BigFurryMonster

I wonder if there's great stories out there of people spying on each other by slipping a GPS in someone's pocket, and checking where he/she has been. The topic came up when my girlfriend wanted to borrow my GPS and I said (jokingly!): there's a good way of keeping track of your whereabouts!! Anyone has ever done such a thing?

125 km/h !! I only managed 90 ! But you're correct -- it is a fun thing to do !

There seems to be no such thing as a Battery Forum... Questions remain: Which rechargeable batteries are best (i.e. last longest)? Can I use different types of batteries interchangeably? My GPS-r really drained a pair of batteries in 2 hours or so while I was simply geocaching...

On my Garmin GPSMap60CS, I have the option of turning WAAS on or off. I've done some searching on the benefits of this feature, but it is quite unclear to me whether I should use it or not. pros: It is said to improve the signal fix. Garmin claims to an accuracy of 3m and better, but I rarely even get an EPE of 4m with WAAS. cons: I'm not even sure WAAS will work. Garmin says ( http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html ) that it's US only, and I'm in Europe. Maybe I should be using the other system "EGNOS" instead, but I don't know how. Does it work similar to WAAS? I seem to receive satellites with ID higher than 32 now and then, but no 'D' shows up as explained in this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=0entry937392 WAAS may drain my batteries faster. Any comments? Additions to this list? Any URL pointing to the current state of WAAS? Should I upload an 'almanac' to my GPS-r, as explained here? http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/dgps.htm#waas

Whoops! I apparently made the mistake of not being detailed enough in my request. My apologies. Yes, I do own a GPSMAP 60CS. I already have the maps to go with this, from Mapsource. They're good for the GPS receiver, but they are very crude maps if you look at them on a PC. What I want to do is plot my skiing trip (yes, the act of zooming off the slopes itself) onto a nice detailed map of the Alps. In the Netherlands, we have 1:25000 scaled terrain maps for such a purpose, so I'm wondering whether a similar thing exists for France. I'll try with the IGN first. Thanks for the replies!

Hi, I went skiing (and geocaching!) with my GPS, and now need some detailed maps of France (Alpe d'Huez and La Plagne ski areas to be specific) to plot my trips. Does anyone have these electronically? Thanks! BFM

I've calculated a number of WPs for a puzzle-cache in Excel. How do I convert them to any format that can be read by EasyGPS, OziExplorer or GSAK?

Stop! Stop! This is getting silly! There are no penguins at the North Pole! (except maybe the pet penguin kept by the fat guy in the red suit) This reminds me of: ("We have everything under control. There are no penguins at the North Pole!")

I only succeeded after unchecking that, I confess :-) Thanks for your answer, Wadcutter! I didn't realize the GPS actually calculates the difference between True and Magnetic North dynamically (i.e. depending on location and time). I'll check my GPS-r for those settings. Can anyone help with questions C) and D) ?

A) Anyone have an answer to my question above? I'm thinking of doing a cache which states I should be using True North, but I'm still not too sure I can get this right. And if my GPS displays True North, how come it knows where this is when there is no satellite reception? C) Cy -- I am not able to reproduce the declination you got. I enter the (approximate) coordinates of my house: N 52º 5' and W -4º -41', and I get a declination of 0º 58' W. D) "a declination of 0º 58' W." - does this mean almost one circle-degree, or some other unit?

Wow! That's about one third of my country (!)

Right! Thanks. Now, I'm really curious to know how big my "Area" is, exactly.

On My Cache page, it says: "You do not want to be notified when there are new caches in your area." How do I change this? Or do I need to be a Premium Member?

In my logs, the number of caches I found is displayed. How is this counted? Is is the total number of caches I found, or the number I had found at the moment I logged the message? If it is the former -- how come this number is not (exactly) equal in every message I logged?

I also requested this feature. It seems quite straightforward to implement ("IF preference = metric THEN use KM else use Miles"), but I know it may be harder (complexer and/or more embedded) to do so.

Whatever you decide on Earthcaches, please make sure it they aren't available in only one country. Every country has / should have an organization like the one you mentioned, and every country has an active group of geocachers. Why not stimulate them to work together, too?

Interesting... Check out the map on this page. It shows that there is (was) a line somewhere over the USA with 0 declination. Being in the Netherlands, I would expect a pretty big declination. I read somewhere that the Magnetic North is somewhere in Northern Canada, which checks out with the map but not with the declination I got. For 1 Jul 1985 (the year for which the map was made), I get a declination of only 2° 38' W for a location near me (52 N 6 E) from this page Of course, the red line from the map goes all around the earth, but I don't think Europe is quite on the opposite side from the USA. Not geographically speaking, anyway What am I doing wrong here?

Indeed, I am in the Netherlands. I get for my magnetic declination: Declination = 0° 23' W changing by 0° 7' E/year (using Cy's link and 52 N and 6 E in Nov 2004) So the magnetic north is only 23 circle-minutes west of the true north? That's not much, and I wonder why some caches in my area specifically state that I should use True North.

So ... which methods do GPS units use to display directional information? Magnetic (using the earth's magnetic field), electronic (using satellite info), or other ..? In the 'electronic' case, I suppose I have to be moving in order to get a good reading.

Hi, It caught my attention that the Travel Bugs' trip distances always show up for me in Miles, even when my preference is set to 'Metric System'. Do others have the same problem? (I am of the opinion that everyone should switch to Metric, but let's leave that aside)

Thanks for your answers! (yes -- you were thinking aloud)

Some caches instruct to work with the 'True North' somewhere along the way. My old-fashioned compass points to the Magnetic North. I believe my GPS' compass does, too (not sure though). How do I find True North? Do I need to calculate the angle between Magnetic North and True North? Doesn't that change over time (a bit)?

When I add something to my log, I get: "This entry was edited by..." It's really ugly. Can I get rid of it?

Not to mention enjoying the nice landscape!

Award a prize to the person who is the second to find your cache.... that'll keep the crazy guy away for a while ...