Lovejoy and Tinker
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Posts posted by Lovejoy and Tinker
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I'm sure I'm missing something, but I just can't see any reason why I would want to get a GPS device as well. What am I missing?
Have you ever used a capacitive screen in light drizzle (or worse)?
My HTC HD2 screen goes completely crazy when small water droplets fall on the screen as contacts are made and broken and things triggered. It becomes unusable. I believe the iphone has the same type of screen (capacitive).
And of course you can't use a protective case over the screens with these phones as the screens need direct contact with skin.
The other problem (as already stated) is battery life. Not such a bad problem on the HTC and other smartphones as you just carry a spare battery (as I do). Two batteries can easily give 8-10 hours constant use.
But an iPhone can't have a spare battery so you need to carry some sort of external powering device if you are going to be away from a power source for some time (i.e a good day caching).
I don't see how signal coverage is a problem, as once you have the cache info downloaded into the phone you don't need phone reception at all, any more than you do with a dedicated GPS device. So I think that's a bit of a red herring.
So if you don't cache away from your vehicle (for a power supply) for more than a few hours at a time, and don't go out in the rain, an iPhone might be all you ever need.
We use a combination of:
HTC HD2 Smartphone, which is good for:
- Getting latest logs
- Viewing full cache pages
- Downloading nearest caches not on the GPS
- Looking at google maps/satellite view
- Memory maps
- Taking photos of our adventures
- Recording a GPS track of our walk
Then we have an Etrex Legend, which is good for:
- Actually finding GZ
- Walking about in the rain
- Virtually unlimited battery life (with spare rechargables)
- Generally being a reasonably rugged 'outdoor' device.
The 2 devices compliment each other nicely. But you can cache with either type of device as long as you accept the limitations of each.
The dedicated GPS appears to have fewer uses than the smartphone. But in reality, the things it is good at are sometimes key to a good day out.
- Getting latest logs
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Could be logging from a mobile device. Doing that doesn't update the 'last logged in' date. I've had a few of those.
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How many webcam finds do you all have? Anyone know the record for "legitimate" webcam finds?
One.
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Shame, one of the most fun caches we did was our webcam cache. Sorting out all the technology and standing looking stupid on a main road. Location was good too, overlooking Mounts Bay. I'd rather do 1 webcam than 20 film cans in a hedge which are put there because, well, I'm not sure why really when we get there.
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Appreciate your time. Paypal acc since April 2004. I keep bank acc to minimum. Transferred money to acc before trying to pay by paypal, maybe bank transfer not through yet and paypal automatically asks for credit card when the balance doesn't cover it. ....time will tell now
Hmm, that's odd. Mine went through because we have a balance in our paypal account. Maybe you are right, the balance hadn't cleared into the paypal account in time.
It's a long time since I played with Paypal's settings, but I seem to remember that there is a setting for telling it to draw from a current account when there are insufficient funds rather than from a credit card.
Good luck
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Thanks Guys, I found I needed a credit card when I was trying to pay via paypal. ....it may be an international thing
Ah, yes, if you haven't set up a paypal account and try to pay with paypal you will need a card.
But if you go to the paypal site and set up an account first, and link it to a bank account then when you pay by paypal the money comes from your bank account.
But paypal needs to have an account verified first.
Hope that clarifies things, sorry.
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Is premium membership available to Non credit card holders? If so, how will this be possible. ......Cut my card in half 25 years ago !!!
We just renewed today and paid by paypal which is linked to a standard bank account.
I don't have a credit card either, so yes, premium membership is available to non credit card holders.
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...and we couldn't even get there from 10 miles away
Sorry we missed the event, soundls like it was well attended and good fun. But Zeus dog comes first at the moment and we're not able to go out caching either while he's poorly.
Perhaps we need one of those little trailers for him that you see people taking their kids for bike rides with on the camel trail.
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And of course you don't get nice maps showing the position of stages and finals of a multi cache when you have to find out their coordinates while out 'in the field'.
You could of course calculate the coordinates, nip home and plug them into google maps and hope to get lucky.
Also out of reach would be those cache series where you find cache 1, and that holds the coordinates for cache 2 etc etc through to a final bonus cache.
Of course if you have mobile internet these problems would lessen.
