Glenn
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Posts posted by Glenn
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I am having the exact same problem as Aliza&Eliana. I have been using my GPS for about a year now with no problems, and then a couple of months ago it just would not connect to the computer. The GPS says it is connected but the device will not show on the computer.
I have tried multiple computers and downloaded the lastest PC version several times but the problem still persists. I hope it is not a fault with the GPS!
I will be grateful for any help or advise people can give!
Have you tried using a different USB cable?
Are all the computers you've used using the same OS or different OSes?
When you say that it doesn't show up on the computer where exactly are you looking? Do you see the GPS device listed under removable devices when you click on the Start menu, then on Computer.
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Yes, if you can lock onto a WAAS satellite, your accuracy will increase a substantial amount.
Thanks for the information. So is WAAS located in Setup, System, GPS?
Anything else that I can enable to improve accuracy?
Make sure you are holding the GPS properly so that you are not blocking the antenna. If the GPS has an external antenna port buy and use an external antenna. Position the antenna as that it has a clear view of the sky.
What if I fly over to China tomorrow? I know WAAS won't work over there and I know Japan have its own WAAS-equivalent. Should I turn it off in that case or I can just leave it on by default? If so, will it affect the accuracy of the unit?
Once you leave North America you won't be close enough to any Reference Stations for WAAS corrections to matter even if you can receive a WAAS satellite. It won't improve accuracy but it won't degrade accuracy either. Leaving WAAS turned on could shorted the battery life.
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I think the majority of users of those GPSes, at least in North America use the WAAS function,
I forgot to add that WAAS is a location based service. It only works in North America because the WAAS satellites are in geostationary orbit only in the western hemisphere. Also the only ground stations, which are an important part of the system, are located in North America.
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I have both the Garmin 60CSX and the Garmin 62S. I didn't even know about WAAS until earlier today. Do you guys all turn it on?
I mainly use my handheld units for geotagging purposes. I don't even know if WAAS is turned on by default so I'm not sure if I have ever used it in the past.
Does enabling WAAS improve accuracy?
Yes, but it also typically shortens battery life.
The WAAS specification requires it to provide a position accuracy of 25ft or better at least 95% of the time. If your EPE is constantly less than 25ft then your GPS is already preforming within the specifications of WAAS. However, many people get EPEs as good as 3ft with WAAS turned on and under the right conditions. At this point it's a judgment call based on your current needs.
Will satellite lock speed increase?
It really depends on a lot of changing factors but mostly no because that isn't a function of the WAAS system.
How do I turn on WAAS for both the 60CSX and the 62S?
I don't own either devices so I don't know off the top of my head but you can download the manuals from the Garmin support site. I'm sure the instructions are in there.
Thanks!
Your welcome!
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Hi all,
I was willing to even try the complicated instructions given for working from Linux but don't have the Vantage software.
Thanks for any help!
Where you able to get this working or are you still have problems?
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3. Download the free VMWARE Player from vmware.com then download XUbuntu linux OS from xubuntu.org, download either the 32 or 64bit (I used 64)
For this step you can only use the 64bit version if you have a 64bit CPU. If you are unsure if you have a 64bit or 32bit CPU then use the 32bit version because the 32bit version is compatible with both 32bit and 64bit CPUs.
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I recently bought a used Explorist GC. In an effort to erase the previous owners data, I connected it to my pc and I think I have deleted EVERYTHING. When I turn it on I get a blank screen except for what looks like a toolbar on the top with the words "Factory, Run, Other, Help---what have I done????
You erased the Operating System a.k.a. firmware. You just have to reinstall the firmware. Following the directions at this link to fix it.
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Since you have the Groundspeak app, you can hide the cache, and then walk to it from different directions, then average the coords at the cache.
What's the reasoning behind walking to it from different directions?
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Well, it looks like the story got enough attention that we will probably be doing a follow up in the spring.
I'll try to plan a real adventure this time. Hopefully we can go after a high difficulty, high terrain, high reward cache.
I'll be sure to include some of the things suggested here. CITO, GPS precision, quality over quantity, etc...
