Team Tate

Having discussed this wilthe family in a calm and friendly manner, the kids decided that it would be BRILLIANT to take part. My (personal) concern is that having done this with another TV company before, I don't want anyone to think we are trying to hog the limelight. If there are no objections, Team Tate are more than willing to take part. Best regards, Bob, Sarah, Beckie and George Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

I went through the same decisions when I upgraded from my old Garmin GPS 38. The electronic compass was most important as it gives accurate directional readings whilst you are standing still. Garmin offer the Summit or the Vista (my final choice), but don't forget Magellan range - the Platinum offers a 3D compass which means you don't have to hold the unit horizontal to get an accurate position! Also, once you have made your choice - SHOP AROUND. Prices on the Vista ranged anything from £289 to £365 when I bought mine back in March. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

By the way, anyone know where we can get cheap kids wellies as George always seems to lose his in the mud! Or on second thoughts are there any caches that don't involve mud?!!

We seem to do more caching when the weather is bad. One of our first was The Great White in Dorset on a day when it the rain was chucking it down & the wind was horizontal! Our philospohy is that you can always get dry and warm again, Not sure that the kids agree with us though! Might even get closer to th 100 this winter with any chance. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

When Sarah showed me the post about the next Fox Hunt I couldn't believe it. I totally agree with El1ots comments. We had this bother with the Carlton (whoops - advertising) feature: Too many blinkered people wanting to keep Geocaching for themselves . So what is the public can take part? I was 'public' once! Rant over. I'm just very glad that The Main Man (hail oh Mr Irish) has taken charge of this matter. Hopefully, this blinkered approach of certain people can be scrubbed out once and for all. I can only hope that this individual gets a chance to realise how upset he (or she) has made us. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

When Sarah showed me the post about the next Fox Hunt I couldn't believe it. I totally agree with El1ots comments. We had this bother with the Carlton (whoops - advertising) feature: Too many blinkered people wanting to keep Geocaching for themselves . So what is the public can take part? I was 'public' once! Rant over. I'm just very glad that The Main Man (hail oh Mr Irish) has taken charge of this matter. Hopefully, this blinkered approach of certain people can be scrubbed out once and for all. I can only hope that this individual gets a chance to realise how upset he (or she) has made us. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

before I archive this cache in the next couple of days. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

if you plan to make your own. I've seen what an exploding battery can do - and it aint pretty! Another idea for getting high strength magnets - try and find some old three-phase industrial motors at a scrap yard - preferably ones that have been used to move some of machinery. You could probably pick them up for a few quid, take the magnets out, and then sell the coils and case back to the scrap yard. Sorry to be the safety bore, but someone has to do it! Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

With a little under two days to go, we have up to 15 teams that have said they are going to take part in this event. Please check the cache page for some additional information (including the telephone numbers!), and please note the final co-ordinates have now been published. We look forward to seeing you! Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

...details of this event cache can be found at: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=34556 We look forward to seeing you there. Bob Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

The technology is in place and tested, and the game rules have been published on the cache page. If you are planning to take part, I would really appreciate an E-Mail from you to get an idea of who will be out there with me. I would very much like to make this a social event. The final coordinates will be published in the cheat section of the cache page. Even if you dont want to take part in the chase, you will be more than welcome to join us for a drink afterwards. To not break the rules of cache self-promotion, I will not publish the cache page details here. All I want to do at this time is get an idea of who is coming. Many thanks, Bob Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

With lots and lots and lots of thanks to Gary Player (Gary and Jane), permission has been sought AND given to allow you to download the avi file Gary very kindly prepared for us. To download the file, see the link on our Geocache webpage at: http://www.teamtate.co.uk/geocache Right-click on the link and you can have your own copy. The file size is 2.07 Mbytes. You can work out how long it can take to download. Watch out for the error - they bu**ers got my name wrong! Oh well... Team Tate hope you enjoy the feature, and we hope that we did a good enough job promoting the hobby we all love. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

Another fax was sent to Carlton this morning requesting permission to publish the broadcast. I will keep you informed. Bob Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

Keep your eyes peeled for the new cache. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

The Question... Would anybody be interested in taking part in a geocache fox hunt? The Background... Many years ago my friends and I took part in fox hunts using our CB radios. The idea of the game is that one person becomes the fox, and continually transmits a radio signal. Using the power meters on their radios, and some basic triangulation, the hunters would track the fox down to it's location. Could this game be adapted to use a GPS receiver? The technology now exists to allow anyone with a mobile phone to send a text message to a specialised GPS receiver, which in turn will automatically text back its location including latitude and longitude. How would the game be played? The fox would be a vehicle driving around in a specific area. The Lat/Long published on Geocaching.com would be the centre of the vehicles radius with a maximum pre-set distance of, say, 10 miles. Over a period of a few hours, the fox would move within it's boundary, and would be tracked by the hunters sending and receiving text messages, the lat/longs of which can be entered into their GPSr. To make it fair, the fox would probably make several stops within its boundary allowing the hunters to eventually catch it. The usual caching rules could apply, making the final destination a pub or local beauty spot! The only equipment you would need in addition to your normal caching equipment (GPS, etc.) would be a mobile phone capable of sending and receiving text messages. The game could be expanded so that teams of cachers could try to head-off the fox, by collaborating with the information received. Moreover, why not have two foxes? The game play variations and limitless! Why hasn't this been done before? Ok, everything I have suggested so far COULD be done using mobile phones and LOTS of manual intervention. In the game I am proposing, the fox is fully automated, and requires no manual intervention other than driving the vehicle around. Interested? I have the technology in my grasp, and I would be more than happy to set up a cache hunt of this type. I just need to know if anyone would be interested, as I don't want to end up driving around for six or seven hours only for no one to take part. Initially, it would probably be in the south coast area (as this is where I live!), but if the game is successful, I will make all the information available to allow people everywhere else set up their own games in other parts of the country. What do you think? Are you interested? Your feedback and additional ideas would be greatly appreciated. Bob (Team) Tate Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

