bradtal
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Posts posted by bradtal
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Luxem-
When people talk about their GPSr being "cold" or "warm" when finding satellites, it has do do with how long it takes for the GPSr to find the satellites.
When you first turn on your GPS after it has been off for a long time (more than 1 hour, for example), it needs to "find" the satellites in the sky (because they have moved in orbit around the earth). This is what is called a "cold lock".
After it finds the satellites and you turn off your gps (like you found the geocache and don't want to waste batteries while filling out the logbook), but then turn the GPSr back on after only a few minutes, it knows where the GPS satellites were and finds them a lot quicker (because they haven't moved much in orbit). This is called a "warm" find.
A "cold lock" usually takes a minute or two to find the satellites while a "warm lock" can happen in just a few seconds..
Hope this helped...
Brad
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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Lisa-
Also make sure you understand the difference between DMS (Degrees Minutes Seconds) and MinDec (Degrees Minutes in decimal) and DegDec (Degrees in decimal). GeoCaching.com uses MinDec format...
Your GPS may come set to one of the other formats which can cause some confusion.
For example, a geocache is listed as:
N 40° 33.730 W 105° 04.657 (WGS84)
This is read as "North 40 degrees, 33.730 minutes by West 105 degrees, 04.657 minutes" The WGS84 is the "datum" (make sure your GPS is set to WGS84)
This exact same coordinate can also be shown as:
DMS = 40°33'43.81"N 105°4'39.43"W
MinDec = 40°33.7302 -105°4.6572
DegDec = 40.56217 -105.07762
UTM = 13 493429 4490158
All of the above point to the same location, but notice how the DMS and MinDec and DegDec all start with 40 but the following digits are different. This is why it can cause some confusion.
One trick I used to show some kids in the neighborhood how to use a GPS is that I hid a couple golfballs in the neighborhood and marked them in my gps as waypoints. Then, I had the kids try and find the "hidden" golfballs. You might try this also when learning how to use the gps. Hide the golfballs and mark them in your gps. Then walk away a bit and then try to find them using the GPS. This will allow you to get used to how to GPS works before hiking around looking for a cache.
Also, I recommend reading the Geocaching Frequently Asked Questions Page. It may answer some of your questions and give you some hints.
The most important hint is to have fun! Geocaching is a blast and if you have any other questions, post them to this webpage and there are many others here that would be glad to help you out.
Brad
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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I'd rather shove knitting needles under my fingernails...
I'd rather sand my whole body with 60 grit sandpaper and jump into a pool filled with rubbing alcohol...
I'd rather listen to the Chipmunks Christmas CD over and over and over and over...
I'd rather give myself papercuts with large pieces of cardboard....
I'd rather rip all the hair off my body with a pair of tweezers (or duct tape for the hard to reach places on my back...)
I'd rather bob for apples in boiling hot water...
and the list goes on...
But, you won't find me at the mall....
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
[This message was edited by bradtal on December 18, 2002 at 09:22 AM.]
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I don't have a set of the Rhino's but I've been following the threads on them.
From what I've heard, the GPS's in them are really cool, but the two-way radios are getting poor reviews. They say you almost have to yell to have the other person understand you.
There is some neat functionality, like a built in alarm clock (in case you fall asleep waiting for your friend to find the geocache.
)I recommend looking for Garmin Rino on the Epinions WebPage. It's a webpage that people supply feedback on products that they have bought.
Also, you might check out this thread.
Hope this helps...
Brad
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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Let us Go, Let us Go, Let us Go
Oh the weather outside is frightful,
And there's hunters out there with rifles,
But since there's a new cache placed by "RubberToe",
Let us go, let us go, let us go!
It says it's in the middle of nowhere,
inhabited by wolves, ticks, and black bears,
But I want to be the first to find it, you know,
Let us go, let us go, let us go!
Well, I've got a golfball to put in the cache,
and the poison oak has given me quite a rash,
But I really want that jar of Play-doh,
Let us go, let us go, let us go!
I've been looking for hours with no luck,
feeling like a total schmuck,
been looking high, been looking low,
let us go, let us go, let us go!
I finally decyper the encrypted clue,
hoping it would tell me which way to persue,
but instead it said, "No hint, you dodo.."
Let us go, let us go, let us go!
Well, I finally find the cache under a tree,
and I jump around yelling, "Yippie!",
"That wasn't too tough, you know,"
Let us go, through the snow, 8 more to go!
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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These are GREAT, people! Keep them coming!!!
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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Well, I wanted to update everyone who responded to my question (Thanks!, by the way...)
