None of those caches were interesting. None inspired me in any way. To me, the locations were basically the same as places I had been before.
I *could* say that the geocaching site has become "an entire site filled with crappy geocaches". That would be an unfair and untrue statement. If I were to look, I'm sure I can find some caches that DO interest me.
Do all waymark categories interest me? No. Do all geocaches interest me? No.
There are geocaches and waymarks that DO interest me. I guess one has to "dig" a bit to find the gems that interest them. Although none of those 14 caches did anything for me, there were logs from people who it did give some sort of pleasure to.
As I've said before, "To each their own."
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I cannot argue the fact that my 68 waymarks get far fewer visits than my 13 (active) geocaches.
But after having gone through permit applications to be able to place geocaches in interesting locations, and then watch them get a mere fraction of the visits that my "lame" caches get, its almost heartbreaking.
I've put out caches loaded with good swag, and then within one month, only junk remains. (As evidenced by the cache that was placed loaded with foreign coins, and less than one month later, was filled with pennies.)
It's obvious to me, that there are a small percentage of people who truly care about visiting interesting places. Everyone else just wants to find a box of junk.....
To each their own...
I create waymarks and categories for my own benefit. If someone wants to visit, fine. If not, fine. But at least I'm not paying for ammo boxes, log books, and trade items that only seem to get stolen or vandalized.
Maybe I dont wake up in the morning and think "what a great day for Waymarking", but on those days that I can choose to waymark or geocache - I've decided to waymark more times than geocache.
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I've got a Mac, and Foretrex 101 ( the latter for about 2.5 years now) and no problems. I use it with a number of different programs for upload/download and mapping.
I've also got an etrex legend, but it only gets used about 1/3 as much as the foretrex - mostly due to the wrist-worn convenience. I chose the 101 over the 201 for the simple fact I would be able to change batteries in the field, which has saved my bacon a few times.
PM me if you like for details, or search the forums. I've posted a number of times on the subject, as well as a few others.
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GPSBabel and GPXSpinner will both allow you to upload the names without the GC in front of it transparently. I use GPSBabel to upload all my GPX files.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I'll have to look again at GPSBabel. Its been about 2 years since I gave it a spin. I've been using a few other programs since then.
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This message is more a rant / complaint, than a help request. Maybe someone shares my thoughts on this.
I am very disapointed in the "new" waypoint names moving to a 7-digit code. My GPSr only accepts 6-digit waypoint codes.
When I upload my waypoint files, my GPS drops the last digit of the waypoint code. So far, this has not posed much of a problem.
I see two conditions that could cause issues:
1. The truncation of the last digit could create a waypoint that has the same name as an existing, and thus being overwritten in the GPSr.
2. A hider hides several caches at nearly the same time (which has happened in my area), creating waypoints that are different by only the last digit. Thus, when I go to load them into my unit, only the last waypoint will remain in my unit, as the previous ones will have been overwritten.
Of course, the simple solution is to edit every offending waypoint name, on every new PQ that I want to load into my GPSr. Difficult, no. Frustrating, yes.
Is there any particular reason why the site went to a 7-digit code, rather than advancing from "GCxxxx" to Gxxxxx" ? It would seem to me, that would be a better solution, than going to the 7 digit format now used. I know that I am not the only person who now is faced with this issue.
I for one SUPPORT keeping the "GC" for a variety of reasons.
Rather than argue those reasons, may I suggest that you use a "waypoint management" program, such as GSAK.
With gsak, you can instruct it to change the GC to just a G, or even drop it all together.
Even sweeter is what GSAK calls "smart names". Basicly the default smart name will try to be an abbreviation of the cache name. Even sweeter if you don't like the smart name, you can over-ride it.
My GPS holds 10, but for other reasons I limit it to 8 characters and the smart-name is a VERY VERY nice name to have. Your never going to remember what GCXXXX is, but you will probably remember "OVERWATE", short for Over Water, or for your case "OVERWA"... Still way friendlier than GCXXXX.
Thanks for the suggestion. GSAK is nice, except I have one additional problem - I dont use a PC, and someone has yet to develop as good of a program for Mac or Linux.
