911turbos

I would live to adopt your wee little Eidelweiss coin! I have a 2008 BCGA members only geocoin for the next person. Adoption request sent to sterni2009 for TB2EJK4 Here is a link to the adoption page: Trackable adoption

I think they will be very hard to find as we only gave them to friends and did not trade them. I'm fairly sure they all still have them. Irene

Landsharkz posted this on the BCGA boards on Wednesday:

Hi Warren, Are you allowed to explain the technical details of the device? How much ram, flash, rom, what type of processor, mhz, screen resolution etc.. Can the device's software be updated, is it in flash rom or rom rom? Have you considered opening up the device so hackers (like me) can write their own software to run on it, similiar to what rockbox has done for the ipod (albeit without consent). Cheers, Kevin Pickell 911turbos http://code.google.com/p/gpsturbo/

I'd like to join. Thanks!

I'll be at a scout camp all next weekend. If anyone gets an extra blue, i would love to trade for it or buy it. We could get one of the new BCGA geocoins (member version) once they are available to trade for it. One of our caches is "Neptune's Trident", so we would love to have this coin. Thanks, Irene

I'm in! Thanks!

I'm sure Worldcaching.com (Canadian store) will carry them as they carry all the other geocoins available from Groundspeak.

I've never been 100% happy with the GPSrs that are out there and always thought that it would be nice to have an open source GPSr that could be custom programmed, and in my case for Geocaching specifically. I stumbled across this new device online and it looks like it would be a great basis for making my own homebrew GPSr. You can program it using c & c++ using the gcc compiler. STM32 Primer2 The latest STM32 Primer2 is about the size of a cellphone, and comes with a 128x160-pixel color touchscreen, a joystick/push button, extension connector and pre-loaded sample applications. There is also a built-in USB port, a MicroSD card slot, and other features, such as an accelerometer and an infrared transmitter/receiver, that allow users to quickly add numerous extra capabilities and functions to their applications. All of these components are easy to manage through the built-in software framework, the open-source CircleOS. MSRP is $49.00 http://www.st.com/stonline/stappl/cms/pres...r2009/p2364.htm Navisys GR-300 GPS USB Dongle (SiRF III) GR-300 is a cute, easy to bring, ultra-high performance, low power GPS smart antenna with USB connector. The built-in SiRFstarIII chip and our experienced design provide fast acquisitions and excellent tracking performance. It is a perfect companion with Notebook PC, UMPC etc. $36.99 http://www.semsons.com/nagrgpsusbdo.html Thoughts?? Cheers, Kevin Pickell 911turbos

I know of at least one official distributor that has added them to their site. They ship internationally. Email me if you would like more info as I don't think I can add the name here.

There are at least 2 authorzied Groundspeak dealers who sell trackable t-shirts in both adult and children sizes. I don't think I am allowed to mention who they are here.

Costco has the Eee PC 1000 for $479 and it has Bluetooth. Will your software support a Bluetooth GPS(either Linux or XP)? My software uses GPSBabel for the realtime GPS tracking so if GPSBabel can get the coords from it then mine will support it. I've never used bluetooth so I don't know what extra steps are required for it. Robert Lipe would be the one to ask about GPSBabel support as it is his baby. :-)

Got it working on my EEEPC 900, no drivers to install or anything. Just plug it in and then type 'dmesg' to see where it got attached, dmesg showed 'ttyUSB0' so then I typed: gpsbabel -T -i nmea -f /dev/ttyUSB0 and it works! Cheers, Kevin

I decided to go for it and it arrived today. First step was to install the driver for it on my WinXP laptop and that went fine with no problems. It doesn't ship with any apps though, so how to see if it actually works?, hmmm. So then I try using gpsbabel to see if it can talk to it and after a bit of working figuring out the com port needed it comes up with: gpsbabel -T -i nmea -f com4: Then the coords start printing, one new position every second and this works even inside my house. I now have it working in my GPSTurbo app as well ( using gpsbabel to actually get the coords from it ). My next test is to get it working on my Linux EEE PC 900, but the slight glitch is that the linux driver is for red hat and my linux machine is debian. So hopefully I can get it sorted out soon. Not bad at all for $40, there is also a bluetooth version available. Cheers, Kevin