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There seems to be a lot of emphasis (correctly) on the damage that can be done by digging a hole to bury a cache. And an argument seems to be that one hole, dug to hide a cache, does not do very much damage in the great scheme of things.
But what is often overlooked is this. If it becomes generally accepted that caches can or may be hidden in a hole in the ground then what happens when after 5 minutes at GZ cachers can't find the cache?
They will assume it could be "one of them there buried caches we've heard about" and will start digging wherever the ground looks a little unnatural or disturbed.
Then you have lots of holes all around GZ. That's the real problem.
I think we have a responsibility to consider the damage that is going to be done by cachers seeking our hides, not just the damage that may be caused by placing the cache in the first place.
That's why in the UK you can't put a cache in a dry stone wall. Popping a small pot in an existing crevice in a wall does no damage whatsoever. But no one else knows which crevice it is in, or even exactly which section of the wall it is in (assuming GPS innacuracy). So some will start picking away at the wall wherever they see a loose bit that may be the hiding place. Before you know it the wall is badly damaged.
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Completely right, but not PC to say so - so nothing changes. This country (and the world) is completely doomed unless there are massive population cuts.
I'm not generally known for my PCness
.By the way, am I the only one rooting for the dog in this story?
Edit: Sorry, when I re-read this morning what I wrote last evening I realised it could be read as meaning I was on the dog's side in biting the OP. Of course not. Every sympathy with the OP. What I meant was I hoped a solution could be found which means the dog does not have to be put down.
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The real problem is that there are just too many dogs - many of them unhealthy. Rarely wormed; fed an incorrect diet and untrained.
<snip>
Replace the word 'dogs' with the word 'humans' in that sentence and it works quite well too.
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But i think you did the right thing getting them from the US, even with postage they work out cheaper than buying them in the UK.
What a crazy rip off country we live in, that it's possible for an individual, when buying just 2 units, to get a better price by shipping them over from the states personally than they can by buying from the direct outlet of the company that makes them.
And they will get more expensive from Jan 1st when VAT goes up to 20%.
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1. What are the 'skirts' for? Are they to cover the bolts to stop folk tripping over them?
I think their purpose is, bolts are unsightly. Nobody wants to look at them.
Everything else in society has already been taken care of. It's just the finishing touches now.
Thank you, that made me laugh a lot
Very droll.
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1. The metal skirts grate against the pole making a loud unnatural noise that draws attention.
Like chalk on a blackboard? Arghh
2. Some CO's feel they are making the game more interesting by placing the cache in muggle-rich locations such as drive-thru's, parking lot entrances, store entrances. (see #1).
I guess if you had a hard hat, a high vis jacket and a clipboard you could make as much noise as you wanted and lift as many as you wanted. Bet no one would take a blind bit of notice.
But then, erm, why would you?
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Thanks guys for answering my LPC questions. I can now join in the fun by accurately imagining in my mind what it must be like to arrive in a parking lot, locate the right lamp post then lift a bit of metal to find the cache.
<imagine, imagine, imagine>
Nope, think I'd get bored with those pretty quickly.
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Probably a good place to ask some things I have often wondered. The answers are not going to change my life in any way but you know how it is when you get curious about something really unimportant and google won't come to the rescue
1. What are the 'skirts' for? Are they to cover the bolts to stop folk tripping over them?
2. Are the skirts as heavy as they look in photos I have seen? They look like cast iron.
3. If they are as heavy as they look, is it common to trap a finger or two as you drop them back in place? Or do they have handles of some kind?
4. Once you have lifted them and can see the cache, do they stay up on their own or do you have to hold them up with one hand and grab the cache with the other?
5. Do all lamp posts in the USA have this skirt design, or only ones in parking lots, or only specific states?
Thanks to anyone who can cure my curiosity
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You've not clicked on the names in the list at some stage and your browser is changing the colour of the links to indicate they have been 'visited' have you ??
You could try clearing your browser cache and seeing if you get the right colours again. If it works, just don't click on them again
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Not that I don't believe you or Mrs. B, but I'd like to see this confirmed by a reviewer. As far as I can tell, I can create a new cache listing and put it almost anything for the published coordinates and leave the "this cache is not active" box unchecked, then change the published coordinates and resubmit, then change them again, and again, but once the "this cache is active" box is checked only then will a reviewer determine if there are proximity issues. If I never check the "this cache is active" box I doubt that the coordinates currently specified for the published coordinates will remain reserved forever.
