DarrylW4

Mission #1: Sent my info to Laval K-9: November 21, 2019 Name received from Laval K-9: November 26, 2019 Sent my gift: November 30, 2019 My gift arrived at destination: December 3, 2019 I received a gift: December 9, 2019 Mission #2: Sent my info to Laval K-9: November 21, 2019 Name received from Laval K-9: November 26, 2019 Sent my gift: November 30, 2019 My gift arrived at destination: December 5, 2019 I received a gift: December 23, 2019

Mission #1: Sent my info to Laval K-9: November 21, 2019 Name received from Laval K-9: November 26, 2019 Sent my gift: November 30, 2019 My gift arrived at destination: December 3, 2019 I received a gift: December 9, 2019 Mission #2: Sent my info to Laval K-9: November 21, 2019 Name received from Laval K-9: November 26, 2019 Sent my gift: November 30, 2019 My gift arrived at destination: December 5, 2019 I received a gift:

Sent my info to Laval K-9: November 21, 2019 Name received from Laval K-9: November 26, 2019 Sent my gift: November 30, 2019 My gift arrived at destination: December 3, 2019 I received a gift: Mission #2: Sent my info to Laval K-9: November 21, 2019 Name received from Laval K-9: November 26, 2019 Sent my gift: November 30, 2019 My gift arrived at destination: December 5, 2019 I received a gift:

Mission #1: Sent my info to Laval K-9: November 21, 2019 Name received from Laval K-9: November 26, 2019 Sent my gift: My gift arrived at destination: I received a gift: Mission #2: Sent my info to Laval K-9: November 21, 2019 Name received from Laval K-9: November 26, 2019 Sent my gift: My gift arrived at destination: I received a gift:

I haven't received any Pocket Queries since Friday morning. I've been receiving instant notifications, but no PQ e-mails have made their way to my address, including the "My Finds." On a side note, we've been having trouble with the Field Notes posting from the iPhone Geocaching 2.0 App.

I'm having trouble logging in. Whenever I attempt to login I get this message;

Our second episode (first interview) was posted to the site and feed this morning. This interview with Rattrak and The Pink Rat is likely the longest you'll hear from the Cache-A-Maniacs at about an hour, but we had a blast chatting with them and hope you'll enjoy listening to them.

Thanks! We're glad you enjoyed it. The second episode is on the site and feed now featuring an interview with Rattrak and The Pink Rat. This is probably the longest interview you'll hear from the Cache-A-Maniacs at about an hour, but we really enjoyed talking with these two and hope that you'll enjoy listening.

The original Cache-A-Maniacs concept had been a round table and we might end up doing a few of those yet. Unfortunately Skype doesn't work as well for most podcasters as the hype leads you to believe. There are many factors effecting the connection quality and little control over the individual connection volume. Many podcasters have started looking for other solutions from GoogleTalk through dedicated hardware. I ended up buying the TelosOne phone hybrid to record our shows (originally the Michigan Cycling Podcast, now Cache-A-Maniacs), but it is a pricey bit of hardware and requires a phone line to make and receive calls. Check out the third episode of Cache-A-Maniacs for our first phone interview show. In the meantime, I am still interested in the round table discussion. If there's enough interest count me in.

We discovered a glitch this evening while on an FTF hunt -- the new 7 character waypoints don't work through the WAP interface. We're getting a message "No waypoint found." when we select "Log a Cache."

I wanted to let anyone who might still be interested in trading for either one of our "DarrylW4 & Firefly03 2006 Geocoins" (Bronze or Gold LE) that we're almost out of coins. If you're interested in making a trade, check our Seeking List on Geocoincollection.com and drop us an darrylw4@gmail.com.

I'd love to see a "Disable" function for the trackables. Perhaps when you mark the coin as missing it would be removed from the trackable listing unless someone logs it, it which case it could then return to the listing.

I uploaded a couple of routes today for Rail Trails in the area; Clinton River Trail Paint Creek Trail The problem that I noticed is that each of these routes seem to have been overly simplified on the upload to the point that its cutting corners and not quite following the trails. Was this a problem with the KML export, or does the route get smoothed out on upload? Right now I've simply bumped up the distance in the Pocket Query to account for the shortcuts and that's an improvement over all the local caches. It would be nice though to only get the caches accessed from these trails though.

I've been having the same trouble with the routes by region, but keywords seem to work.

Firefly03 and I received our second round of geocoins. This time we went small enough to fit into a film can (though these are still a little larger than most of the micro coins I've seen) and individual coins for each of us. DarrylW4 2006 Mini Geocoin Firefly 2006 Mini Geocoin Yes, it glows just like the DarrylW4 & Firefly03 2006 Geocoin After the headaches from selling the coins last time, and having nearly run out of the DarrylW4 & Firefly03 2006 Geocoin already, we've decided not to sell these this time around. We're planning on dropping most of these in caches (that's what trackables are all about, and Firefly 03 and I are dropping a coin into every cache we visit this year). Check the caches we're visited recently and you might just find one.

Firefly03 and I are sending two complete sets of our 2006 Geocoins: DarrylW4 & Firefly03 Bronze 2006 Geocoin (Front/Back/Glowing) 400 minted DarrylW4 & Firefly03 Limited Edition Gold 2006 Geocoin 100 minted DarrylW4 2006 Mini Geocoin (Front/Back) 500 minted Firefly 2006 Mini Geocoin (Front/Back) 500 minted

I just started using the WAP interface this weekend and it is very convenient. However, I don't seem to be able to drop travel bugs through the interface. Specifically, this seems to be the personal geocoins (not too sure about the rest). Might this have broken with yesterday's TB database move?