I got permission from the Parks Department to create a cache in one of their local parks. The guy I had talked to had never heard of GeoCaching, but after I explained to him all about it, he said, "No problem." He sent me a park permit and said that he was going to give GeoCaching a try (since he had a GPS he used for hunting...) So, hopefully I got another one hooked.
Also, I put my "labels" in the park about a month ago and they are all still there. None of them have been removed. I hid them pretty well, so you'd have to really be "looking" for them to find them.
Anyways, I just wanted to pass on how easy it was to ask permission first. The conversation was enjoyable and now have an "inside" connection if I want to hide others.
Thanks for all of your replies.
Brad
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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Ya, I knew the "operating temperature". I guess my question is more related to the liquid crystal freezing and then thawing out and then freezing again.
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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Hello All-
I live in the wondeful state of Colorado. It's only downfall is that when it gets cold, it gets COLD!
I usually leave my GPS locked up in my truck. That way it is always accessable for GeoCaching.
However, now that the temps are dropping into the single digits at night, can this harm my GPS's liquid crystal display? I've noticed when I turn it on in the morning, the display is real "slow" until it warms up.
Is it bad to leave it in the cold vehicle and then have it warm up, then get cold again, then warm up again, etc, etc over and over again?
Thanks.
PS. It's a Magellan 330MAP
Brad
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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Hello All-
I have found a real nice park where I would like to put a multi-cache. The coordinates would point you toward something like a sign or a lamp-post, etc. On the lamp-post, I would have a small label (printed with a label-maker) that would give you the coordinates to the next location in the park.
My question is, is it ok to put little labels like this on "public" signs? I know it is vandalism if you "tag" or paint on these signs, but I would think a little label would be fine.
What are your thoughts?
Thanks.
Brad
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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Mr. Scrub-
You may notice a slight "delay" with your GPS as it is usually a second behind. You can see this when you are driving. Come to a complete stop and you will notice the speed finally drops to 0.0mph after a second or two. This is because the GPS is doing many calculations per second, but also needs "a few more data points" to do a calculation to determine if you are stopped.
Disclaimer: You should not drive and look at your GPS at the same time, but it's kinda fun to do. Just be safe about it...
Also, if you are at a standstill, you may notice your EPE switches to "Averaging". This means the gps is taking your location every second and averaging it out so it will be more accurate. For example, lets say over 5 seconds, my GPS came up with the following latitudes:
40.53356
40.53351
40.53351
40.53352
40.53351
It would average out to 40.53352. Notice the first one is kinda a "bogus" read, but the others are "closer" together and will make a more accurate reading. (even though all of those readings are pretty darn accurate!
)The Averaging is handy when hiding a cache or when you are trying to get an accurate location (like the corner of your property, or marking "dog piles" in your local park... Seriously! Check out Dog Pile Webpage) You can set your GPS down for a minute or so and you should get a very accurate reading (if tree cover, mountain ridges, etc don't hinder the satellite readings).
Hope this helps.
Brad
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
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quote:
Originally posted by cachew nut:quote:
Originally posted by bradtal:They thought the satellite image was cool and one of them asked me, "Where did you get the picture?" I said, "Oh, it's a satellite image I downloaded before I came out here."
Hehe, the joke was on you, the photos are shot from airplanes flying at 20,000 feet.
Actually, the joke is on you.
Here's a quote from the Terraserver webpage....What is the Terraserver?
... The satellite images are generated from many sources: ORBIMAGE, SPIN-2, UK PERSPECTIVES, AIR PHOTO USA, AERO-DATA, IMAGESAT, SPACESHOTS, and GEO COM/USGS.
So, we are both right. They are taken from satellites and from airplanes...
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Not really a "stupid question", but more of a "stupid action"...
Here in Fort Collins, there is a big "A" painted on the side of a hill and nearby a pretty cool cache is hidden.
I was walking up to the cache and came across some "mighty-fine-looking" college girls. They asked me if I knew how to get up to the "A". I told them I hadn't been up there before, but that I knew the "A" was about 300 yards south of the cache I was looking for. I had a "LostOutdoors" satellite image printout of the area and I showed it to them. I said, "We are here, and this is where you will want to go." They thought the satellite image was cool and one of them asked me, "Where did you get the picture?" I said, "Oh, it's a satellite image I downloaded before I came out here."
Believe it or not, all three of them at the same time looked up into the sky, hoping to somehow "magically" see how I was able to take the picture.
Needless to say, I had a pretty good chuckle....
