BletchleyPark

I made a number of passes with both my Streetpilot and my Vista at sppeds ranging from 25 mph to 45 mph. Each time the GPSrs matched the radar. BP

1. Match your trail map to the corresponding region in NG Topo. 2. Adjust the output scale in NG Topo to match your trail map. 3. Keep shading at the minimum setting. 4. Print the region from NG Topo (using UTM markings) to some inkjet transparency film. You will want to adjust the printer's "saturation" or "density" setting so that you can see through the transparency film better. 5. Match the landmarks on the overlay transparency with the landmarks on the trail map. 6. Transfer the UTM reference marks on the overlay's border, remove the overlay and draw the UTM grid on the trail map. Let me know how it works! BP

Soon I will upgrade from my 2 mp Olympus D380 to a 5 mp camera. I have looked at the Sony 717 and the Nikon 5700 and am strongly leaning toward the Nikon. If you are using the Nikon 5700, email me your impressions (good or bad). Thanks, BP

In our snowy neck of the woods, the hydrants are marked with 3-foot rebar sticking up and a reflector welded on top. The storm drains, however, are marked by a green stripe pointing toward the curb. The stripes are painted next to the yellow dividing lines in the roadway. City Planning Esoterica! BP

I was quaffing a few with a friend last night who told me of his experience while looking for gems/crystals near a creekbed late last fall. It scared the (OOPS!) out of me. He was shot at by an extremely careless hunter (who was alone and new to the sport) and, fortunately, escaped without injury. I should note that my friend was remiss in not wearing brightly colored clothing; he had on a tan barn coat and a green cap. This not withstanding, I believe the cause of the near-tradgey was the inexperience of the hunter. So, my fellow geocachers, a few words of caution if you are caching during hunting season: 1. Always assume there are hunters in the area and that they may or may not be *experienced* sportspeople. 2. Always wear bright colors; preferably bright orange. I use a flourescent yellow-green or orange baseball cap (geocaching.com!) and wear a bright orange vest. 3. Try to cache on the days/times when hunting is not allowed. In my area, this is all day Sunday. And by the way, I have seen folks hunting illegaly on Sunday! (see 1. above). 4. If you cache with the kids, please use extra caution. Dress them in bright colors and don't let them wander off to far. 5. Be aware of animal trails and signs of recent activity (scat). Try to avoid these areas. 6. If your GPS can report the good/bad times for hunting and fishing, it may be prudent to use this info to identify days/times to avoid. Most of my hunting friends us GPSrs so you can bet they're out there when hunting times are reported to be best! In short, please use common sense and be extra cautious when you are in the woods. Cheers, BP

Anyone tried to figure out exactly what the "number" line is for? In the entry box, I am limited to six numeric entries so it cant't be a phone number; can't even use the "-" character. If it's for the street number, the address line handles alphanumeric input. Oh, and by the way, what are the up and down arrows for the in the "number" entry box? Perhaps some international addresses have a "postal number" that is placed above the street address???? Confused , BP

...so I *can* be seen by others. Several times I have run into other cachers (once at a very remote location) and the hat has been recognized. The last time I encountered someone who recognized my hat was when both of us were about a quarter mile from the cache location. We sat and talked for about an hour about everything from 9/11 to comparing his GPS V to my Vista. We eventually hit upon the idea of takng a final GPSr reading (bearing and distance), turning-off our GPSrs and using only our compasses and a shared USGS topo to find the cache. After a considerable amount of time and much bushwhacking, we arrived at the cache. When it was time to leave, we shook hands and parted ways having approached the area from slightly different directions. Two weeks later, while shopping for a TV (while wearing my geocaching hat!), a salesperson quitely approached me from behind. All I heard was: "Need your Vista to find the right TV?" Turns out my cache partner was the manager of the store. I eventually walked out of the store with a smile on my face from the chance (re)meeting of this guy and a new TV (purchased at his cost!) in my arms. Had I originally "turned and run" while finding the cache, I would not have had the pleasure of meeting this incrediblly kind, interesting and generous person. Speck -- If you're reading this I can't thank you enough! FWIW, BP

and you don't find level of customer service in many companies these days. The only times I have been disapointed with their eforts were when the updates do not address the most important issues to us geocachers. However, I know Garmin's market spans many avocations and I think they all deserve attention. After all, the company's affirmation of the value of their customer service commitment will be seen, in part, by the increasing number of people to whom their products are sold. So bring on the updates that will help the mariners, the hunters, the fisher-people (!) and the skydivers... ...just please fix the timezone thing! FWIW, BP

Thanks for the find! I'm going to try this in the next few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes. Cheers! BP

