BilgeRat

The major thing I've done beyond car use is this- http://mysite.verizon.net/resopl09/therive...tabase/id7.html The company that I work for has since implemented the database along with GPS receivers in the crew vans for our crew changes. I also do National Map for USGS. I also have it on the whole 28 day trip at work. Happiness is never having to ask the pilothouse where you are, and I also use it to figure out when to yell at the captain for overloading the engines. My 60c might have more "on time" than any other due to it's use at work. (no failures, no problems!) I have also used it to mark public restrooms in cities in Italy (my wife really likes this!) and as a way of marking "return points" for exploring in Italian cities. We still wander with a local street map, but it's nice to know that the front door of your hotel is a waypoint. I have also embarrassed the daylights out of my wife by using it to find out how fast the Eurostar (train) was going. I have just recently started geotagging my photos with RoboGeo. I also keep files of waypoints for good photo locations for railroad and river photography, too. I seem to keep finding more things to use it for as time goes by. Tom

L plates are a Victoria thing. A learning driver has to display a plastic plate in the front and rear windows of the car with a big "L" on it--- Last time I was down under, my friend's oldest son was on his L plate. Tom

NeoGeo, I went to Australia last October, and Qantas wouldn't allow use of the gps! This was a real disappointment, as I was crossing both the equator and the International Date Line for the first time, and I wanted to see! OTOH, the last time we went to Italy, we flew Delta, which allows gps use. We had the jet stream on our tail, and my 60c was indicating 650 mph for about a half an hour. Cool! Tom

Hmmm, I just purchased a copy of Blue Chart, and it states in the directions that it can be loaded to one unit only, this one unit policy is also on the website--- Tom

Mine's in! Good luck with the project! Tom

Marcus, Try this. On the page for the cache, click on the line next to the position marked "other conversions". This will pull up a page that lists the cache coords in other map datums. Now, go into the "setup" page on your GPSr, and find out what map datum the unit is set up to use. WGS 84 is normal for geocaching; you can either set your unit to WGS 84 or use the listed coords on the settings page for whatever datum is set on your unit. Hope this helps you out! Tom P.S. I was in Victoria last October, do you mind if I ask where you are located?

I miss the whole area a lot; when I was a kid, we used to vacation east of Traverse City, and in my younger days, I used to do fall camping trips to the UP and also to Beaver Island. Oh, BTW do you know that Beaver Island was a kingdom with an honest-to-god king at one time? Look it up on line; it's pretty interesting. Tom

All airline's rules are different. Delta allowed it on our way to and from Italy, and Qantas would not allow it's use on my way to and from Australia. On the way to Sydney, I asked a cabin attendant. He called the captain, and the answer came back "No!" Oh, well. Check your airline's website, but be prepared to ask, too. I have never had a problem with the TSA (Thousands Standing Around!), but each airline's policy is different. If they do allow use, an external antenna may make the difference between signal and no signal. I use a Gilsson with the little windshield bracket. Tom

In Mapsource, once you have City Navigator loaded in your computer, go to "Edit", select "Preferences", and look for the tab that says "Routing". Under this tab, you can then select Faster Time, Shorter Distance, and Direct Routing. Sounds like your copy of Mapsource is set on Direct. Remember, Mapsource is basically a map management program, and it is separate from your handheld. Your routing choices need to be selected in both Mapsource and your handheld. Hope this is of use to you! Tom

Thanks! Hope this helps keith out. Tom

While surfing yesterday, I came across a handy little utility that will convert lat/lon readings between decimal degrees, degrees-minutes-seconds and degrees-decimal minutes. It's freeware, and you can find it here- http://www.hhcopters.com/apps/#runtimes Tom

Here it is. Used the keyword WAAS. Sheesh! Used everything but the "bare" term! Thanks. Tom

About six weeks ago, someone posted a method to reset the 60c to "see" the new WAAS birds. I did a search and came up with nada, can anybody steer me in the right direction? TIA, Tom

Add Qantas to the list of those that won't! I asked on the way to Australia and again on the way back and the answer was no both ways. Being that this was my first time crossing both the international date line and the equator, I wanted to see when I actually crossed! The cabin attendant on the flight back had called the pilots to ask if I could use it, "NO" came back as an answer, but he was really interested in it, asked what I used it for, so I told him about caching, National Map Corps and how I use it at work. He seemed really interested; asked about geocaching.com and if the units were available in Oz, so maybe we have a "plant" at Qantas! Tom

Deb, I happened across this thread while looking at metal detector information, as I'm considering benchmarking in my National Map quads. My deepest sympathies on the loss of your father; I can very much relate as we lost my mother in a house fire in December. You're in my thoughts. Tom Winkle "BilgeRat"

Great project! It would be really nice if Mapsource had an "import data" feature similat to Streets & Trips. Garmin, are you listening? Tom

I use a 60c and City Select to find waypointed boat ramps along the Lower Mississippi, and I find that many (not all, however) of the levee roads are actually represented. You can also record tracks of roads that are not on the map and send them to Garmin, and they will incorporate the tracks into new versions of the software. The basemap won't do that! Tom

I run Mapsource 6.01 wuth CitySelect for my 60c, and if you go to edit/preferences/routing and then click on "Manage Route Avoidances" button in the routing panel, I believe that will do what you want. Play with it a bit and try it out. Tom

I work as an engineer on a towboat that works the Lower Mississippi River. When I am at work, my 60c is mounted in the window of the engine room office with an amplified antenna mounted on a second deck handrail. We leave it on 24/7, and it works just fine in the dark! We have point to point routes for the areas that we run in; this way we have eta's available, etc. Happiness is never having to ask the pilothouse where we are Tom P.S. Think about this, too. GPS is is used worldwide for ocean navigation, and ships don't stop at night---

If you like the idea of the traffic service and don't want to hurt the old wallet quite as bad, take a look at these- http://www.garmin.com/products/sp340/ My wife generally doesn't share my fascination with GPS gadgets, but she was reading the web page over my shoulder the other day and expressed serious interest in the c330. (Same as the 340, but no traffic service.) They appear to be really user friendly, and I would venture to say that they were aimed at the non-geek market. Tom

For the external antenna, look into the Gilsson stuff. They are much less expensive than the Garmin antennas, and they work very well. I have two: one with a three foot lead for use in the car (with thier small suction cup bracket), and one with the sixteen foot lead for use at work. Tom

Thanks!! The reset did the trick. It is now in my notes. Tom

How is the master reset done? Never had to do this before. Tom

My 60c has developed the annoying habit of constantly shifting the heading while it is standing still. Because of this, it will not record stop time on the trip computer, either. The only thing that I could think of to do was to reload the firmware, and it did not solve the problem. Does anybody know how to solve this, or will this be a send it in to Garmin thing? As it does not do it when moving (operates just fine while moving), it's just an annoyance and I think I could put up with it for the price of the $135 repair fee. Any ideas? Tom

You might look at this one, too. http://www.garmin.com/products/sp330/ I like my 60c, but if I was going to buy a hassle free unit for my wife, I think I'd get this one. Tom