mypaperpast

well i've got an ample supply of lithium batts....and i can easily get a good charger if need be....so i'm not too worried about battery life...but i don't want it to be so rediculous that i'm changing them every hour....taking one extra set for the day should be just fine...which i do already anyways.... thanks for all the tips too guys...i'm glad to hear good things about the pn-40 just because i think it's a sleek looking gps

thanks for the tip...and that is exactly what i'm talking about...i will keep this in mind for when i make my final choice

is this a good gps for deep woods caching...a cacher in my area likes to hide micros in the middle of deep woods around here and the gps i use now just doesn't cut it...i need accuracy... if not what other gps is good for this kind of caching for about the same price...~$200

Thanks for the update, that's looking superb. Wish I could make something that looks that tidy. Mine would be all scratched already where I'd thrown it against a wall in frustration. And the letters wouldn't be on straight You've done really well (and I don't mean that in a patronising way). well again..i really appreciate it...pretty soon i'll be taking some pictures with the canon t2i...and i'm hoping it will be complete by then...

just added a geocache label at the top left and labeled the rotary switches with A, B, and C

here's an update photo...i've got most of the decals on...now i need to go out and search for a really neat place to put it so i know what numbers to put around the rotary switches.... the picture quality doesn't do this photo justice

or http://shop.Groundspeak.com/productDetail....;ProductID=315#

http://www.techblazer.com/geocaching-log-sheets/ or you could just make your own

Wouldn't be as much fun as lining everybody up to try their keys. But it would get the job done. yeah that would work...but you're right i would like the idea of lining everyone up to try thier keys...i may call ford in a couple days to see if they can help me out

yeah there's an idea....on another note...i have no idea where i'm going to get 50 keys that all look like the working one...i don't have a supply of car keys just sitting around...

technically it is a container...it's doing it's job by containing the log between the laminated sheet and the red box machine....the log is not just flying around...

yes this is why i would contact a few to see if it's alright...i know 90% of the cachers in my area and they are all very cool people... I too like the idea of spreading out the distribution time line to prevent someone from racing around trying to nab multiple keys. But if you are dropping them in existing caches, that may be a moot point as there are a lot of caches in your area. It's a major metropolitan area. It would make an awesome Holiday gift to a lucky cacher. Another way to do it is simply host an event and make the car one of the door prizes. Maybe even get 49 toy cars for the second place finishers. But unless you just starting logging online, how is it you know so many of the local cachers? There are probably hundreds if not thousands of cachers in Houston. The ones I have met are very cool, so perhaps they represent well? just sayin'... i don't really cache in houston..i live in a town called baytown and know pretty much all the cachers in this area...just a few from bacliff and galveston...but anyways i look at it this way...if a cacher has a list of 50 or so caches it's thier choice which one to start on...they could start on number 23 and go from there or start on 49 and skip around...just the luck of the draw is the way i look at it

yes this is why i would contact a few to see if it's alright...i know 90% of the cachers in my area and they are all very cool people...

this would definately make it harder Sure it's harder. But you have to admit, it ads to the suspense and excitement. sure would...i like that idea...

this would definately make it harder

i was thinking a 2004 ford ranger edge...my buddy has a crap load of extra cars he's trying to get rid of...he just doesn't have the room to store them or the time to sell them...

i was thinking today of starting a car give away geocaching event... i would contact some geocachers in my area and hide a set of keys in a single cache....and have the cachers participating go try and find the cache that it's in...i would make a list of about 50 different caches in the area just to narrow down the chances...would this be a good idea or just a waste of time...

i'm sure you can give it a shot...they just throw them away anyways and probably have a ton left over....try walmart or a little mom and pop photo place...and that would be even better because you'd get them with the backs already off and would only have to pop it back on...if they give you them make sure it's got the spindle that rolls the film up...you never know unless you ask...

how do you do this? and can you ask for the old rolls at film places? it's actually not hard at all...the way i did mine...i took a can opener and very carefully popped off the back casing (not the side with the roller)...try not to bend the casing too much or the outer canister....once you get it off the inside film will come right out...take the film off the spindle and attach your log...the printable micro logs are a perfect fit...put the spindle with log back in the same way without the log rolled up...then put the back casing back on....once you get it on nice bang it on the ground a couple times to make sure it goes all the way on so you arn't able to pull it back off with your fingers...now you can roll your log up...i put a couple staples where i wanted the log to stop so the log doesn't get rolled all the way in and unretrievable...

how can you say that satellites don't move...satellites ORBIT around the earth at extreme speeds...this is why they are called satellites

haha...and no my little black box will not cause a cacher any pain...physical nor psychological...

It's going to be inside a cache box, which I imagine will be suitably identified as such with all the stickers and notices. And the lights will only come on when someone plugs a battery into it. The guy's doing ok. In my opinion. thanks man...and yes it is going to be in another box with proper labeling...i might even put "this is not a bomb" on it...HAHA...kidding on that one...but the green LED light will only light up in two situations...1. if there is a good battery and you press the test battery button...2. if you have the right combination dialed in and you press the test combo button...

thank you for your encouraging words...but honestly i don't think i could have done this without the help of some people on here that drew up a schematic for my idea...(see earlier posts)

i'm really considering what capt bob had posted....dry transfer decals or something on the lines of what you just said...after putting the letters on i may end up putting on a coat of poly u or clear coat paint...

First off, I think your idea is great! Now, with the 6 position rotary switches, it brings the number of combinations down to 216 (if I'm calculating correctly) which is quite reasonable. That's just hard enough, but still possible to brute force by holding the "check" button down and cycling through in sequence. Another variation that occurred to me this morning is to wire all the incorrect switch positions together and feed them through the "check" button to a RED LED and the correct switch positions together to a GREEN LED. With this variation, we could elliminate the "check battery" button and still give an indication to the cacher that the battery was good even if they had the wrong combination. // CtC i thought about this as well and i love the idea...the only downfall....my dad and i went to a local electronics store that sells used parts and the only rotary switches we could find were 4 pole 6 position switches...each deck has 2 poles on it...so all together there are a ton of pins that i would have to connect to the red LED to make that work...i tried finding 2 pole 10 position switches but they are very rare...there's only one source i know of right now that is selling 4 of them on ebay from overseas...and i might get them for the next box i make....and about the number of combo's...i'm going to use area codes as hints....for example...the hint for N will say "a houston, tx area code"...in houston we have 3 different area codes 281, 713, and 832...so one of those combos of numbers will be the missing numbers in the N coords....i will do the same thing for the W coords but with a different city for the hint....possibily a city that has 5 area codes...this will also save battery life but still keep the puzzle at a somewhat difficult rating...(dial in 281, test, nothing, dial in 713, test nothing, dial in 832, test, LED lights up....you have your missing number for N)...these will not be the numbers i use though because i don't know where i'm placing the final yet...