I saw a Magellan re-rad antenna for about £70 in Maplin about a year ago. I thought this was a bit steep so I set about building my own. Luckily enough, I had a spare Motorola active antenna which was the basis of the project. Using some other spares and about 20p's worth of extra material, I built the antenna and it has performed well to this day. Total cost - 20p! OK, the antenna would have set me back about thirty quid, but £30.20 is still better than £70! Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

I saw a Magellan re-rad antenna for about £70 in Maplin about a year ago. I thought this was a bit steep so I set about building my own. Luckily enough, I had a spare Motorola active antenna which was the basis of the project. Using some other spares and about 20p's worth of extra material, I built the antenna and it has performed well to this day. Total cost - 20p! OK, the antenna would have set me back about thirty quid, but £30.20 is still better than £70! Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

This is something I am VERY familiar with - I work for a company that makes them! The combination of GSM mobile and GPS is quite common for in-car systems which are more commonly known a Telematics. The idea is quite simple really. At the push of a button, a telephone call is established to a response centre which also receives an SMS with position, speed, direction etc. The response centre can then give location based services such as traffic information, directions to hotels, etc. The most crucial thing of all is that many of these systems interface to the car's airbag, so in the case of an activation, a 999 call with your exact position is made. As you are all probably aware, the emergency services hate emergency calls from mobiles because some cell sites cover many square miles, and locating the accident can be tricky. One example of this occurred in the US, where after an accident, the driver called the emergency services from her mobile stating she 'had come off the road and was hurt' She passed out during the call and unfortunatly the response teams arrived to late to save her. I undertand that legislation is due to be passed in the US that requires ALL mobile phones to have some location based system built in. This could be GPS, or use some sort of triangulation system between the cellular base stations (very easy to do using the US CDMA system). It could be possible that this legislation makes it's way 'over the pond' if it proves to be successful. With the exception of the 'Big Brother' attitude, I personally don't think this would be a bad thing from a public safety point of view. This means that there should be a whole host to phones equipped with GPS at some time in the future. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

Thanks to all for your replies and support. Also, many many thanks go to Gary and Jane who posted the broadcast times and even went to the bother of phoning me up to let me know. I have been informed by Carlton that a copy of the broadcast (all 1 minute and 55 seconds!) will be sent to us on videotape. I am in discussions with a friend who should be able to host an AVI of the recording. As soon as I know more I will publish the URL on this forum. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

In response to some of your concerns: Landowners such as farmers and nature groups may also be watching the programme/new broadcast, become worred and then maybe discover the caches on their land. Now this cache may be on the public footpath but it is still possible they will remove it (remember if a farmer owns the land, all he needs is a photo and he will find the area easily. I agree totally. If the landowner is unhappy that a cache has been placed on his land without permission, he is entitled to remove it. If you think there may be a problem when placing a cache, do some research and seek permission first. As you can all tell i am sure... i am totally against this broadcast, but if the rest of you wish to go ahead with it well so be it but don't start complaining in about 4 months time when caches seem to be disappearing far more than new caches are appearing. Our personal beliefs are obviously somewhat different and I don't want to get into an argument as to whose view is correct. The reason for agreeing to do the broadcast was simply to provide help and support to a hobby that we are very interested in. The small amount of potential problems it could cause are far outweighed by the fact it can bring our hobby to a much wider audience, and by proving that we (geocachers) can be responsible when hiding/seeking caches, there is no reason at all why landowners et al should not support us and help the hobby grow. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

We also e-mailed Alison as Sarah's father (also a Geocacher) lives within the Carlton area, and we have done a number of caches together around south Dorset. This afternoon we met with a camera crew and producer from Carlton to make a short film on geocaching, which will be used to supplement their early evening regional news programme. The cache that we visited was a bit of a cheat because it was one that Mike (Sarah's dad) had placed earlier this year. We chose a cache we knew simply so that we would have an idea of the terrain, and so that the camera crew didn't end up carrying their heavy equipment across bogs/mud/etc. Some of the acting was a bit 'hammy' but it was great fun to do. Hopefully we have brought across the 'fun' and 'family' elements of this great hobby of ours. As soon as we have details as to when the feature will be broadcast, we will post the date and time on this forum. If you live outside the Carlton West Country region, but have digital satellite TV, you can tune your Digibox as follows: Press 'Services' Button Go to 'System Set-Up' Go to 'Add Channels' Use the following information to search: Frequency 10.832 Polarisation H Symbol Rate 22.0 FEC 5/6 A number of channels will appear - it is ITV1 West Country that you require. Once you have stored the new channel it can be viewed by pressing 'Services' followed by 'Other Channels' I managed this using our Amstrad box, but other makes may be different. If you know if this is the case, any additional information would be appreciated. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

If you wish to place a cache in the New Forest, permission must be sought from Jane Albery who can be contacted on (023) 8028 3141. I must admit that I have not (yet) asked permission for my two caches, so I will disable them until permission has been granted. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

Two of our caches are within the New Forest on Forestry Commission controlled land. The bye-laws are quite in depth but as long as people respect the land (not playing loud music, taking litter home, keeping out of the way of the wildlife, etc.) there should be no cause for concern. Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

Get the file over to Jeremy and see what he thinks... Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...

Get the file over to Jeremy and see what he thinks... Team Tate Remember - if it's moving, it's not dead...