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TT120-
I had the same problem on my Garmin GPS12. It had the correct time for 3 years, then one day when I turned it on, it said Oct 4th, 2022 (odd, we both had the same year).
Anyways, I did what the manual said and set the GPS out in the open for 10 minutes to "sync" up with the satellites. No luck. SO, I left it out for one hour. Still no luck.
I finally called Garmin support (which I was impressed with). They had me do this real funky "reset" (like, press left, then right, then left, then right, then left 2 more times, then spin around on one leg, then act like a bird, etc)
and then the GPS displayed the right time.Anyways, I recommend calling Garmin support.
PS. If you call Garmin support, you will probably lose all your waypoints you have saved in your GPS. SO, you might want to dump them to your computer or write them all down...
Brad
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TT120-
I had the same problem on my Garmin GPS12. It had the correct time for 3 years, then one day when I turned it on, it said Oct 4th, 2022 (odd, we both had the same year).
Anyways, I did what the manual said and set the GPS out in the open for 10 minutes to "sync" up with the satellites. No luck. SO, I left it out for one hour. Still no luck.
I finally called Garmin support (which I was impressed with). They had me do this real funky "reset" (like, press left, then right, then left, then right, then left 2 more times, then spin around on one leg, then act like a bird, etc)
and then the GPS displayed the right time.Anyways, I recommend calling Garmin support.
PS. If you call Garmin support, you will probably lose all your waypoints you have saved in your GPS. SO, you might want to dump them to your computer or write them all down...
Brad
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I have to agree with BrianSnat. I think a little more information on the Cache page (In bold letters) might remind more people to stay on the trail.
I plead the fifth here, but I admit I have been walking on a nice paved path and the arrow starts to point way off in another direction. So, off through the grass and woods I went. I spent close to 20 minutes hiking through the grass, getting weeds stuck in my scoks, getting my shoes wet, and having to climb over fallen trees. As I approached the cache site, I ended up crossing over the original paved path I was on! Argh! I should have stayed on it the whole time. It had curved away from the cache location, but then curved back. If this had been mentioned on the webpage, I would have stayed on the path the whole time (the cache wasn't even 15 feet from the path!)
Anyways, I do find it humorous that Larimer County Parks says we can't post locations of public land. What's next?? "Oh, you can't look at the satellite flying over the park at night because it's owned by the government and is flying over an area that is protected..." Come on.
What frustrates me more about this whole topic (and Larimer County) is that I've hiked MANY trails around here that have been destroyed by mountain bikers. They go whichever way they want, causing more trails to be formed. It looks like a labrinth of trails in some areas (I have nothing against mountain bikers, however... I just think bike tires cause more damage than Nikes)
I would like to see the "proof" or "data" the Larimer County Parks Dept was talking about. They said over the last six months they have been collecting data. What was the percentage of hikers? If the cache has been logged only 6 times in 6 months, that means only one person per month was out walking with a GPS. How many "non-geocachers" a DAY go hiking in this popular area? I've seen 20-30 cars in the parking lot in the evenings on weekdays! So, lets average 5 people a day (a low number) for 6 months = 900 people. Hmmm... A ratio of 6/900. Wow. We geocachers must be detrimental to the environment!
Personally, I think the "problematic" people are normal hikers walking along and saying, "Oh, take my picture of me up on that cool rock. Wait until I hike up there, etc, etc".Anyways, enough rambling... Sorry.
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I have to agree with BrianSnat. I think a little more information on the Cache page (In bold letters) might remind more people to stay on the trail.
I plead the fifth here, but I admit I have been walking on a nice paved path and the arrow starts to point way off in another direction. So, off through the grass and woods I went. I spent close to 20 minutes hiking through the grass, getting weeds stuck in my scoks, getting my shoes wet, and having to climb over fallen trees. As I approached the cache site, I ended up crossing over the original paved path I was on! Argh! I should have stayed on it the whole time. It had curved away from the cache location, but then curved back. If this had been mentioned on the webpage, I would have stayed on the path the whole time (the cache wasn't even 15 feet from the path!)
Anyways, I do find it humorous that Larimer County Parks says we can't post locations of public land. What's next?? "Oh, you can't look at the satellite flying over the park at night because it's owned by the government and is flying over an area that is protected..." Come on.
