FuzzyBears

A friend did them the day they were archived... Emailed the CO.. got the reason why.. and was told to log them.. Email the CO they will explain and you get to log your hard work... you can log an archived cache

I would say new GC number new cache new find.... We did a virtual a few years ago that allowed you to log two different waterfalls... Ever since our total has been confused with something like 1000 finds on 999 unique caches We use our attended log to thank cachers for coming... and you attended the event you shouldn't have to 'find' your own cache so why log a find

Congratulations Wendy, Karen & Chris and of course Udo & Coco... Hope you all have a great day

Oops I got it wrong in my earlier post the GAGB have 500+ facebook page members not 300+ as I said..... I still wonder if the GAGB are simplifying the forum to stop confusion if they have told the people who are facebook 'members' that they are not GAGB members??

As a person who had some influence in the GAGB hosting a discussion forum for all GB cachers I'm surprised at that. The service was provided at a time when relations between GB cachers and Groundspeak were at an all-time low and the point was to provide a national forum where discussions could take place without being censored by Groundspeak. It would be a great shame for GB cachers - and is unlikely to assist GAGB - if the service were removed. Where is it being discussed? The GAGB facebook page ... in the GAGB section at the top of the UK Groundspeak forum and in the members area of the GAGB forum

The GAGB was formed to give a voice to the UK cachers which in some ways they did... Then one of their members who had negotiated some great landowner agreements let them list them on the GAGB site Then the reviewers with a bit of help from the GAGB managed to bend the GS rules to more suit UK caching and then allowed the GAGB to list them on their site Move forwards a few year the land owner agreements are now mostly called the GAGB landowner agreements and have become the bible of getting permissions from the big landowners/users which is what I think the GAGB do well But the Guidelines/rules....... The GAGB have slowly been pushed into making the 'guidelines' which the reviewers now use as UK 'rules' (try posting an urban cache without quoting the GAGB guideline) I think the urban cache guideline was the final move to make the GAGB guideline makers not keepers.... The new guideline was discussed both here and on the GAGB forum and the wording for the guideline was formulated and agreed by the GAGB and for the first few days the wording had to include something like "This caches meets the GAGB urban guidelines" Move forward to today... The GAGB have, since changes to their setup, allowed non GAGB members to be a member of their forum which allowed the majority of UK cachers to have a say in the guidlines etc. being discussed on that forum. They then made part of the forum GAGB members only which I can see the point of to discuss things which are to do with the running of the GAGB but not for things which are to do with ALL UK cachers Now they are debating whether to stop this access and make it so you have to be a full GAGB member to post your thoughts about changes which affect us all When I questioned this move I was told to join the GAGB to be heard. I was told I can discuss it here and in other places but I have to join to have a vote in the outcome of these discussions????????? Now I hear that there are discussions in the members only section about changes to the guidelines...... The GAGB has a mandate from a very small number of UK cachers but they are now deeply involved it the rules which govern caching in the UK... I was told that the GAGB didn't ask Groundspeak to use the guidelines which is true BUT they are enforcing them through the reviewers Groundspeak are happy to collect the money and leave the day to day running of their business to the great reviewing teams The reviewers are now happy that the GAGB can now be blamed for any new guideline they have to enforce But any GAGB discussions which affect ALL UK cachers should be done here and not on a closed members only forum. I will no doubt be told, again, to join the GAGB so that I can be heard.... I don't want to and shouldn't have to join a minority group just to add my 2ps worth of input to something which affects us all I would like to know the number of ACTIVE gagb members and that won't include all the 300+ members they are claiming on their facebook page, how many of them are full GAGB members and how long will it be before they are excluded from any discussion The guidelines as we have them now should be listed on the Groundspeak site and any future changes/ discussions should be done here.. The GAGB could then come to an agreement between themselves and put that point into the melting pot if they want to with no doubt some weight... but the final word should be down to grounspeak (which in effect it has now) and possibly the reviewers who have to implement it.

