John E Cache

The GPS radio chipset periodically sends the current position to the FW. The position has an error of up to thirty feet. If the FW gets a position that is 10 feet different from the previous position one second ago, what should the FW do? Walking speed of 3MPH is 4.4 feet per second. The FW could throw away the new point because it could be caused by position error while you are standing still. This ticks off people like you. The FW could keep the new point. If you are close to the cache the bearing will change and this ticks off the people who say the magnetic compass is erratic. I suspect the FW does averaging of the previous points. This kind of filtering takes time to fill in the history, which also ticks some people off. Maybe Garmin should admit the problem and allow people to adjust the time constant of the filter(assuming there is such a thing).

I didn't know there was such a thing as a bike GPS. I searched and found one on sale. http://www.semsons.com/wigiiwsmuspg.html Two Semson's posts today. I am not recommending buying from them. I use Semson's for GPS info.

I use GPS stores to see what's out there. http://www.semsons.com/datalogger.html

Pedal/wheel sensors and HR monitor both talk to my 405CX, and the HR monitor worked with my 62s and Etrex 30. Haven't gone on a ride with a handheld since I got the pedal sensors. The 405CX doesn't do power calculations, so I suspect it's not designed to read both pedal and wheel. Wow. I didn't know bike computers could do power. Do they measure pedal force? When I said pedal, I was thinking pedal cadence.

I built a Minty Boost and it seems to work OK.

I do some queries with mutually exclusive filters that hopefully don't dupe caches and combine them with parking etc. My combine.bat: C:\Geocaching\gpsbabel-1.3.6\gpsbabel.exe -x duplicate,shortname -i gpx -f C:\Geocaching\POI\Caches\4721.gpx -f C:\Geocaching\POI\Caches\4721-wpts.gpx -f C:\Geocaching\POI\Caches\699802.gpx -f C:\Geocaching\POI\Caches\699802-wpts.gpx -o gpx -F combined.gpx

Do the ANT+ enabled GPSs talk to ANT+ HR monitors, tire sensors, pedal sensors etc..

After almost two years with a useless ATT Captivate GPS, I upgraded to the Galaxy Note. The G-Note usually has 21 satellites in view here in Portland using the "GPS Test" app. The G-Note is amazing compared to the Captivate. It even stays locked when traveling by car. :D

Sometimes I am picky and I see the "S" in GPS as standing for a "system" and the system includes satellites and receivers. The GLONASS system kind of throws me off. The Brits seem to protect their language better so I liked learning about GNSS usage by the BBC, thanks.. After reading Wikipedia, I find it interesting that the first "S" in GLONASS contains Sputnik. I was in grade school when the Sputnik launch scared a lot of people. I am still waiting for a review of the US Samsung Note. I am really gun shy after the awful GPS in my Captivate.

I am thinking of upgrading my ATT Captivate phone to the Samsung Note that was just released in the US. The only review I could find was for NZ version. Does anyone know if the US version uses GLONASS satellites? Also, what do annoying people like me that say "GPSr" for the receiver do now. GLONASSr or GLONASS/GPSr

It is true that the "electronic compass" can replace a magnetic compass and save you some money if you think you need to know where north is. The magnetic compass can not replace everything else the magnetic sensor on a GPS does for you and I couldn't care less where north is.

I assumed that as a stealthy hunter, he can't always move and the problem was he didn't want to spend $100 for the electronic compass so he get a bearing without moving. Just a guess.

The GPS can give a magnetic bearing that can be read off the numbers on a magnetic compass.

You said you have used the GPS for ten years. Your brain might be trained to think the arrow is somehow related to the screen orientation. If the arrow points to the upper right corner your brain thinks the waypoint is to the right of where the screen is facing. That is not true with a magnetic sensor. The arrow points to the waypoint no matter where the screen is facing. One way of getting your brain from thinking about the screen orientation is to put something straight along the arrow, like a pencil or a straw and the sight along that. If that is not the case, you could lay the GPS down and walk away a few feet to see if you are magnetic. Magnetic near fields drop quickly at a cubic rate(two times the distance drops the field strength eight times). You can do the pencil thing too. Turning the GPS 90 degrees, like CSX#2, may surprise you. Like you, I was a long time GPS user before I got my first GPS with a magnetic sensor and it took me awhile for the light bulb to go on. Three GPSs sounds like its you to me, but coincidences do happen.

Maybe you have the same confusion I had in the beginning. There is no "add waypoint" function on most GPSs. You do a "Mark" which does add a wapoint at your location. You then edit the new waypoint and change it's coordinates to the puzzle coordinates.

Was your first clue that he used meters? He should ask Lisbeth Salander. The accuracy of cell phone GPS's seems to be random according to where they put the antenna and how noisy the phone is. I was unlucky to get a Samsung model that is notoriously bad(ATT Captivate). It picks up noise from the display I guess.

A long time ago I had the same problem with a Garmin IIIc Plus. I think the fix was using foam tape to stabilize the batteries. A loose or sensitive SD card can cause problems, too.

It has been a long time ago, but I seem to remember the icons appear when you zoom in so as not to clutter the map when zoomed out. I also seem to remember the zoom level is configurable or is affected by clutter mode.

The engineers put a magnetic sensor in in a GPS so the GPS softare knows which way you are facing . A marketeer says lets call the feature an "Electronic Compass" so people will think they can save money by not having to buy a "Magnetic Compass". Now the problem is that customers miss the brilliance of the engineer's idea(over stated because yes, I am an engineer ] and they compare a crude magnetic compass to a GPS with a magnetic sensor. I question the that a geogacher needs to know where North is at all and do not need a magnetic compass even without an "Electronic Compass". In the odd clue that says walk at a bearing, you can project the point. "Go North 50' and East 50'" you just switch coordinate type to an X-Y or Northing/Easting like UTM. Also, there is no need to know which way or how fast you are traveling with a magnetic sensor in your GPS. The frustrating thing for me is that just like Commodore Norrington, some people do not know that they have a magical instrument that always points to the treasure no matter which way you point the instrument. IMHO It is not just convenience, it is magic.

The map is different in that it doesn't depend on position.. The map aligns with the magnetic field. Magnetic north on the map will always point to the magnetic north pole(sort of because the magnetic lines of force wander a bit). This means when you turn, the map will swing to align with the earth.

The needle points to the cache based on your current position and where you are facing based on the magnetic field. The problem is the current position changes by up to 40 feet when you are standing still because of accuracy errors. If you are near the cache, 40 feet can jump your current position from one side of the cache to the other. It is not a a magnetic compass problem(the mag sensor is very accurate). It is simply a position error problem.

The Xperia Active finally appeared in the US according to this CNET article: CNET link EDIT: It does ANT+ used by the Chirp, heart rate monitors, bike computers etc

This deer rescue in Elma, WA was on Facebook. I have no clue where Elma is, but the post was cool. Facebook link

KML worked great on my gpx. I thought I would try upgrading the GPSBabel bundled in the Google Earth program directory and it appears to be missing. Will the new GPSBabel be integrated into Google Earth?

And my reply to him... so stay tuned, you might get your open line of communication here... The Parks Department liaison is great. I have sometimes worried that the Forest Park Conservancy might get on our case. The Conservancy does ask for volunteers. Maybe a CITO in Forest Park, through the Conservancy would be a good idea. I wonder how many caches are in the park.