It took several tries, but I got the couple of coins logged into the appropriate caches. It took a bunch of creating and deleting notes though.

I attempted that method too but its not taking those right now either. I'll just have to try again later.

We're running into a new problem tonight -- we can't seem to drop trackable items (coins and travel bugs) into the caches. Has anyone else run into this problem?

Wow! We had no idea we'd get such a great response. Thanks everyone, but we've now exceeded the number of coins we had planned on trading initially. In the meantime, keep your ears open when listening to the Podcacher Podcast as they announce their give-away on some of these coins.

Firefly03 and I just took delivery of our personal geocoins. We're new to this aspect of the hobby, but we'd like to start trading and collecting the coins. Anyone who might be interested in trading, please drop me an e-mail (darrylw4@gmail.com) and we'll work out trades. These are 1.5in diameter, 3mm thick, bronze finished, trackable (with an icon on geocaching.com) coins with glow-in-the dark enamel: Front: Back:

Since my last post we've gone through a whole disaster scenario for Garmin. We ended up with two of the Rino 530s and one of the 520s total. One of the 530s arrived DOA -- it wouldn't read any satellites (a major problem for a GPSR). The 520 had MAJOR software issues to the point that it stopped working when routing to a waypoint, and the antenna cover was never glued in. We received the repaired 520 back about 3 weeks after that was sent in repaired, scratched, and glue drips down the side. The 530 never came back after a month. That one was returned to Garmin by DHL for an unknown reason, but I had received a call from DHL that they had a package with a tracking number on it, and that the only information associated with that tracking number was my phone number and the shipper. When I called DHL back and gave them the address they claimed that they would send it on its way. Why it ended up back at Garmin I don't have a clue. So I ended up early this month contacting one of the supervisors at the Garmin Tech Support line and running through the list of complaints on these units and the troubles with the old iQue. Bottom line is that they replaced both the 520 and the 530 with brand new units, not repaired unit (much more acceptable for new units that died) very graciously. While I'm not thrilled with the service I received, at least they were very good about fixing that situation when I brought it to their attention.

I have dropped them three messages through the web interface along with a link to the posting. As of this evening I haven't received as much as an automated response though.

Firefly03 and I spent an hour or so on Saturday, then eight-and-a-half hours on Sunday geocaching our way to and from Cedar Point. It gave us a chance to spend some time with the new Rino 520 and 530 we picked up. Each of these units is running the first release of the software -- version 2.00. I've organized my Pros and Cons into the list below which might help others in their decision to buy a new receiver. Overall: Unless you're looking for the FRS/GMRS functions (which are very nice) I would not suggest the Rino series. Perhaps when the new software is released the performance will improve and make the unit more appealing. Pros: Battery Life: The supplied 2400mAh NIHM battery packs a punch. Over the more than 8 hours we used the units on Sunday we only used 15-16% of the battery. Radio: The ability to send locations through the radio is very helpful. When searching for more elusive caches, Firefly03 and I would stand still and send our locations (or poll the other person). In this manner we could get a better image of the cache location through the two known points -- us. We also ended up sending missing waypoints through the radios saving entry effort in the field. USB Communication: The USB connectivity to the computer makes downloading information very fast. Sending more than 40MB of the Topo maps into the unit took under a minute. When downloading the 25 locations from Geocaching.com the transfer was completed before I knew it had begun. Cons: Inaccurate: The location information provided by the Rinos was far less accurate or stabile than either of the Magellan units we had been using. We brought the Sportrak Pro along for back-up this weekend, but found that we had developed a strong enough geosense that we really didn't need to use it. The worst aspect of the location inaccuracies was the bouncing effect. For example, while standing still in a clearing with the 530 (electronic comprass on), the cardinal would spin from left to right indicating the cache was moving from one side to another (when in fact I was starring directly at the cache 3 feet in front of me) on an accuracy rating of 15 feet. Not once during our searching was the cache at the location published on Geocaching.com. I have contacted Garmin Technical Support about these problems. Slow Updates: Both units were frequently slow to update the location. Walking at about 3MPH as indicated by the GPSR, we'd have to slow or stop for about the last 30 feet allowing the location on the GPS to catch-up. Buggy: Both units had their issues in the field. The 530 decided after about 7 hours of usage that it didn't need the LCD display anymore. No button pushes would restore the display, but a full power cycle did. The 520 early on decided that it would lock up at "Arriving at X" and not permit any input. A couple of power cycles and marking the cache as found before the satelites acquired fixed that problem. I have not yet contacted Garmin about these problems but will be later today. Interference: The radio would receive information at random. Without anything coming from the other radio, the radios would randomly receive a transmission. We ended up with the squelch controll all the way up to minimize the trouble. No matter what the units would still spit out noise at random. Talk Button: There appears to be an issue with the placement of the talk button switch under the rubber talk button cover. I had little trouble with the button pressing at the lower end of the button. Firefly03 had trouble keeping the button depressed though no matter where she pressed. The culprit seems to have been a lack of rigidity in the talk button cover since changing the finger position would change the results. Hopefully this has been helpful. Enjoy the caching!