A Painfull DNF ... the log below tells all!! Log on GLKCTAX edit to say we found it in about two minutes a week later!

posted a copy of your request on the local EA forum

Great idea... But... If there were full time paid jobs going do you think they would be in the UK... I think not.. The jobs would stay in the US .. reviewing would be centralised.... one set of rules for all (GS rules)..Contact your local reviewer oh dear you haven't got one anymore you would wait 3-4 weeks for a reply from the 'duty reviewer'.... Because of costs staffing would be low so no more caches published on the day you submit because it's in the queue... The system we have may] be slightly flawed but with the number of new caches being published the amount that OUR reviewers 'disagree' with is I would think very small Hundreds of UK cachers are happy with the fact that their caches get published quickly and if not they can get lots of help The system is only slightly bent ..it's not broken... it doesn't need fixing

Yep know what you mean, when we started a year later our nearest 500 not done caches covered about 80 miles inland from us. We now do 8x500 PQs to get about 2800 caches which cover a smaller area just to get the ones we haven't done. (I know we could do bigger PQs but it suits the way I organise my data and the way we cache )

We started looking after our 3 bears + ONE bear for a friend of ours... we ended up with a bear crèche!!!! But it was a teddy bears' picnic all the humans went off on a treasure hunt.. we even took 3 bears back to the caravan for tea as they were not 'claimed' in time they were re-united later

As far as I know mainly it stops people 'grabbing' you coin/TB.. If you,like us, collect geocoins you have bought instead of setting them free you can move them to your collection which removes them from your inventory and helps you to find any coins/TBs your are moving normally, as they are the only thing showing when you log a cache and not like us 140+coins/TBs You can move coins to your collection without making them collectable but as I said they are still grabable.. After one Mega event I had to grab back 15 of our coins as people had logged them as picked up instead of discovered Which is why I said make it collectable to stop this but if you had moved it to your collection you can't 'visit' a cache with it as it's not shown on a cache log hope this helps Dave

If you intend to keep it with you go to the TM's page and make it collectable but don't move it to your collection This allows you to visit caches with it but only allows others to discover or write a note and not grab it We have a patch that we log through all caches we do TB3NBP8 It has nearly 2500 miles on it on over 300 logs and has been discovered quite a few times

Date first then if they're any good I would get their name .....but when geocaching name then date like DS I can never remember the date

My Desire S droid tries to lock the GPS but in the mean time it tries to locate me from the nearest telephone mast(s) it has a connection with.. If there is only one mast in range it locks on to that.. At home the mast is about 1 1/2 miles away and it always gives that as my location until the GPS locks in... And so your lock can be a bit from where you are..... And if you move it any distance the GPS can take ages to find it's self

Check the log in the cache???

You can't have a challenge to find a cache!!

Because if we're honest how many of the new caches published recently have been 'Geocaches' as we used to know them.. Geocaching is being killed by over population of caches which meet review guidelines but are not worthy of the name Geocache. Challanges could be as much a smiley as an earthcache is but it is up to us, the cachers, to make them worthy. If they're not worth a smiley then we don't do them and give them a thumbs down.

No it's not wrong.. you will have fun, meet lots of interesting people and be bored silly by their never ending stories .. The beer is of course the reason for most events, or is that just me you are a cacher you are never lost, just going the pretty way Have Fun

All the above + No reviewer (sorry guys) No more trying to find out who owns what bit of land .. If it has legal public access put a challenge there. Peer review if you don't like it it gets a thumbs down if you don't think it is in the spirit of the 'game' flag it and of course the good ones gut lots of thumbs up Challenges don't have Rules/ GAGB guidelines only common sense/peer review It makes setters think about where they are taking us .. they have to sell it to us, you don't have to accept Urban challenges don't have the same 'terrorist' problems... you only need a pic with the flower box, but would you bother to go if was only a flower box.. again self policing... again raising standards As above but it would open up all the London parks again... no box no problem We had church micros.... now we have CMs where you search in 30 ft of ivy covered walls and can't even see the church Why not church challenges where the church is the reason not the micro The chance to take people to a great place without them destroying it to find the nano hidden in the ivy People keep saying its the location that matters so why do we need a box and a logbook to prove we've been there just a simple ,sometimes fun, picture and if people claim it so what it's them they are cheating not us We all complain about the standard of caches and the fact that if it meets guidelines it has to be published, so now we have the chance to 'review'... if a challenge gets enough thumbs down no one visits it simple. On here people are saying its not geocaching.. well let's be honest at the moment geocaching isn't geocaching any more unless you like searching in another hedge for another film pot. Challenges have the potential to take us back to where the location mattered not the box. No more soggy logs.. leaking boxes... slug filled carrier bags OK GS made a mess of their launch with the kiss a frog but I think it was meant as a fun introduction (remember fun) But it is cachers who are placing the stupid challenges now and if they had read a bit first they would have realised their error instead of trying to be clever and creating locationless challenges. Not having a go just using as an example.. Dr Solly's Amersham series is an example of challeges which will stand or fall by cachers thumbs up/thumbs down... if enough people like them then they will become a legend in their own lifetime if not I would hope that they would be archived by the setter.. again peer review Their is potential there if WE use it and not just dismiss it because it is new.. don't complain about the 'stupid' challenges set good ones that return us to where the location mattered not the box