What frustrates me more about this whole topic (and Larimer County) is that I've hiked MANY trails around here that have been destroyed by mountain bikers. They go whichever way they want, causing more trails to be formed. It looks like a labrinth of trails in some areas (I have nothing against mountain bikers, however... I just think bike tires cause more damage than Nikes)
I would like to see the "proof" or "data" the Larimer County Parks Dept was talking about. They said over the last six months they have been collecting data. What was the percentage of hikers? If the cache has been logged only 6 times in 6 months, that means only one person per month was out walking with a GPS. How many "non-geocachers" a DAY go hiking in this popular area? I've seen 20-30 cars in the parking lot in the evenings on weekdays! So, lets average 5 people a day (a low number) for 6 months = 900 people. Hmmm... A ratio of 6/900. Wow. We geocachers must be detrimental to the environment!
Personally, I think the "problematic" people are normal hikers walking along and saying, "Oh, take my picture of me up on that cool rock. Wait until I hike up there, etc, etc".Anyways, enough rambling... Sorry.
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How cool! I just saw my first Iridium Flare last night. Talk about neat! I thought it was cool that the webpage told me what time to look, which direction to point, and what altitude in the sky it would be at. Sure enough, right on time, right in the correct direction, it showed up. It was much brighter than I expected it to be.
Anyways, thanks for posting this new cool thing to use my GPS for!
Brad
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How cool! I just saw my first Iridium Flare last night. Talk about neat! I thought it was cool that the webpage told me what time to look, which direction to point, and what altitude in the sky it would be at. Sure enough, right on time, right in the correct direction, it showed up. It was much brighter than I expected it to be.
Anyways, thanks for posting this new cool thing to use my GPS for!
Brad
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ETE
in How do I...?
Hello-
ETE stands for Estimated Time Enroute.
It is actually my favorite and most used option on my GPS.
What it does is tell you how long it's going to take you to get to where you are going. For example, say you are traveling from point A to point B. Your GPS knows where point B is, and as you are walking or driving toward point B, it tells you it will take 3 more minutes, 2 more minutes, 1 more minute, 30 seconds, etc until you get to point B.
My wife & I used this on our trip from Colorado to Oregon. I entered most of the cities along the way as waypoints. As we drove, the ETE would tell us how many more hours or minutes it would take to get the the next city. This was handy as we were getting tired, we could look at the GPS and say, "Well, it's only 45 more minutes away..."
Hopefully this answers your question..
Brad
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Hey guys... If we need a GPS to tell us which way is heaven and which way is hell, maybe we should spend this Sunday in church instead of out in the middle of some marsh/field/desert looking for a tupperware container filled with neat stuff.
All joking aside, I actually think the cache idea at the funeral is a neat one. I would have never thought of it, but like others said, if my friends and family wanted to, more power to it!
Just another bit of trivia I read a week ago or so. The most popular song played at funerals now is "Wind beneath my Wings" by Bette Midler. The number 3 song played is "Another one bites the dust" by Queen. Really!
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Hey guys... If we need a GPS to tell us which way is heaven and which way is hell, maybe we should spend this Sunday in church instead of out in the middle of some marsh/field/desert looking for a tupperware container filled with neat stuff.
All joking aside, I actually think the cache idea at the funeral is a neat one. I would have never thought of it, but like others said, if my friends and family wanted to, more power to it!
Just another bit of trivia I read a week ago or so. The most popular song played at funerals now is "Wind beneath my Wings" by Bette Midler. The number 3 song played is "Another one bites the dust" by Queen. Really!
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I know I sure would take a cool ceramic magnetic-backed tile that was hand-made.
I, too, want to leave a signature item, but my hobby (besides Geocaching, of course!) is Alabaster turning. Most are big bowls, so they probably wouldn't fit into a tupper-ware container.
I was thinking about turning an alabaster vase for a "first-find" item. Here is a picture of one I turned:
(pick on "Look at my album" for a closer view...)
Do you think this would be ok to put in a cache?
Brad
[This message was edited by bradtal on August 15, 2002 at 09:33 AM.]
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I know I sure would take a cool ceramic magnetic-backed tile that was hand-made.
I, too, want to leave a signature item, but my hobby (besides Geocaching, of course!) is Alabaster turning. Most are big bowls, so they probably wouldn't fit into a tupper-ware container.
I was thinking about turning an alabaster vase for a "first-find" item. Here is a picture of one I turned:
(pick on "Look at my album" for a closer view...)
Do you think this would be ok to put in a cache?
Brad
[This message was edited by bradtal on August 15, 2002 at 09:33 AM.]
First day, first find!!!
in How do I...?
Posted
Yep, in fact, a recent study showed that it is easier to quit the addiction of smoking than it is to quit the addiction of GeoCaching!!!
Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.