I also love my Vista and the responsiveness (usually) of Garmin to our requests for fixes and improvements. The Vista is my hiking and geocaching tool. For driving, I use a StreetPilot. Its large color screen is just right for displaying information at a quick glance. For my tastes, I don't believe it would be quite as practical if the screen were grayscale and smaller in size. How many folks are actually using the Etrex-format as a driving aide...even with autorouting? Can you really pick up all the information you need in a quick glance? Just wondering... BP

I believe I remember someone posting a series of steps on how to take a satellite photo, post-process portions of the image and convert the resulting data for import into Mapsorce. The example that was used was a photo of a golf course which was converted to a Mapsource map for downloading to the Etrex. With this elegant little tweak, the user was able to automatically determine yardage for the next shot (a PGA no-no)and to log shots for later review. This is the only exception I have seen to Garmin-only map issue. I have tried searching the archives for the link but I don't seem to be using the right keywords. Anyone remember this one? Thanks! BP

I have a StreetPilot ColorMap but I believe the questions you ask apply to both units. Maps... The easiest way to load maps on the StreetPilot is by using Garmin's Mapsource software and its built-in maps. Yes, there are *some* inaccuracies but in general they are pretty good. Check out the Garmin site for more info and some map samples of your location. As for other maps on the net, recently posted was a fairly complicated way to get these to a Garmin unit. Search the archives for more information. Data Cards... Yes, you will need one of Garmin's data cards. The card capacity will be dictated by how many maps you need resident on the StreetPilot. I would suggest getting at least 32 mb. Cheers! BP

I generally use whatever I feel is appropriate for the type(s) of caches I'm going after. This ranges from pant's pockets to a Camelbak Peak Bagger. For the "park-type" caches, I'll put a few essentials in the cargo pockets of my pants/hiking shorts. I'll use a fanny pack for caches that are medium terrain difficulty or in more remote areas. This give me room for water, first aid kit and other 'essentials". For the real difficult stuff or a cache requiring a long hike in and out, I'll use the Peak Bagger to allow some alternate clothing, a rainfly, more water and other "get caught in the wild" items. Even with the Peak Bagger and an all day trek, I have never needed to carry more than about 12 lbs (including a full water store). I have not noticed any odd taste to the water; I am using a new bladder. I got my Peak Bagger on Ebay for 57 USD. It appeared to be only slightly used and was complete with compression straps and some other lashing accessories (added later). BP

you might want to look at the Olympus D380. It is currently selling for under 200 USD. I am an film-based SLR kind-a-guy, but I bought this camera for its small size, light weight and low price. It is without optical zoom but its CCD is about 2 megapixels and there are numerous settings that allow a degree of flexibility in its use. The one limitation I have encountered is the inability of the camera to save its pictures in a format other than JPEG. Even though a minimal compression algorithm is used, I have identified "artifacts" introduced through the compression process. Then again, the camera *was* under 200 USD! The prints I can generate from this camera on my HP990cse are superb, but are best limited to about 5 x 7 inches to retain maximum quality. I can print 8 x 10s but I need to do more pre-processing in Photoshop prior to printing. I will probably further explore digital photography with a more advanced camera *after* I have mastered Photoshop, Bryce and the other image editing programs that look promising. FWIW, BP

1. Get to the spot where your GPSr reports the exact coordinates. 2. Mark that spot in some way. I started out using a red bandana and tied it to a branch. This is the "hub" of your search area. 3. Turn your GPSr off. I am just learning the value of getting my head out of the display and scanning the woods with a keen eye. 4. From your marked "hub" location, walk about 20 feet out in a straight line along a "spoke" making sure you can look back and still see the hub marker. 5. Begin circling the hub ("wheel") keeping a twenty foot radius looking for the cache from side to side until you have found it or have completed a circle. 6. If the cache is still unfound, repeat this process and increase the radius by another 20 feet until you find the cache. Sometimes it helps to reverse the direction of travel around the "wheel" when searching. When you do find the cache, pace-off how far it was from your hub marker to get and idea of how your GPSr's reported "accuracy" translates to actual distance in the field. After a number of cache finds, you will become familiar with the "hallmarks" of good hiding spots for a caches and, eventually, you will usually be able to immediately identify several possibilities while standing at the hub and doing a quick 360 eyeball sweep. As I have gained experience, I have used this technique less frequently. However, I still rely on it for the higher difficulty caches (3+) of if I have spent a great deal of time searching without luck. By the way, don't forget to go back and get the bandana! FWIW, BetchleyPark (BP)