I just got a Asus EEEpc 900 running Linux on Monday. I have my open-source program GPSTurbo running on it already displaying both Garmin Maps and Google maps. The funny thing is loads GPX files about 3 times as fast as my PC with Windows XP. I also ordered a USB dongle GPS for it so I hope to have it doing realtime tracking as well as soon as the GPS arrives. GPSTurbo page Kevin

I'm going to buy a ASUS EEE PC 900 next week ( for my birthday ) and am looking for a cheap USB GPS for it (It's $40). I found this one online and it sounds good, just wondering if anyone was familiar with it? Navisys GR-300 SiRF III USB GPS Dongle (4 ft Extension Cable included) (Supports Windows, Mac, Linux) GR-300 is a high performance, low power GPS receiver. The built-in SiRF III chipset offers fast acquisition and excellent tracking performance. The compact size and built-in USB connector makes it an ideal travel companion with notebook PC and UMPC. # Feature: SiRF Star III GSC3f lower power chipset # High sensitivity (Tracking Sensitivity: -159 dBm) # Extremely fast TTFF (Time To First Fix) at low signal level # Support NMEA 0183 data protocol # Built-in patch antenna # USB interface connection port # LED indicator for GPS fix or not fix # Backup battery keeps GPS data for 10 days for faster position fix after initial charging Technical Data: # SiRF III, 20 channel, L1 frequency, C/A code # Accuracy: <2.5m (Autonomous); <2m (WAAS); (50% 24hr static, -130dBm) # TTFF (Hot/Warm/Cold): <1 sec / <35 sec / < 42 sec # Sensitivity: -142dBm (acquisition); -159dBm (tracking) # Update Frequency: 1Hz # Protocol: NMEA V3.00, 4800bps, GGA, GSA, GSV, RMC, VTG # Power: 5V, 50mA http://www.semsons.com/nagrusbgpsdo.html Cheers, Kevin 911Turbos

Here are a couple more links: Newspaper Article (This features one of our directors) BC Parks Irene BCGA Director

The British Columbia Geocaching Association, in partnership with BC Parks and the Ministry of the Environment, invites the geocaching community to explore the best place on earth. As part of British Columbia's 150th birthday celebration, geocaches have been hidden in provincial parks across BC. BC Parks sponsors this event by providing the containers, prizes and swag. Prizes include rare collector BC Parks coins for the first, third and fifth finders. BCGA members across the province have been selected to hide geocaches during the last week of July. After that, the rush is on. Join us for this historic celebration. GeoRush caches can be found from sea to sky, from peak to creek, and everywhere in between. Find one, find ten or a hundred. The rush begins now. A list of GeoRush caches can be found HERE

Regarding the location drift issues for both the Colorado and Oregon: Are these huge drift problems only when viewing the saved track log or are the coords out this much when out in the field? Just wondering if the bug is in their coord calcs or of the bug is in their track compression code. Cheers 911turbos

With regard to Authorized by Groundspeak, if the geocaching application uses the Groundspeak cache icons and other Groundspeak logos etc then it needs to be okayed by them, specifically Brian. I had to get permission for my Open-Source geocaching app GPSTurbo from them in order to use their icons and logo. If anyone out there with a iPhone development license wants to help I would love to get it running on an iPhone. Cheers, Kevin 911turbos http://code.google.com/p/gpsturbo/

RE: seems to be technical very difficult blink.gif i also would prefer: Black letters on white background !!! smile.gif The first thing that came to mind when I saw the black background and white text was maybe the power consumption would be better with it this way, but a quick google and I found that that is NOT the case for LCDs, so I can't think of any technical reason for them not having this as switchable setting that the user can decide which way they prefer. http://helllabs.org/blog/20070723/black-and-white/

It's amazing the influence I have over him

I will try and stop by the next time I drive by. Should only be a week or two. If not, I know the owner and will get him to do a little cache maintenance.

Sorry for the late posting: Mission 1: 1. Participating - yes 2. Nick/destination received - yes 3. Outgoin coin mission details attached - yes 4. Outgoing coin released - 7-11-08 in Cache GC1BMKN 5. Incoming coin picked up Mission 2: 1. Participating - yes 2. Nick/destination received - yes 3. Outgoin coin mission details attached - yes 4. Outgoing coin released - 7-11-08 in Cache GC1AG7Y 5. Incoming coin picked up Have heard from both of the cachers who are sending the coins to me as well.

Caches in BC are usually reviewed twice a week on average. It will most likely get looked at this weekend as it is summer and the reviewers are volunteers. Our reviewer, mtn_man, is great!