That's great news! It sounds like you have open communications channel with he reporter. I agree, encourage her to wear some trail clothes this time so she can see the "other side" of geocaching.
I wonder if anyone has put together a how to on talking to reporters about geocaching. I have few tips. Take them or leave them but they are my tips.
If you are going after high terrain caches let her know about specific difficulties involved (## mile hike, #### elevation gain, on water or in a boat, repelling gear, etc) because not only will she need to be prepared but she will need to prepare her camera guy or gal. It isn't fun going on a long or strenuous hike with a commercial grade camera and all it's typical accessories. It is even less fun when you are not prepared for it!
Also scope out the caches the day(s) prior, if you have the time, to make sure there aren't any major issue with the geocaches you intend to visit. It will also give you an estimation of how long it takes to get from parking to cache and refresh your memory a bit.
Also avoid controversial subjects. You don't want her going in to investigative reporter mode and trying to uncover some scandal that isn't really there. I mention this because it is something to keep in mind especially when you become comfortable around reporters.
Most importantly, have fun! I have no doubt you can do that. She wouldn't be doing another story if she didn't have fun the first time.
On a personal note, I was little put off by the comment about needing an intensive, like $20 bills, to find a geocaching hidden in the middle of nowhere. But I'm not going to get all bent out of shape over the comment because I realize that the comment could have been taken out of context due to editing or that you may have mentioned that some people like to find caches out in the middle of nowhere but that was left on the cutting room floor. Remember anything you say can and will be used against you in the forums.
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Can you be surprised he hasn't replied to the thread since posting it, judging by some of the answers i'm not surprised he hasn't replied.
The reason he hasn't replied is because as of this post the last time he has been here was the day he made the post. I expect he will return and I hope that he will respond. After all, one post doesn't make a very good conversation. If he is following Boy Scout social media guidelines then he may be waiting for an adult leader who is required to monitor his social media activity.
We should have been giving him ideas and telling him what makes a good cache, telling him about waterproof containers, maintenance etc... not just telling him NOT to place one until he has found some himself, yes it's a good recommendation to find some, and by al means make the recommendation to him. But its not a requirement to have some finds.
His merit badge counselor should have been telling him what makes a good cache. His merit badge counselor might have encouraged him to post here to get some ideas but there are a number of red flags in his post.
working on Geocaching MB and have to create a creative cache. completely stuck. if you have a cheap cool idea reply please help thanks
"have to create a creative cache." - While creative caches are great this is not a requirement for the merit badge.
"completely stuck" - If he is using his merit badge councilor and the geocaching merit badge pamphlet that is available online for free as resources then he shouldn't be completely stuck.
"cheap cool idea" - For cool caches I'd point him to the Cool Cache Container topic. For cheap ideas I'd encourage his to earn his badge some other way than placing a cheap geocache. Which is what I did. A travel bug is cheap. Finding geocaches is cheap, if there are any Cache to Eagle® geocaches in his area. Explaining what CITO means and practicing it costs almost nothing.
He's more likely now to go out and place a sub-standard cache which will leak and have a soggy logsheet, as he received very little advice from anyone when he asked.
Now he more likely to not create geotrash. If he is having trouble completing a requirement then he should seek guidance from his merit badge counselor. I doubt very much that his merit badge counselor told him to create a cheap geocache.
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Wow! I think he made it clear he wanted to explore doing a cache. But instead of offering him creative suggestions we lay the guilt of all the past failed scout caches at his feet. I think he gets the point. Now lets be on topic and give some suggestions. We all know the more work you put into something the more you want to take care of it.
The goal of scouting is "to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities."
This is primary done through mentoring. I have a vested interest in scouting. As a mentor I don't want to see any scout take on any project that they aren't prepared for. I'm not saying that I won't let a scout fail at a project. You can sometimes learn more from failure than you can success. But their is little to gain from creating a geocache and failing to do follow through and do the maintenance on it.
Through the merit badge program, a boy is introduced to skills which may help him choose his adult vocation. The key word here is introduced. Most of the time after a merit badge is earned the scout moves on to learn other skills. It very important for a scout to choose the option or options for earning a merit badge that best fit them. This is one of the reasons for a merit badge counselor, to guide the scout to the option that best fits them.