1. Get to the spot where your GPSr reports the exact coordinates. 2. Mark that spot in some way. I started out using a red bandana and tied it to a branch. This is the "hub" of your search area. 3. Turn your GPSr off. I am just learning the value of getting my head out of the display and scanning the woods with a keen eye. 4. From your marked "hub" location, walk about 20 feet out in a straight line along a "spoke" making sure you can look back and still see the hub marker. 5. Begin circling the hub ("wheel") keeping a twenty foot radius looking for the cache from side to side until you have found it or have completed a circle. 6. If the cache is still unfound, repeat this process and increase the radius by another 20 feet until you find the cache. Sometimes it helps to reverse the direction of travel around the "wheel" when searching. When you do find the cache, pace-off how far it was from your hub marker to get and idea of how your GPSr's reported "accuracy" translates to actual distance in the field. After a number of cache finds, you will become familiar with the "hallmarks" of good hiding spots for a caches and, eventually, you will usually be able to immediately identify several possibilities while standing at the hub and doing a quick 360 eyeball sweep. As I have gained experience, I have used this technique less frequently. However, I still rely on it for the higher difficulty caches (3+) of if I have spent a great deal of time searching without luck. By the way, don't forget to go back and get the bandana! FWIW, BetchleyPark (BP)

Yeah, the "UTM corner ruler" is what I know as a "UTM roamer scale". Thanks for grabbing that link. Alan2 has enticed me with NG Topo so I will be going that route when I have a spare $100. Until then, it's handmade roamer scale city! Thanks, BP

I was not able to print a map from lostoutdoors.com and have it be properly scaled for use with UTM roamer scales (rulers). Am I missing something? Doesn't post-processing need to be done to ensure that the printout is of the proper scale to be referenced by navigation rulers? Are you able to take the paper directly from your printer and have the grids be correct for any common scale on a topographic ruler? That is to say, do the print out's grids exactly match the *dimensions* of the easting/northing grids of a store-bought topo map? If you are able to do that with the lostoutdoors site, would you please let me know what options you are selecting? Thanks! BP

Lately, I have been taking short (<8km) hikes in areas where I really wanted to have a topo map from which I could navigate to interesting destinations. I usually carry a USGS topo map, a good compass [with roamer scales), and my GPSr. Last week I planned a trip to an area for which I did not have a topo map. Trips to the local map dealers were fruitless as they were all missing the appropriate quad (conspiracy?). Since I did not have time to order the map before I left, I created a mini-topo, correctly scaled (1:24,000 so I could use it with the roamer scales and the GPSr for navigation) from the free TopoZone web site printouts. Here's how: Note: I am using a PC with the screen resolution set to 1024x768. I also have a program (Photoshop LE) that will let me resize an image based on pixel width and height. You can probably do this with any computer and image application, but the instructions below cover my particular environment. ** The goal here is to resize a cropped "screenshot" of the TopoZone print page so that the resulting map grid is correctly scaled for 1:24000 when printed out. 1. Input yur coordinates into the TopoZone web site (or use the link from the cache page if you want to print a scaled map of the cache area). Remember that geocaching.com uses WGS84 and TopoZone uses NAD27. For the most accurate map, make sure you do the conversion before inputting the coordinates from geocaching.com or the little red cross will be located incorrectly. 2. When your map is displayed, make sure you select the 1:25000 scale option (the map actually prints out at something like 1:18000 so it is useless for roamer scales). Also, make sure that you ave selected the "small" mapsize. 3. Click the "Print this Map" button on the lower right of the screen. The map will reformat for printing and will be redisplayed. Make sure your browser window is set to full screen. 4. Capture this screen to the clipboard (Alt+PrtScr on the PC). 5. Fire-up your image editing program and create a new image from the clipboard by pasting the TopoZone screenshot into the program. Crop the screenshot so that just the map and the distance scales are included. 6. Save this "raw" image. You may need to make repeated adjustments to the final image size. Each time you make an adjustment, you should start with this raw image ** What follows are the instructions for Photoshop LE. Your program may have different ways of performing the actions. 7. Resize the "raw" image (Image|Image Size) to a width of about 480 pixels. Change the print resolution to 300 pixels per inch. Check the Constrain the Proportions and Resample Image checkboxes. Choose "Bicubic" as the resample method. 8. Use landscape page orientation and print out the image. 9. Check the map's grid with your 1:24000 roamer scale. It should be pretty close. 10. Adjust to match the roamer scale by starting again with the raw file and repeating Step 7, varying the pixel width until the map grid is the proper size. 11. When you have made your final adjustment, save the image with a new name. 12. On your final map printout, add your easting and northing grid line numbers. Also, make a note on the map identifying the scale, contour interval, and the variation from true north for both Magnetic North and Grid North. Note that the geographic area covered by a 1;24000 topo generated by this method is about 3km high by about 4km wide. Let me know if this works for you! Cheers, BP

