IFR GPS
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My dad drop his Garmin 12xl across some rocks several weeks ago, while geocaching. The face of the screen had several long ugly scratches in it. I took the GPS to work, where we have polishing kits for repairing scratches in aircraft windshields (which are plastic). I literally used 1200 grit wet sandpaper to sand out the scratches, then went to 2400 and 3600 grit, wet sanded. A good buffing with some plastic polish finished out the repair. Except for a very little tiny blemish that you could barely see, it was as good as new, with a perfectly clear face when I was done. You might try taking your GPS to an industrial plastic company to have repairs made. If it is cracked, then I would recommend sending the unit back to the manufactor. Best of luck.
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Another note, if I may interject. For those of you who cache over in Central Oregon, the tick population is really high over here. Anytime you come in contact with juniper trees, manzanita or sagebrush, which is all the time really, you should be especially suspect for having ticks. Tick checks after you get home are very important. Ticks are nothing to fool around with, Lyme desease is very serious desease.
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I would like to remind everyone in this thread, that geocachers are not the only users of the GPS system in the United States, or anywhere for that matter. In fact Geocachers are only playing a very cheap game with with a multi-billion dollar satellite system, designed by our government. Aside from the obvious uses by the military, There are any number of other mission critical uses of the GPS system, which are being used everyday by other civilian and public entities. Some mission critical examples include: Many aircraft, including Airliners and private airplane are coming to relie on GPS system for primary navigation. Imagine what would happen if a geocacher placed a jammer near a cache on some mountian top,trying to foil other geocachers, and jammed the GPS reciever on a airliner while it was making an instrument approach to an airport 20 or 30 miles away. Remember that the GPS system was designed as a navigation system, and it is a felony federal offense to knowingly and willfully disrupt or obstruct or interfere with the navigation of aircraft or vessels at sea. I believe that in this type of situation, the goverment would track town and destroy any such jamming device as rapidly and swiftly as any one that Saddam Hussien might deploy. In addition to the above scenario, consider that 911 centers track the location of police and emergency vehicles with GPS systems, and will be tracking the location of 911 cellphone calls in the near future. And surveyors, On-Star vehicle locating systems, search and rescue teams, etc... I think we ought consider the consequences of what we ponder in fun?
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http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=4635
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This one is located off of a USFS grass strip, tucked deep in the heart of the Montana backcountry. First you have to fly, then hike. The cache is near the Bob Marshall and Great Bear Wilderness areas, which is some of the most rugged and spectacular scenery you could imagine. To date, no one has found this cache. Anyone?
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Correction, That's a Hexagon/Hexagram
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Although really not that odd, considering the way some towns are laid out, but it recently caught my eye. Do a TOPOZONE search for 48d 11.4 N / 114d 18.6 W, and observe the pentagon/pentagram around the courthouse.
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That Country along that route is great country. I have only been in very small portions of southeast oregon, but have seen enough to know that it could be well worth the effort getting through on this route. What a shame that the obstructionists (Environmentalists) have screwed up another great treasure in the state, for everyone to enjoy. Good Luck to anyone who goes after this.
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The GPS 38 was one of Garmins earlier units. I think the 38 is about 5 or 6 years old now. It was also built with a 8 channel reciever, not a 12 channel. I used to have a 38, and had bad problems keeping it locked on, even under light tree cover, and it always took 2 or 3 minutes to acquire. I had problems with it wandering, but that was when SA was still turned on. To check the accuracy, get out a good topo map, and find the coordinates of a known location, then go out and see if your GPS agrees.
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A cache on the Int'l space station would be cool. The Russians are selling cheap fares for about $20M per seat.
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US Coast Guard! I spent 3 1/2 years at the US Coast Guards National Motor Lifeboat School at Washington's Cape Dissappoint, near the mouth of the Columbia River. I spent my time doing boat maintenance and qualified as a crewman on a 44 ft rescue boat. Our unit was a training command, and we taught students how to handle rescue boats out in the surf. Even in 1993, our boats were all still equipped with Loran C. Don't know what they are using now, but I should hope that they would have upgraded to GPS by now. My only regrets are that I waited too long to decide on my primary speciality, and eventually lost my chance, and ended up spending the entire time in the service as an E3, cleaning and painting boats. By the time I got out in 1993, I had finally matured enough to decide what I wanted to do with my life, and immediatly enrolled in a civilian Avionics school. I used my GI Bill to go to tech school, and ended up graduating with honors. I am enjoying a career as a civ avionics tech, doing what I should have done to begin with in the military. Although I did not enjoy the particular job and people that I was around at the time, I will say that I am proud that I served, and stand 100% behind are military today!
