Geo-Kate
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Posts posted by Geo-Kate
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Hi all,
I'm hoping someone out there can help. The better half's family (beghunt, no longer active due to other commitments) have a TB called Bob who has been travelling for around 4 or 5 years. Bob has turned up on their doorstep, perhaps by chance, but in a 'premium' cache.
I know it would be unfair to ask for the co-ords for them to collect and retire the old boy, so I was wondering if any local Kentish catchers could perhaps perform a rescue and deposit him in a local 'regular' cache? The cache is it currently in is GC2317C JJR13 "the penultimate".
Any help, advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated by the bug owners and ourselves.
Thanks in advance,
Geoff and Kate
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I think Most people are well aware of who it is and the aliases employed....the poorly hidden trail of theft hidden by error strewn,conlicting logs..by the thief themselves and/or by the aliases makes pitiful reading.
Im quite prepared to name an shame if asked...along with the aliases used...I dont really think its needed because most peeps sussed this one out a year back
Not being a frequent user of these forums, and a cacher/cache owner in Kent, I would really like to know who the 'suspects' are, or their aliases, so I can keep an eye on my logs and local caches to ge a head's up on any issues.
I have done this cache myself a year or two back, and find this news very sad. I have had a coin or two added to these 'private collections' as well as a couple of TBs. It's very distressing and frustrating when it happens, and can really make you wonder why you bother releasing these items.
I don't buy the argument for the theif/trasher being misguided. I 100% belive people doing this kind of thing are well aware of their actions and consequences.
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I think Most people are well aware of who it is and the aliases employed....the poorly hidden trail of theft hidden by error strewn,conlicting logs..by the thief themselves and/or by the aliases makes pitiful reading.
Im quite prepared to name an shame if asked...along with the aliases used...I dont really think its needed because most peeps sussed this one out a year back
Not being a frequent user of these forums, and a cacher/cache owner in Kent, I would really like to know who the 'suspects' are, or their aliases, so I can keep an eye on my logs and local caches to ge a head's up on any issues.
I have done this cache myself a year or two back, and find this news very sad. I have had a coin or two added to these 'private collections' as well as a couple of TBs. It's very distressing and frustrating when it happens, and can really make you wonder why you bother releasing these items.
I don't buy the argument for the theif/trasher being misguided. I 100% belive people doing this kind of thing are well aware of their actions and consequences.
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Seems far from a bargain price or am I missing something?
It's only a GPSmap60. It has no colour screen, very limited storage for maps, and has not got SiRFIII chipset. I'd rather have a yellow to be honest.
If it were a 60CSX, then that'll be different!
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The pass time is supposed to be about navigation in part is it not.
Part of the skill surely is to find the way there.
Compulsory parking co ords, you would get em but they would be bu**er all use for parking.
Yes, I agree, but I like my navigation and orienteering to be done on foot between the car and the cache, not before!
Driving around trying to find somewhere to park = not fun and stressful at times.
Walking around trying to find correct path = fun and can be stressful at times!
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Suggested parking co-ords make a huge difference, IMO.
If the cache is in an area we do not know, we definately look for and hope to find the cahce setter has taken a bit of stress and worry out of finding somewhere apropriate to park. Even if it tells us that the nearby roads have plenty of parking available.
Not knowing an area and not knowing where to park can be a real put-off when deciding what caches to do. Many caches we have passed or been near have been left alone simply because we don't know where to park and it can be hard when you don't know the area.
Easy solution is look for a cache that we know where we can park.
As far as public trasport goes, I don't think it is the same at all.
Two minutes on the internet can tell you where the cache is, and a quick look on the right pages will tell you where buses stop and where the closest railway stations are.
Where can you find that kind of information for parking a car? I personally look on Google Earth, hoping to see where other cars are parked, but that is not really too reliable.
Should they be mandatory? No. Not all caches should be approached by car. I would not take my car to go caching in central London!
When I list a cache, I try to think of it a bit like making an advert for the cache. I want to attract as many people as possible to it for them to enjoy. I know many people would prefer to know in advance that they can park safely as opposed to having no idea even if they will find somewhere.
Oh, and as a driving instructor, I don't think there is any excuse for not owning a car and driving
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AFAIK, ALL spiders a poisonous, but the venom is intended to kill or paralise small insects, not us big humans!
I have heard of people getting bitten, but nothing more than a little discomfort. You have to allergic to get any nasty effects.
I love spiders, they are great at keeping the nasties at bay, and really are quite harmless (most of the time).