Again, I don't think I've ever seen a definitive answer for this from a reviewer and if there has been an answer posted somewhere it should probably be in the official knowledge books somewhere.
You have doubted the word of MrsB 
I believe MrsB has a direct line to one of the reviewers
As I understand it, the coordinates on an unactivated cache page get 'logged' in the system and will flash up on the reviewer's systems when checking proximity.
If you change the coords on an inactive cache page, they will update in the proximity system.
I too would like to know exactly how it works, but I believe that is the effect
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Thanks for the tip. We have done that but it was our understanding that the reviewers won't know the existence of the cache until it is made active. That would be good news if it's true.
Mrs B is right (Mrs B is always right and always speaks types wise words). Once you have a GC number assigned, your spot is reserved for you (everything within 0.1 miles of your coordinates) and no one else can place a cache there without a reviewer first contacting you to ask if you are going ahead with your hide.
They are unlikely to contact you unless you have had the spot reserved for a while.
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#1... Is this correct... I should set up one multi-cache with coordinates and etc. and include the waypoint (coordinates) to the next cache, I'm currently only using the 1st and the Final (2 caches)...
#2... Can I turn one of my standard caches that is already listed into a multi-cache and add way-points to the other caches??? Also, would this have to go through another review since it is already listed???
Hi
Not quite sure about your first question, you may have to elaborate on that one. Or maybe i'm just tired
As to your second question, no, you can't turn a traditional into a multi, that would have a knock on effect to everyone who has logged that cache as a traditional. I'd scrap that thought.
You could however include coordinates for another cache inside your existing cache.
There is some debate as to whether the resulting (end) cache would be a multi or an unknown. That debate is ongoing in the UK forum at the moment.
A general bit of advice: If you are interested in setting up a multi cache, go and do some and see the different ways they can be structured and what works and what doesn't.
Nothing gives you a better lesson than experiencing something first hand
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I have never seen anything about it being 3 days and have not noticed a change in the last few weeks.
My button is grey for 7 days also.
Unless someone knows something we don't .....
Edited to add: Sorry, you are right, it does indeed say 3 days now on the PQ tab. Odd. Maybe they are in the process of changing it but you have to wait for your current 7 day expiry to, erm, expire before you go onto the 3 day option?
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to me that's a bad hint, my other half would be stumped without me there :S
Not so cool if you are in the area for the day only like..
We were there one day only - last couple of caches in Suffolk before heading back to Cornwall.
It would not have been the end of the world if we hadn't understood the hint and could not find the cache, we don't have to find them all.
Once we did work out the hint and it pointed clearly to the 30mph sign it was not only a 'doh' moment but also a 'why didn't I look more carefully there the first time then we wouldn't have widened our search into the churchyard' moment.
To be honest we shouldn't have needed the hint on that one if we had looked properly in the most obvious place when we arrived at GZ and our GPS was taking us to the road sign.
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Clues again .............
Latin phrases/plant names
mentioning a song or pop group
ones needing a french phrase book
.....
Reminds me of one we did a few weeks back. Both of us wandering around for 5 minutes to no avail.
Tinker has the Garmin so looks at the clue and reads it out: "Trent".
Ok, we're in a churchyard so we start looking round for a gravestone belonging to someone called Trent.
I keep saying the word to myself but couldn't match the clue to anything in the vicinity.
(Bet everyone knows where this is going)
Tinker finally looks at the clue again and spells it out across the churchyard: T R E N T E
Doh. French for thirty, of course. And there was a 30mph sign in the hedge next to the church yard. (Which I had already looked at once but couldn't see anything
)Had a closer inspection and found the magnetic blighter. What a difference an 'E' makes.
That was a good hint, just a little bit cryptic.
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You have doubted the word of MrsB 
What does OWL mean?
in How do I...?
Posted
Is it on DNF logs, or 'found it' logs where people clearly had fun or there was a twist to the hide?
If so then it could stand for "On Watch List" indicating that the cacher is going to keep an eye on the cache for whatever reason.
Just a thought.