Everyone has their favorite GPSr and I suggest that there will be no unanimous choice for best brand or model. Yes...there are a number technical distinctions and some GPSrs do better in certain situations than others. So you could legitimately debate the design/engineering superiority of the current models quite apart from the activity of geocaching. Thus a *technical* reply to your question will illicit responses favoring a number of the current models. However, within the context of the beginning/intermediate geocacher (as I am), I have found a couple of considerations that are somewhat less technical and more *practical* in nature: 1. Above all, you've got to be able to actually read and interpret the GPSr's display. Check them all out to make sure the display is readable under varying light conditions. Is the information presented in an intuitive manner? Check out the display for the "GoTo" screen; is it easy to understand? 2. The users' manual is the key to integrating the GPSr into the geocaching experience. Is the documentation well written with plenty of "screen shots" for reference? Doe the manufacturers web site have an extensive FAQ section to supplement the manual? Make sure you really STUDY THE MANUAL and are familiar with the operation of all your unit's features. I believe most manufacturers have PDF versions of their manuals that can be accessed on the web. 3. The GPSr should be convenient to carry and operate with one hand, especially if you use a hiking stick/trekking pole. It should be of a comfortable size and weight and should be able to be comfortably stowed in and retrieved from a shirt/pants pocket. 4. All GPSrs operate using computer software (firmware). Does the manufacturer *regularly* provide firmware updates through the internet? How about their customer support via phone or email? Also, remember to carry a topo map and always carry a compass. Speaking of maps and compasses, the last two caches I found without a GPSr. Granted they were not 4/4 caches. Prior to the hike, I had translated the GPS (WGS 84) coordinates into UTM (NAD 27) and had marked the location on a USGS (1:25000) topo map. I then used the map and the compass (triangulation) to get to the spot. Of course I had to look for the cache in a wider area without the GPSr, but it helped me "get my head out of the GPSr" and notice the land and possible locations. I was probably covering and area of about 30-40 square meters. It was actually quite fun! So...start simple. Learn about map reading, working with compasses and GPSrs, and get out to some 1/1 (or higher) caches to put into practice what you have learned. Remember, this is a great community here, your questions will always be welcomed. Mine always have been! Cheers, BP

OK! Now...let me fire up the Bombe machine and we'll have this thing solved before you can say "stecker board"! Seriously, I think that the voltage may not matter also. I have gotten consistent readings from the Vista even with the batteries at low voltage. The final couple of test performed during the (second) Vista/benchmark testing I did this summer showed fairly consistent numbers even though the batteries were quite low. Since I cannot replicate the problem and know I am working with beta software, I will save Garmin an email and clear the bandwidth for your communications with them! By the way, I have a connection to your country: my Great Grandfather (last name was Sjostrand) was from Smoland, Sweden. At some point I want to visit and do some family research (as well as geocaching!). Cheers! BP

OK! Now...let me fire up the Bombe machine and we'll have this thing solved before you can say "stecker board"! Seriously, I think that the voltage may not matter also. I have gotten consistent readings from the Vista even with the batteries at low voltage. The final couple of test performed during the (second) Vista/benchmark testing I did this summer showed fairly consistent numbers even though the batteries were quite low. Since I cannot replicate the problem and know I am working with beta software, I will save Garmin an email and clear the bandwidth for your communications with them! By the way, I have a connection to your country: my Great Grandfather (last name was Sjostrand) was from Smoland, Sweden. At some point I want to visit and do some family research (as well as geocaching!). Cheers! BP

CONUS is is! BP

I'm working with routes and desired waypoints using some USGS topos and UTM roamer scales. The map datum uses NAD 27 so I decided to change over the Vista (v2.29b) to UTM/NAD 27. Well the Units screen, there are 12 NAD 27 settings. I can rule out most since I know I'm not in Alaska or the Canal Zone (physically). By process of elimination I am gravitating toward NAD 27 CONUS. Does CONUS stand for CONtinental US? Makes sense to me! TIA, BP

Let's see... I was calibrating via the Altimeter (known location). Auto-calibration was turned-off. I was receiving signals from about 4-5 satellites. I tried again today and had no luck duplicating the problem...I even used NiMH batteries drained to about the same level as before. Skies were cloudy and if you can tell me how I get the green elephants to scare away the giant hedgehogs, I'd be most appreciative! HEY! Where's my car? Cheers, BP