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A modified replica handgun covered in parcel tape was found next to one of our caches. Scary stuff.
The cachers who found it (found by a 12 year old girl, actually) waited ages for the police to locate them, as it appears they do not carry GPSrs!
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Yes you can.
Go to Tools from the main menu, then scroll down to GPS Data.
There you will find your position status (in decimal only - N00.00000 E0.00000). Unfotunatley, it cannot be set to OSBG or DDD MMM.MMM formats we all know and love. The accuracy is a bit poor at times.
In that menu, you can also navigate to 'landmarks' or geocaches using a clumsy compass screen.
I have also found that the GPSr in the phone is a bit poo, not coping well with trees or body blocking. Lastly, if you plan on using it for caching, make sure you have a charger for the car, or a spare battery with you because it really eats up battery life!
It can be done, but in emergencies only, I guess. Nothing beats a dedicated GPSr!
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There's a free Spot trial here - looks like it works with "integrated GPS that emulate a serial port..."
Might do the job
Thanks for the link. I have the free trial, and it works beautifuly except one thing. It does not recognise the internal GPS. Oh well. I'll keep my eye open...
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Thanks for the info, chaps.
The application I linked to above won't work with the N95's built in GPSr, the program can only detect bluetooth receivers. I could buy a bluetooth receiver, but that would not make any sense.
I guess I could use the WAP address to put in my current co-ords, then enter them in the phone and use it's built in software. The only problem is the phone's standard software can only take the co-ords in decimal degrees and has not got the arrow/compass screen we all love. That's why I really was after some dedicated software that woould integrate the phone and GPS bits.
I'll keep searching and if I find anything I'll post here for other's information.
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Hi all.
Got me a new phone on the weekend. A Nokia N95. A very clever thing it is, too.
As the title says, it has built in GPS and runs on symbian OS. I have been looking over the interweb for programs that can gather cache information off the net (through GPRS/WAP or even the wifi over an access point) and then use the GPS to search for nearby caches, display the information and ultimately guide me to them.
Not too much to ask, is it? I mean the technology is all there.
The closes thing I have found is this application, AFTrack.
Now, I don't know a whole lot about this, and I don't want to spend 28 Euros on software unless I know it will do what I'm after.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
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I thought one of Groundspeak's mottos was that geocaching is free to everyone. That is one hell of a statement to go back on to FORCE all the basic members to pay a fee.
Just say they forced that, and all the basic members decided NOT to pay and they leave. To withdraw all their caches and not go out and find all the premium member's caches. Wouldn't be quite as good then, would it?
At the end of the day, if you want the Premium features, pay for it. If you want to feel your supporting the sport, pay for it. If you feel your contributions to the sport are going out andf placing caches, and finding other's caches, then that's fine, too.
I do feel sometimes that some Premium Members take a holier than thou stance over Basic Members whcich I for one feel is not very fair.
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I can understand the logic, sort of. But where did this rule come from? I am sure most cachers that do not come here would not know this.
As I said before the guidlines state if you take something, leave something in it's place. How are the occasional cachers who do not go to the forums supposed to know this?
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Ok, I'm in two minds on this.
The GENERAL rule fore caches is if you take something - leave something. That way there will always be enough contents in a cache regardless of what they are- coins, TBs, swaps.
Why treat trackables differently?
Surely swaps are just that, swaps. They aren'y usually kept, just used as trading fodder. Trackables are triding items that are, well, trackable.
I would never take a trackable and leave nothing in it's place. Somthing goes out, somethign goes in. It can't go wrong. On the other hand, I will often leave trackables and take nothing. Trading up, never down.
Saying that newbies mess it up by dropping a bug in and taking a trade item out is not really fair, IMHO. They are doing what the guidlines say to do. How are they to know different?
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This is obviously quite a disturbed individual, and the only gratification they are getting from it is from upsetting people. Don't give them what they so desperatrly want: attention.
I imagine they will watch that listing to see the owner's reaction and to see the cache get archived, which is an understabdable reaction from the owner, but the reaction the loser wants.
IMO the best thing to do would be to delete the log, put up a note to the effect of 'it's gone missing, will replace shortly' and put a new (cheap) cache in it's place. That way, the trasher does not get the reaction they are after.
It is quite likely they are reading this, too.
Another approach is to set up a new listing, get all the local cachers to wait round the corner armed with big sticks, and lie in wait for a teenager with a Harry Potter shirt to 'muggle' it...
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On the few occasions I have dealt with Garmin, I have been really badly let down by long queues on the phone, which often end up being cut off before talking to people, and a 4 week+ turnaround time for replying to emails.