Having waypoint names that resemble the cache name is nice, if that is the only thing you have loaded in your GPS. Unfortunately, with the many activities I participate in and the many different things i use a GPS for besides geocaching, keeping names straight gets to be difficult.
I found it was just easier to look up the last 4 (or now 5) digits, since they all begin with GC anyways.
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This message is more a rant / complaint, than a help request. Maybe someone shares my thoughts on this.
I am very disapointed in the "new" waypoint names moving to a 7-digit code. My GPSr only accepts 6-digit waypoint codes.
When I upload my waypoint files, my GPS drops the last digit of the waypoint code. So far, this has not posed much of a problem.
I see two conditions that could cause issues:
1. The truncation of the last digit could create a waypoint that has the same name as an existing, and thus being overwritten in the GPSr.
2. A hider hides several caches at nearly the same time (which has happened in my area), creating waypoints that are different by only the last digit. Thus, when I go to load them into my unit, only the last waypoint will remain in my unit, as the previous ones will have been overwritten.
Of course, the simple solution is to edit every offending waypoint name, on every new PQ that I want to load into my GPSr. Difficult, no. Frustrating, yes.
Is there any particular reason why the site went to a 7-digit code, rather than advancing from "GCxxxx" to Gxxxxx" ? It would seem to me that would be a better solution, than going to the 7 digit format now used. I know that I am not the only person who now is faced with this issue.
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For the benefit of everyone:
I'll refrain from the DNF (with a to-reach description) jokes ...
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Given the storm, how likely would it have been that they got satellite reception?
I'm guessing, not very well.
I was pondering some of the same things last night while watching the news. I was not there, so I cant say what is and what isnt, I'm just offering my 2 cents.
Depending on any number of factors, I'm not sure a GPS unit would have worked very well. The extreme cold would make an LCD display almost useless as the display crystals wont move freely to create an image. Batteries tend to not work as well in the cold also.
Trying to keep the unit warm (inside) clothing, and keeping the unit oriented to best "view" the satellites would be pretty difficult, I imagine. Im not sure I would want to open up my clothing to extract a GPS and expose myself to further cold.
A cell phone, i can see being a different matter. You can turn it on, in a few seconds be connected to a tower, punch in the numbers, and make a call. Reading the LCD screen isnt necessary. I've used a number of cell phones with frozen or even broken displays in this manner.
In my opinion (as an electronics engineer) - Unless they had a Mil-spec GPS unit and not a consumer-toy GPS unit - I doubt a GPS would be very helpful.
I love my Garmins, but I would not rely on one in a "life support" scenario such as what they were in. Relying on it would be foolish.
Edit for clarification.
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I've had a foretrex 101 for over 2 years. I love it.
I bought a Legend about a year ago for the ability to load topo maps, but I still end up using the foretrex more often. I find it easier to use when i'm out geocaching, Waymarking, and so on, as it frees up my hands for other things.
Even with it wristworn and walking naturally, it holds signal well. The legend is a little less forgiving. Maybe it's my particular units, but I find my foretrex holds satellite lock better than the legend. The foretrex also seems to be a little better in accuracy.
The backlight is a bright orange on the foretrex. The legend has a white backlight, but is very dim in comparison. The foretrex has a black/white display, whereas the legend is greyscale.
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You might want to move this to the new forums . . . it is a worthy idea!
Thanks!
Us (members of the Orphaned Bridges Group) have been discussing the ins/outs of this topic offline. We should have something ready, soon.
Any future discussion will be in the new forum.
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Hi
There are already some bridge categories. Would most if not all fit into these categories or other related historical categories?
Andrew
I have seen some that do not fit any bridge Cat. at this time. Two of them just sit out in the middle of a pasture. The roadway was moved to reduce a sharp curve and the old cement bridge was left behind. I don't think there is any WOW factor to either of them. But there may be others that are WOW.
You and I are thinking along the same lines. I'm sure a few will be less "wow" than others. I have a couple in mind that lie in the area of another waymark of mine. The bridges are a couple of old iron & wood bridges that are decaying in the middle of the woods. The closest road is several hundred yards away (and is dirt/gravel)
Having come across these (and some others) has had me wondering where others might be, and that it might make an interesting cat.
I would like to avoid duplicating existing categories, as many covered bridges would seemingly fall into this description. Railroad bridge & Rails-trails bridge cats also exist.