1 the 'H' will only display 6 characters 2 You cant 'edit' the Etrex 3 as above no 4 yes You need a program to 'convert' the name We use GSAK which is a database program that will load your Etex with the correct format How you continue depends on how you download the cache information We, as premium members, download caches in bulk via the PQ system. The files arrive as zipped GPX files and are imported into GSAK then we filter(in GSAK) the area we want down to about 480 caches (to leave room for 'extra' waypoints. We then transfer the caches to the H. GSAK has a field for smartname(which you set to 6 letters) which it works out from the cache name and gives a unique name to each cache... this field is set in the GPS download so that each cache on your H is different GSAK will import both GPX and LOC file both of which are downloadable for the cache page Hope this helps and no doubt you will have more questions... ask away Dave

For the beginner/not prepared there were about 500is people on the site like us with GSAK full of caches as well as others who arrived early with experience of some of the local caches. We converted at least 3 non-believers on site and there was the guy who turned up ar reception at the Mega to ask what geocaching was he left a while later having chosen a user name had a look round and was taken to do his first cache by a passing cacher. We spent about an hour at the BBQ talking to a newbie about going paperless and the insanity it can cause There is no way anyone could guess the best caches for all who visited as what you may enjoy I may not but if you chat to others at events you may find someone with a similar taste to point you in the right direction What I meant to say about the ceilidh was HOW do you follow that it was a one off and the only alternatives would be another pub event/dinner dance/eisteddfod!!!!!! (sorry Wales )none of which have the raw excitement of Scotland's entertainment. If anyone can come up with anything as good I am sure a future mega committee would be interested AFAIK the cost of hire for land, marquee, toilets, catering and the insurance for 1500ish people would be HIGH and is all included in the hire of a hall... Think Glastonbury on a rainy weekend if you want an outside event for lots of people

I think we must have been at a different event. I'm sorry, if you want to be spoonfed entertainment go to But*ins Wed.. A flash mob and a chance to try orienteering and some good caches in the area Thu.. Teddybears picnic at the museum of Welsh life (st Fagans) with a 2-3 hr multi in the park Fri A pub event with at least 11 new caches in the area as well as lots of existing caches fri launch of Geolimpics Sat Picnic with large childrens play area , a great view, and timed so that 'low tide' caches were accesible Sat.. Campsite event with a chance to meet lots of interesting people from all over the world.. the kids seemed to be having fun.... Sunday Mega the only change from last year was that the Scots had a piper and a different mascot Mon...A picnic on Pen-y-Fan for those who like a walk and the NW mega launch with lots of tasty food to try Tue An event at Big pit the Welsh Coal mining museum with a chance to go underground with new caches in the venue Wed a pub event with a chance to explore Cardiff's water front with caches on the way Wed A chance to try night caching with two great night caches+ others Thu CITO Event a chance to pay back the area Fri A sunset event to finish at a beautifull location with a few caches about The only major thing missing from last year was a Ceilidh for which I don't think the Welsh have an equivalent and neither of the first two Megas had this type of event either it is unique to Scotland We have been on the campsite for nearly two weeks and have never been boared with lots to do in the area if you look for it... the other sites in the area would not take a booking for so many people in peak season or were too expencive and I think the site coped well concidering the camp was booked to it's limit(+) with about 90% being cachers Just our opinion but the 'fun' was there if you looked for it and didn't expect it to come to you Edit to add we forgot a couple of evevnts so even more to be done .... bored never!

A while ago I managed to trip, fall forwards slide face first through a pile of gravel and was stopped by a rock, with my forehead.... large lump slight concussion, & blood/ gravel rash everywhere... no way to celebrate our 100th cache.... the cache?..... The Bloody Hundreth........

Oh goody! New guidance that all non GAGB members will have to follow Do we still have to advertise something we don't believe in? What's this long winded "guideline" give us that the Groundspeak guideline doesn't? No Comment as every cache set in the last few years has agreed to the GAGB Guidelines You haven't had to since Deci posted on this forum the new wording It has given the ACPO quickly the response they required... It has showed the outside world we care enough to ADD a new rule..... and to cachers in general No real change other than the addition of a line of text to the cache page and a ref No to cache boxes... A small price to pay to continue caching without too much trouble Well done to the GAGB and the reviewers for jumping on this before the police and media ran away with it causing long term damage to caching in the UK ... It will make people think about where they place a cache an hopefully in the long term improve all caches