If this or any scout is already an active geocacher or had other hobbies that were similar to geocaching, like letterboxing or orienteering, then I'd be more than happy to suggest creative cache ideas. If not then I suggest any of the other options. Their is no shame in the other options and they are a much better option than having a geocache become geotrash.
If the scout insists on creating a geocaching I will support them but I will also insist that follow through with their commitment to maintain the geocache. I'll do everything that I can to set the scout up for success which in the context of these forums means that I want to understand that there is a six-month commitment to maintaining a geocache. The other options there is no commitment. You release the TB or visit three geocache, or explain CITO and it is done. No further commitments. As long as the scout understand the commitment to maintaining the geocache and is willing to follow through I will support them. It isn't fair to the scout or to the geocaching community to encourage a scout to place a cache that they aren't prepared to properly maintain.
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how do I get an accurate reading to place my cache?
The goal with accuracy is to reliably being someone to the spot that you intend. So forget about accuracy and instead think reproducibility.
Get the best reading you can by whatever method you find is the best. Then come back a couple of hours later or even better come back another day and see where your coordinates take you. If they take you to your cache then use them. If they get you close but you want to get closer you can get a new set of coordinates and average the new coordinates with the previous days coordinates. You may even want to do this over multiple days. If the coordinates are far off then you may want to start over with new coordinates.
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working on Geocaching MB and have to create a creative cache. completely stuck. if you have a cheap cool idea reply please help thanks
You actually don't have to create a geocache at all. There are three other options for earning the merit badge.
8. Do ONE of the following:
a. If a Cache to Eagle® series exists in your council, visit at least three of the 12 locations in the series. Describe the projects that each cache you visit highlights, and explain how the Cache to Eagle® program helps share our Scouting service with the public.
b. Create a Scouting-related Travel Bug® that promotes one of the values of Scouting. "Release" your Travel Bug into a public geocache and, with your parent’s permission, monitor its progress at www.geocaching.com for 30 days. Keep a log, and share this with your counselor at the end of the 30-day period.
d. Explain what Cache In Trash Out (CITO) means, and describe how you have practiced CITO at public geocaches or at a CITO event. Then, either create CITO containers to leave at public caches, or host a CITO event for your unit or for the public.
If you plan on going head with option C then please fulfill all the duties outlined in option C including coming up with a six-month maintenance plan and following through on the maintenance plan for at least the entire six-month period. I also suggest that you make a plan to either adopt out the geocache or archive and physically remove the geocache after the six-month period is over. Unless you find you really enjoy geocaching in which case I suggest creating and maintaining more geocaches!
c. Set up and hide a public geocache, following the guidelines in the Geocaching merit badge pamphlet. Before doing so, share with your counselor a six-month maintenance plan for the geocache where you are personally responsible for the first three months. After setting up the geocache, with your parent’s permission, follow the logs online for 30 days and share them with your counselor.If you feel that you won't be able to maintain a geocache for at least six-months then I suggest going with options B and creating a Scouting-related travel bug.
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You want to look for SiRFstarIII in the specs of the GPSr.
Sirfstar 3 was market leading a few years ago. Nowadays it is actually inferior in sensitivity compared to most new chipsets from for instance Mediatek, or the Teseo in the new eTrex series.
There are however, apparently, new Sirf chipsets (4 and 5).
That's why I followed it with "and similar chipsets". With all the variety out there nowaday it's best just to look for marketing phrase high sensitivity.
Is the SiRFstarV found in any consumer grade GPSrs yet? I haven't been keeping track.
switching Glonass on is said to help away multipath issues.
Is there any science behind this or is this still anecdotal? I'd love this to be true but can't think of why it would be. I suspect it just the result of adding an additional GPS constellation to the equation.
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I'm not going to recommend a specific make or model but I am going to tell you want to look for. You want to look for SiRFstarIII in the specs of the GPSr. You'll often see GPSrs with that chipset and similar chipsets marketed as high sensitivity. Also look for GPSrs with a Quadrifilar Helix Antenna (QFHA).