I've created the "Orphaned Bridges" group - enrollment is open:
http://www.Waymarking.com/groups/details.a...b3-def52626414b
Thanks all for your input!
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In my travels, I have come across a number of bridges that have been abandoned, usually when a highway was reconstructed. Usually, overpasses are removed, particularly ones in which the road is removed.
Anyone else think this would make a good category?
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I've used my GPS in a 765,000 volt substations (under the busswork) and never had a data corruption...
I have felt my bones vibrate from the magnetic resonance, however...
Our field techs have carried USB memory devices (in the same environment), and not had any trouble. Floppy discs have come up "erased" quite often.
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I'll say it too...
THANKS!!!!!!!
I found something I like more than geocaching!
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Maybe this is something I missed:
It seems than in the 2.0 rollout, the "nearest benchmarks" link was left out. I thought I recalled seeing in the beta version, but now I cant find it.
As I am starting to prefer Waymarking & benchmarking, over geocaching, I would find this a useful tool. Not sure about anyone else though...
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I've been using a PC to receive all my PQs from GC but am looking to swith to a Mac. All the programs I've used (EasyGPS, ExpertGPS, GSAK) are windows based. Can anyone recommend a Mac program to use as a database for waypoint management (waypoints as well as descriptions and logs) and for the transfer of waypoint information to GPS or even PDA.... in short a GSAK for Macs?
Cachemate is the all-around pda utility for caching. I've used it on a Palm. Hotsync and you are good to go.
Mac CMConvert is the program you need to convert the gpx files to cachemate.
MacSimpleGPS does a decent job at uploading/downloading gpx files to gps
I really like National Geographics Topo State series for mac. The topo maps are excellent, and it works well with gps units to upload/download/track.
Keyspan USA-19HS is a good USB-RS232 interface.
I've heard good things about MacGPS Babel - I've used it a few times, but had a few problems with converting to/from NG Topo files.
Macworld did a special CD about a year ago on GPS
http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...hl=MACWORLD+GPS
There has been a number of threads about Macs & GPSs over the last few years. A search of the forum can be helpful.
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I've noticed much the same thing.
I usually will let mine "sit" 24 hours, and give any other group officers time to approve it. I mostly do this to allow for someone else to look over it, in case of errors or what-have-you. If after 24 hours, noone else has not approved or commented, I'll go ahead and approve it myself.
I dont see any problems with approving ones own waymarks - especially if you are a category leader/founder.
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A link to a page with a list of waymarks to review, would be helpful.
I have 2 pages of categories. Clicking through pages to hunt down waymarks to review is a little cumbersome - especially when i'm away from my email, and cant link directly from the notification.
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Ive even been thinking of archiving my other waymarks since they are not getting the traffic.
Please don't do that. They'll eventually get the traffic, assuming they're "visit-worthy" waymarks. Give it time.
I second that. Even if they're not getting any traffic, are they hurting anything NOT being archived?
I help manage a Waymarking category called New World Ancient Evidence which is not exactly an Earthcache but is similar. Anyhow, we had approved several new waymarks to this category and it was growing. However I looked today and they are all gone except for one!!!! I have no idea what happened to them!!!
Interesting.... I just submitted "Leo Petroglyph" to this category a couple days ago, and it is missing, as you say.
I've noticed that all my photos (as well as others, presumably) are in the category directory.
You might make mention of this in the V2.0 bugs thread.
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The new site layout looks great - i've had to refresh a few pages, change some bookmarks, and "empty cache" seems to help.
Only real problem I have had so far, is image uploading. Sometimes the images will upload properly, most of the time I end up with a nearly blank page and the pic not having uploaded. Problem seems to occur in both IE and Firefox (on PC, havent tried from my Mac yet.)
Image editing abilities (like on geocaching) would have been VERY nice to have. I've had to re-upload a few images that needed rotation, and the ability to edit titles/descriptions would have been helpful. Or, have I missed something?
EDIT: I re-created my image files, and upload seems to work. Or its a coincidence that things are working now.
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APRS Uses
in Ham Radio
Posted
We do the same thing for the TOSRV (Tour of the Scioto River Valley) bike ride every May in Southern Ohio.