Xangxa

GPXsonar can export a bunch of coordinates to Pocket Street format (and quite nicely). It's under /Tools /Export /Waypoints /To MS S+T Push Pins File It creates \My Device\My Documents\MSSTMap.psp which can be copied to the location of Pocket Streets (i.e., usually on a storage card). It usually needs to be renamed to match the map. For example, I copy it to \Storage Card\Microsoft Pocket Streets\Hm40.psp to match the map Hm40.mps in that directory (a map for all caches within a 40 mile radius of my home). You'll probably also want a simple GPX with a single waypoint (like your house) to use as a template. Mine is called House.gpx. So, to create a list of "events" or such, I would copy the file House.gpx to Parties.gpx (leaving the original House.gpx unmodified for future use). Then open the Parties.gpx in PocketWord (it's just a text file) and use copy and paste to create additional entries, changing coordinates, name, comment, and descriptions for each. It looks scary, but everything between <wpt and /wpt> is a single waypoint entry. See example file at the bottom of this message of all the "here" places you can edit. The latitude and longitude are decimal degree format following the lat= and lon= entries below. Once you've edited your GPX file, open it in GPXsonar via /File /Load GPX file, and it's ready for export.

Xangxa's Geo-Pup: Totally loves the outdoors. Totally unsuited for the outdoors: 4 pounds of white fluff that is a magnet to burrs, thistles, mud, etc. He doesn't mind the afterbath and deburring, so he's always eager for each trip.

EZDetach does the job. With EZDetach, PKZIP25, MightySync, ActiveSync, and a few batch files, it all works auto-magically now. When a Pocket Query arrives the GPX gets extracted, renamed to something meaningful, and ends up synchronized on my PDA without any manual intervention -- sweet.

It's been over 40 hours since my last daily PQ ran.

I have a CF Card GPS unit (HAiCOM 303s) that I use in a Bluetooth slipper (401BT). Using it with my iPAQ 4155 PDA works just fine. Cold fixes take longer than a hot fix, but nothing inconveniently long either way. I've also used it with a card reader in my laptop and got same results. I've also used the external antenna both with the PDA and the laptop, but didn't make much difference either way, other than for convenience.

As a recent premium member I can speak as to what drew me the most: Pocket Queries! I hope to see enhancements in the coming year to encourage current members to renew. Specifically adding cache attributes upon which we can filter (e.g., additional granularity for sizes and types; rankings by finders [e.g., to filter out the yet-another-sucky-micro-at-a-mall-lampost]).

I've seen it mentioned once, but couldn't find a way to use MS Outlook 2002's Rules Wizard to do this. What I want to do is to automatically extract the GPX file from the ZIP that gets emailed by Pocket Queries, specifying the destination location and possible the file name. For example, an email arrives from Geocaching.com with the subject "Hm Radius 40 mi" (all caches within a 40 mile radius of my house). When it hits my inbox the rules wizard moves it to the Geocaching folder, unzips the file (99999.GPX), copies it to C:\GPX and gives it the name HmRadius40mi.GPX Has anyone done this? Perhaps with a macro? I can probably handle VBA since I'm fluent in VBScript.

The name Xangxa was given to me by the cannibals of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific. The letter X has the I.P.A. pronounciation: a harsh XH or KH sound as in the Scottish word "loch." It means "big" due to my comparative height. Unfortunately, I'm no longer the bean-pole of a foreigner they knew in the 80's. Now they'd probably call me "Feeds Family of Eight."

I sit a computer all day long most days, but there are times when I'm in a meeting for much longer than 2 hours. The finder could also be using a dial-up account and only check his email once a day or longer. Hard to imagine they'd be a technophobe and put it off much longer than that but you never know.