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Missed the Hyperlink, here it is: Sky King's final landing place
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I see nothing wrong with caches in Graveyards, assuming that they are offset, or virtual caches. I did this one in Missoula, MT and thought it was done in good taste. Sky King's Final landing Place[/url]
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STOP!!! Before you all confuse yourself to no end! After reading through this thread, and worrying that I was going to confuse myself by just reading through all this, let me offer some sound advice to all of you. First of all, go into the settings on your GPS, and and set the Bearing to Read TRUE!!. Then if you have not already done so, go down to your nearsest sporting goods store and buy a GOOD QUALITY compass, such as a Silva Ranger, or others which have a mechanical and lockable adjustment for compensating for the Declination. You will probably have to spend about $25 for a compasss with this feature in it. It usually requires a very small tool, provided with the unit to actually make this adjustment. Set the Declination for your local area, and leave it alone. Now, when your read the compass, it will always read True, with the Declination already compensated out of it. I have used this method for years, and no longer have to bother figuring out the Declination every time I convert from map to compass, or take a compass bearing to plot to a map. Good Luck!
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STOP!!! Before you all confuse yourself to no end! After reading through this thread, and worrying that I was going to confuse myself by just reading through all this, let me offer some sound advice to all of you. First of all, go into the settings on your GPS, and and set the Bearing to Read TRUE!!. Then if you have not already done so, go down to your nearsest sporting goods store and buy a GOOD QUALITY compass, such as a Silva Ranger, or others which have a mechanical and lockable adjustment for compensating for the Declination. You will probably have to spend about $25 for a compasss with this feature in it. It usually requires a very small tool, provided with the unit to actually make this adjustment. Set the Declination for your local area, and leave it alone. Now, when your read the compass, it will always read True, with the Declination already compensated out of it. I have used this method for years, and no longer have to bother figuring out the Declination every time I convert from map to compass, or take a compass bearing to plot to a map. Good Luck!
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Interesting, but I failed to see how this would be really useful.
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I work with GPS almost all the time at work. I install and certify aircraft GPS units into all sorts of aircraft. Aircraft GPS systems are quite a different breed than typical handheld units. Aircraft GPS units are integrated into all sorts of different systems on board aircraft: Autopilots, Communications, other navigation systems and indicators, Air Data computers, Fuel flow totalizers, large screen moving maps and EFIS systems, Etc. Most Aircraft GPS systems use analog, and RS232 and Arinc databusses, and large bundles of wires to make it all work. Aircraft GPS units have built in databases which contain the indentifier for each airport and NAVAID, the communications frequencies for each airport, special airspace boundries, and predefined routes to be followed for approaches to each airport. And of course, lots of FAA paperwork to make it all legal.
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Thanks to all who posted. I saw several caches that looked interesting. I'll get to the ones that I have time for, but I will be spending time with family and friends this week also. Thanks again, IFR GPS
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Syn, Just remember, you are going to EASTERN Montana, there are about 3, or by now maybe 5 geocaches in that whole part of the state, and Montana is a Big state. And referring to the earlier post in April, Well; Skydiver, Asatraur,and Rye and Liegh have beaten you to the punch by doubling the number of caches in the state:-)
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Hello all, I am going to be vacationing in Central Oregon, down from Montana next week. Would someone give me some good ideas for the best caches in the Bend and Bachelor area? I am familar with the area, so am looking for some neat and challenging caches! 4x4 or hiking, not a problem! Thanks! IFR GPS
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The quad-helical antenna is a much better antenna by design. The patch antenna inside an Etrex is a compromise antenna, sacrificing performance, for compactedness, and the ability to self contain the antenna all inside one unit. As for the wandering of the II series, I rather suspect that this is not an antenna problem, but rather the result of software and operating system. My GPS II+ only reads down to the hundredth of a mile, compared the ft readouts on the Etrex. In comparison, .01 mile resolution only will put me inside of a circle 52 feet in diameter. With my II+, I usually have to ground search an area 40-50 ft in diameter before finding the cache. I believe that newer equipment with higher resolution software would take care of some of the wandering problem.
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The coordinates in question are called UTM coordinates, and are based on a different grid system than what lat/long is based on. Your GPS should accept both types of coordinates, depending on what coordinate system you have selected in the navigation setup pages of your GPS. Many GPS units will toggle back and forth between the two types of coordinates once you have entered the initial coordinates in one format or the other. For a really good tutorial on the UTM system, visit the following website: http://www.maptools.com/UsingUTM/index.html
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The coordinates in question are called UTM coordinates, and are based on a different grid system than what lat/long is based on. Your GPS should accept both types of coordinates, depending on what coordinate system you have selected in the navigation setup pages of your GPS. Many GPS units will toggle back and forth between the two types of coordinates once you have entered the initial coordinates in one format or the other. For a really good tutorial on the UTM system, visit the following website:http://www.maptools.com/UsingUTM/index.html
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You seem to be missing the whole point. The campground is the least of the worries. The trees are sick and deseased! If you do not cut down a few acres of trees now, then you could lose many thousands of acres or more in a few years, be it from windfall/rotfall, from preventative logging (to save the forest), or from forest fires(Because the trees were dead and rotten, creating a fire and fall hazard). I think the Forest Service is doing the RIGHT thing, even though I am sure that some folks will find a way to make it the most CONTROVERSIAL! Remember that these old trees were once seedlings. They can plant new trees, and they too will grow back, and give the next generation a nice place to have a campground. Or, go out and find a way to enjoy this campground, with or without the trees:=) Secondly, exactly what did this whole subject have to do with geocaching?