I did manage to get my faulty GPSmap60 replaced, but it took far too much time and aggrevation. I can honestly say from my experince, Garmin have only shown terrible customer service.
I am glad however that others have had a better experience than I in dealings with them.
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Hi gang.
Went out the other day to grab oursleves a nice magic 8 ball style geocoin from a nearby cache we found about a year ago. The coin was dropped in the previous day.
We spent quite a while searching for the cache, despite us knowing where it was. It was very well hidden, to the point of being consumed by it's surroundings. The last cache entry was for October of last year, and there was no coin. We were very confused.
Anyway, off we went back home to do some detective work, and it transpires that the cache was lost/moved some time last year, and it appears a replacement cache was donated by a fellow cacher. Note that the owner of the listing appears to be very much dormant. The penny dropped. There are two caches there, no more than 20 or 30 feet apart. The fact that the cache we found was no biggert than 4X4X2", and a recent log was raving about how nice it was to find a big ammo can for big swaps supports our theory. So there are two caches there, with somie people finding one cache, and some people finding the other. I have posted a note on the listing.
Now what to do?
As the owner is inactive, I guess that route is not worth going down. I am tempted to go there, and merge the cache contents/logs into the larger ammo box. Now, this is not my cache, so should I have no resposibilty, or right to do this. But who else will?
Opinions please.....
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That is totally out of order - it is for the cache owner and noone else to move the cache!!!!
Anyway how can it be in a different place but with the same coordinates? I get the feeling the mover is having a laugh....They have 23 or so finds, so aren't that experienced, but neither are they that new...
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Hi all.
There is a cache, quite local to us, that we visited over a year ago. It is in a lovely estate of a house/castle that belonged to Henry VIII.
A log on January 2nd read;
"Found way too easily with cousins. Thought to easy so placed in different place but still same co-ordinates and same clue a nd same sort of place. Took a TB(TRUSTYFROG) and a mini frog. Left a golf ball.TFTC"
There have now been 3 consecutive DNFs, the most recent reading;
"Searched all around for this but am sorry to report another DNF. Why did someone move it? It seems to have all gone wrong since it was moved
I love this area and had a nice walk with Steve. Hundreds of deer and plenty of walks even though the house and gardens aren't open.
Please get this one back up and running and we'll definetely be back"
It has made me quite annoyed, especially as it was one of our first finds, and that we wanted to place a TB in there to help it's mission.
I can't see how a cache location can be changed, and the clue or co-ords not need updating.
What do you guys think about this? It is not my cache therefore, not my responsibility. What are your opinions on this? Am I getting annoyed over nothing?
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The Etrex series all have "patch" antennas so to get better reception than that you could consider a unit with a helical antenna such as those as fitted to the GPS 60 series. After that the units with the more sensitive SIRFIII based receivers always have mapping and colour, e.g. Map60 Cx and Map 60CSx.
I found the 'better' antenna on my GPSMAP0C no better, or possibly worse than the patch antenna on my Etrex. I have also had 2 of the 60Cs, and both have been the same.
The SIRFIII chipset in my Nuvi is awesome, it's just a shame it doesn't work for geocaching!
I would be seriously tempted by the 60CSX, it has the descent chipset for better reception, has mapping capabilites, and runs a lot faster than the old C or CS.
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I think one of ours fell victim to the storms
We went there to drop off some Bugs, and the whole area is devistated, not a tree still vertical in the immediate area. The 'track' to the cache had become unpassable with fallen trees and bushes, and as it has changed so much, I can't get my bearings to find where the cache should be.
We think we found the fallen tree the cache was hidden behind, but there was no ammo can there. The reason for this may be that the wind opened a new clearing on the other side of the log, and judging by the crisp packets/drink cans it has been used by some 'yooves' as a hang-out. Maybe they saw it
Does this count?
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My computer was having a moment when I replied earlier, there was a bit more I wanted to add...
I did try (just in my garden) navigating to a point as you would towards a waypoint for a geocache, and it didn't really do well.
The annoying thing is that it has a far better receiver than my GPSMAP 60C and would be great under heavy tree cover or in poor reception areas. But it is just not what it's designed for I guess. A great machine, still.
What receiver are you looking at buying?
Anyway how can it be in a different place but with the same coordinates? I get the feeling the mover is having a laugh....
A little help please
in United Kingdom and Ireland
Posted
All sorted now. I have the location, which has been sent on to the bug owners. Hopefully they can pop along and grab him before the next cached gets there.
Thank you for your replies.
Geoff and Kate