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sbukosky

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Everything posted by sbukosky

  1. I've seen bolt that had to be unbolted from posts and benches that contained the log sheet and coordinates hidden behind letters on signs that had to be peeled back to find. Around here we have signs that have stickers on them stating penalties for defacing or removing. So, I'd say this one may be a matter of judgment on both the cache owner and the cachers.
  2. Brad, your GPS is probably fine. There must be some FAQ's around here to answer most of your questions and that is why there's not a bunch of responses to your message. I could still find caches with my old Garmin eMap but use my GPSMAP 60c with all the ink worn off most of the buttons. Not because it is more accurate but has some nicer features. I'll give you one tip. Use a compass. When you get say, 30 feet from the cache, stop, let the gps settle down for a minute and see what the compass rose says the distance and bearing is from you. Don't worry where it is pointing. Take your compass and head in that direction and pace off the distance. Look for a good hiding spot. If nothing. Let the gps settle again and try it over. Keep in mind that due to error at any given time for both you and the person that hid the cache, you could have a good thirty foot radius around what shows to be ground zero, or more! If you loose a signal in heavy cover, again the compass comes to the rescue. Find a spot where you do get a signal and see how far and what heading the cache is at. Then let your compass lead the way and pace off the distance. Hopefully when you get there your GPS will have a signal, but if not, I have used that strategy to find caches where the GPS won't get a signal. I recommend a compass with the lens and sighting hairline. I've bought them at Walmart for less than five dollars and it works well. Geocaching requires a little orienteering too. Have fun. Learn a lot but don't let it become an obsession. See if there are any local cache groups. These people love to take a newbie under their wing and help them out.
  3. I have one that I use with a Motorola Q and have looked at the possibilities, but it's like using a pliers to pound in a nail when you should be using a hammer. Pretty much my opinion of the NUVI thread too. I just bought a TomTom GO930 and see how it too could be used for geocaching, but when I have a handheld made just for it, GPSMAP 60c, I can't see going beyond some simple curiosity of using the wrong tool for the job at hand. Is it that there is an influx of people with only these navigation GPS's that want to geocache and don't have a handheld made for it? I recall a guy posting a message trying to geocache with the navigation system in his SUV. Hope he has AWD and a brush guard!
  4. Among the other suggestions, check if your WAAS is on. On my GPS60C it seems to make things worse unless I have a good signal from most of the visible satellites. Also, when left alone for a minute or so, what does the radius accuracy read? As to not getting signals in the kitchen anymore, is the room shaded by trees? There is some signal attenuation by the leaves. Other wise to answer your question, I've had my GPS60 since they were first introduced, the buttons are worn down but it is as accurate as when it was new.
  5. If you are placing caches that people enjoy, then the more the merrier. If they're stinkers, then consider sticking to finding rather than hiding. Personally, and everybody has their own "personally", I'd prefer to see them scattered about to explore new area or a new piece of an area already visited. Locally, everyplace fitting for a cache has had one years ago so there isn't much new area to visit. I'd also suggest spreading them out time wise.
  6. I have a Q and just bought a Garmin 10X for it. It's great for road navigating but I still depend on my GPS60 and Sony PDA. If I had to choose between one or the other, I'd drop the GPS with the Q and stick to the GPS60.
  7. I've had a Q for a few months now and just bought a Garmin 10X to use with it. I'd forget about trying to find a cache with it or use it for cache sheets. I still use my Garmin 60 and Sony PDA. However, for driving the Q is working great with the 10X. The voice directions are pretty neat and the traffic detours have automatically kept me out of stop and go traffic.
  8. I've been thinking of combining the two hobbies. I have a bit of a dislike for microcaches, but have thought about making a metal detector necessary cache where waypoints would be nitro tablet containers pressed into the dirt or sod. What gave me the idea was having my glasses knocked off in tall marsh grass by my dog while playing hide and seek with him near sundown. I ended up marking the spot and had my wife bring my metal detector. That found it quickly. While it was squawking that it found it, I had to look several times to see the glasses. (no jokes. I had spare glasses on) Yes, I know all about buried caches. Pressing a tiny cylinder into the ground is fine.
  9. Frankly, I'm interested in subfoot accuracy. I've always strived for the best that my GPS can give. I talked about accuracy and have heard back from too many people that seem to be sloppy with their coordinates and expect to be looking for a needle in a haystack that is sixty feet in diameter. Well, I'd like to kick it up to a higher level. I'm a ham radio operator and a pilot so am interested in both the technology and accuracy of the commercial GPS units. The money is not that much for them. People will spend $25,000 or more for a gas guzzling cache mobile and try to find a Garmin GPSMAP 60 for just a couple hundred dollars. So, I don't see several thousand dollars for a GOOD GPS unit as out of line. Enjoy geocaching as you wish. I'm looking for something on a higher level. I'm wanting to hear from like minded people interested in the possibilities such instruments open.
  10. I'm away for a while. I check in. Same arguements. Many new people and so on. Stick with it long enough and you'll understand that virtual caches are not caches and microcaches, at best, suck and when in an urban environment....well time for another hobby.
  11. Yes on both accounts. Some people just like to bang around in the dark with or without a flashlight. There are also some made specifically for nighttime where reflectors are mounted and usually can ONLY be done at night. Usually these types are in safe enough surroundings that you are unlikely to fall off a cliff or into a big hole and such. I've done both. I like both.
  12. My 60C took me from Milwaukee to past Atlanta nicely. Of course, it was mostly interstate but I was able to fit detailed maps in the memory for most of the route for those off route excursions if something looked interesting. If you want to lay out a route, making waypoints as you mentioned is a good method. Otherwise, if you go off route you might want to move the pointer to a place further down the route, create a waypoint and GOTO that point. Then it will autoroute nicely provided you have more than just the base map.
  13. I asked geocaching.com to enable an OPTION to hide totals. Read the message people. I didn't ask if numbers were sacred to you. If you are going to comment, it should be either as a message in agreement or why giving someone the choice of hiding their numbers is a bad thing.
  14. Looks like some people don't comprehend what I'm saying. OPT OUT as to have the option not to show my numbers. However, I admit to being interested in the seeing the ratio of finds/hides versus number of posts on this board! This is one of my reasons. Some people obsese with it to the point other things in life suffer. Sometimes integrity is one of them. So, if having a zillion finds or a zillion and one posts here makes you feel like a superior person, my proposal doesn't threaten that other than you just may not know if someone opting out has more finds than you. Just that possibility seems to eat at some people.
  15. I've about had it with numbers. I'm willing to opt out of having my number of finds shown on the site. However, I enjoy posting my logs and often post what I hope are interesting comments about the hunt. I know of at least two teams that no longer log because of their reaction to how the numbers hunt has begun to spoil geocaching. They no longer hide caches either because of their dismay of people flooding areas with garbage caches only to boost their numbers and friends numbers. Ok. If some are so addicted to numbers, keep them. But I'd like to see an option to opt out of the madness.
  16. There often is a better way. If under thick cover, take the best average reading that you can and then walk to an opening that is directly on a cardinal heading from the cache. Use your compass for reference. Take a good, WAAS preferred, average reading at that point and verify that your cache's lattitude or longitude is identical to your out in the open coordinate. Now, judge the distance to the cache and see if your "distance to" is a reasonable match. You can fine tune that coordinate as needed. Now a person can get a reading in a clearing and use their compass to pace off to the cache. They won't need the GPS from that point on. No matter, as I'm a stickler for exactness (hope to have a survey quality gps sometime) I applaude you for doing this.
  17. Report it. One of the benefits to the general population that geocaching presents is finding illegal crops, meth labs and who knows what all. Reporting such, with coordiantes for the police, of course, will make rural geocaching safer for us and safer for the general population too.
  18. To stay on topic, it is the experience. Caches in my area were all of the hike in the woods type. When much of the available areas became saturated, then the micros in a city park began to appear. Sometimes it is fun to become obese with finds, but it can never replace a hike through a nice area revealing something worth seeing. But, if your thing is having more finds than someone else, have fun. That's what its about in the end.
  19. Sounds like the basic issue is running out of caches to go on or area open to hide new ones. Haveing been at it for a few years, I'm slowing buying into the idea of retiring a cache after one year. This would answer your questions and I think benefit many areas from getting worn and following the path to the cache.
  20. sbukosky