I'm doubtful about how useful such a combo would be in the field. I'd hate to take my laptop cache hunting -- I could trip and fall on top of it (crunch), slip into a stream (splash), get rained on, bet mugged by a techno-gadet starved bear etc. Then there's battery life, sceen clarity (they're very hard to read outdoors), extra weight and bulk, and how do you type on the keyboard in the rain with no where to sit down. That having been said, I like using MS Streets & Trips to plan a day of hunting. I download the Pocket Queries and import them into to S&T as pushpins. Then I can visually see all the area caches, zoom in, determine the driving route, etc. It can be had for less than $25.00 at Wal-Mart so it's not a huge investment. What's even better is that the 2005 version includes Pocket Streets, so you can export an area map and all the cache push-pins to a PDA if you own a Pocket PC.

Just starting out, and Vito Navigator II has been quite useful. The display looks simplistic, but there is more functionality than you'd expect. I used it with GPXsonar and Pocket Streets (MS Streets & Trips) and the trio made a great geocaching suite. I used Pocket Streets to see what caches were nearby. I use GPXsonar to get the details (type, coordinates, difficulty [do I have time and appropriate equipment], etc.). Then used VN2 to get from van to cache. Then logged find in GPXsonar. I also tried CacheDragon, but it hasn't proved stable yet. I'll need to try it some more, since it may have just been having a "bad hair day." It is an all-in-one approach that is very appealing, and maybe I just need to work with a bit more to get it working correctly.

GPXSonar is great for looking up the details for a cache, especially the clues. You can also add notes about your adventure and then just copy and paste that into the logs on gc.com. The benefit is increased if you're going to be hunting several caches that day, or if you do impromput hunting. (e.g., you're visiting the wife's inlaws for Christmas and when things get boring you want to know where the closest cache is)

What glue do you find useful for creating caches (e.g., gluing magnets to plastic, metal, wood, or rubber containers) that will also withstand exposure over a lengthy period of time?

I had a new Pocket PC and wanted some navigation software and a BlueTooth GPS to use for travelling (find hotels, restaraunts, businesses, etc.) -- All on-road travel. When researching the hardware and software options I came across the term "geocaching" and skipped over it. Later I did a google search on the term (yes, I'm one of those types who DOES look up stuff in the dictionary). Ironically, this was the day after I took my family to see the movie National Treasure. How could I resist?

In some situations GPSBabel is handy if you want to convert a GPX to a LOC or vice versa, or to import into MS Streets & Trips/Pocket Streets (via a CSV file). I've tried GPXSonar, GPXview, and CacheDragon. I like them in that order. The latter has a lot of potential but unfortunately proved unstable in my setup.

Had my GPS since mid-November, but due to the Holiday rush, SWMBO asked "No geocaching until after Christmas." Which was fine by me, since I needed time to get accessories and such together (e.g., Geocaching.com subscription, Vito Navigator II, a decent compass, stamp for letterboxing, etc.). The second day after Christmas, we had time for a quick hunt and had our first find. The kids were excited and we squeezed in one more find. We'll probably head out again on Friday since I have it off for New Year's, but SWMBO probably will stay at home (HATES the cold something fierce).

Some Bluetooth units have a connector for an external antenna. The HAiCOM 303s with the 401 BlueTooth slipper is what I have. You can toss the BT unti into your backpack (in a ZipLoc if it's wet out) and run the antenna up to your shoulder, hat, etc. Mine has a magnetic base which makes mounting easy -- I position the zippers of the backpack so they're at the top, and stick the antenna to them.

I have MS S&T 2005 and was able to create pushpins for both the PC and the PPC maps. I used GPSBabel to read in the GPX file I created using Pocket Queries (i.e., all caches within 40 miles of my house). DO NOT EXPORT as a MS S&T file -- it's for the old 2002 version and the 2005 version can't read it. Instead export it as a LOC file type. Then open that LOC file and save it as a CSV file. You can't go straight from GPX to CSV for some reason. Anyway, in S&T the Import Wizard is under the DATA menu. Assign F1 (field 1) to Latitude, F2 to Longitutde, and F3 to name. Once imported save your pushpins to a file (e.g., All-Caches-Within-40-Miles). If you want to create a PPC version, marquee the area and export (via right-click). Then copy both files just created to your PPC.