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What if the reviewer gets an FTF on a cache he or she publishes, finds out the cache is buried, and retracts the listing?
If I had my way it would be a requirement that reviewers be the FTF on every cache before publishing it. Then maybe there wouldn't be so many crappy caches.
Oh, are we now suggesting that in order for a cache to be published it must pass the wow factor test? That should provide some very entertaining threads.
I thought we learned that this was bad idea when we lost virtual caches to the wow factor.
I was thinking more along the lines of reviewers being able to discover caches placements that didn't follow the guidelines. E.g. buried, placed on private property without permission, wrong cache size selected, coordinates way off, etc.
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What if the reviewer gets an FTF on a cache he or she publishes, finds out the cache is buried, and retracts the listing?
If I had my way it would be a requirement that reviewers be the FTF on every cache before publishing it. Then maybe there wouldn't be so many crappy caches.
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I just saw this post over in the GPS and Technology subforum. If you have trouble getting the GPS going again by just reinstalling the firmware then you may have to follow the instructions in the post by gelfling6 to unrestrict access to the flash memory first. Since you already have access to the maintenance screen you shouldn't have to follow the instructions for resetting the GPS but it won't hurt it if you do.
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Should be as simple as running the latest update software located at the Magellan support website. Be sure to follow the on screen instructions to the letter.
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Again, I didn't make the video. I talked for an hour straight about every aspect of caching that came to mind. They only used what they wanted to.
Hi. Welcome to the world of public relations. What you describe is exactly what someone in an a PR role has to keep in mind. Thankfully they portrayed Geocaching in a positive light.
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Hello over the great seas from a German geocacher,
first of all let me apologize for probably bad English as it is not my native language.
As I first read this post I could not believe it. Are you -- mostly US citizens I think -- really going to blame THE Germans for cheating in logging geocaches and geocoins? Don't you (don't we all!?) have other problems that are much more important?
Of course there are bigger problems, but this forum is about Geocaching. It isn't about those other things. So you'll find that we talk mostly about Geocaching here.
[Political content removed by moderator.]
So to everyone who wants to blame a whole folks of doing anything as some of them are black sheep, "Kehre erst einmal vor deiner eigenen Haustür." (*) as we say in Germany. [Political content removed by moderator.]
If geocaching betraying is the only problem WE Germans have than I am very glad.
Best wishes from GERMANY
Jochen
We have a saying there America, perception is reality. All of the stories told here are anecdotal. In other words, they are based on our observations and not any hard statistics. However, these anecdotes say more than statistics ever will.
We have another saying here in America, actions speak louder than words. Statistics don't mean much when I am deleting yet another log from a German geocacher who refuses to follow directions.
Many geocachers have observed questionable and incorrect logging practices from a few German geocachers. Unfortunately, these few German geocachers become representative of the larger group.
As a wise man once said "It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad deed to lose it."
(*) "First sweep before your own door." would be a direct translation. Take care for your own problems before you blame others.
We have a similar saying here in America too. It is usually used by people who are trying to draw attention away from the issue being discussed instead discussing the issue.
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Have you asked those attending your events for some ideas or asked what they like and don't like about the event?
Personally, I like to see Geocaching or GPS related demonstration but then I'm a geek so YMMV.
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There is no guarantee that the reviewer will list the cache when you want it listed. They are volunteers after-all. They may be busy listing other caches or even spending time doing something else, it is Halloween and a work day.
One thing you might want to consider is to place the cache and have it cache listed now. Then do your something special Halloween morning. That way you are in control and you know that what you want to happen will happen when you want it to happen.
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I believe they are called ghost cachers around here.
That's the one I have heard: Ghost Cacher.
I've heard the same term used.
Why do we even need a term for every type of situation. If this keeps up log will eventually become decipherable.
I flibbied jibbed the humber squeek but my humpty-rufter navelled the pootietoo in severensnounts. Beware the jabberwock. TFTC!
Magellan Explorist GC not Recognized ?
in How do I...?
Posted
Am I correct in assuming that you are able to transfer geocaches to the GPS using the drag and drop method and that your only issue is not being able to update the firmware?