    Members Only!

    What is the mix of member versus non-member activity on the weekends? Might things free up if only members could log in on weekends? How about state associations putting up mirror sites for their state only? Most people are only looking for information in their home area, so what is the sense of a world wide server? As a former state officer, I warned members about these slowdowns and to investigate using our local association site for state caches, but nobody much cared. Well, I care! It can only get worse! What are the plans to improve on this?
  21. Caching like such impresses me as much as a hotdog eating contest.
  22. Globally, yes. However here in the colonies, we have the capability to be energy self sufficient. People just don't want it bad enough. This is apparent from the responses indicating that the rising price of fuel is not causing them to reduce their use of it.
  23. Fuel economy was one of the reasons that I bought my Subaru Forester a few years ago. Even then, I'd sometimes take one of the motorcycles caching to save on gas. Yeah, it hurts the wallet. People with the big incomes can care less about the price and suck the fuel up in their guzzlers but we don't live in a vacuum. They drive the price of fuel up for everyone. When there was the oil embargo in the early 70's, AMOCO had ads saying if everyone used a gallon less per week, there'd be no gasoline shortage. I believe that holds true today. Less demand, lower prices. I've got my eye open for a Volkswagen TDI wagon. I've decided AWD isn't really necessary for my caching.
  24. Good point. All while reading the posts I wondered where these guys bemoaning accuracy were during selective availability?
  25. I like very accurate coordinates and would use a surveyor's GPS if I could. Lacking that, I will do WAAS averaging if the signals are good. If I'm in leaf cover, I will average as best reasonable and then measure the distance from the cache to a clearing where I do get a better signal. I will then compare that reading from a few angles until I'm satisfied. But even then, I can come back later and ground zero is 20 feet off.
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