twm3

Hi All, Think the cable is gone now. If there is a way to either delete or edit an original post ala Craig's List, please let me and both this and the original post will be deleted/edited. ~Tom

Hiya, My Explorist 210 North American went missing (scary thing is that it was the second or third GPS that I have lost) and I've moved over to a Garmin. What didn't go missing was the USB data cable. One end plugs into the computer's USB port and the other end screws into the back of the GPS and has six data pins/contacts. There is a port in the middle, a power port I believe. The GPS plug has the number 730497 stamped on it which may be a part number. I used a paint pen to write GPS on both sides of the USB plug so I could identify it in the middle of all my other cables. Also comes with a Velcro wire tie. Cable worked when I had the GPS and I would expect to work now. So here's the deal about being free. The cable is free but I need $5.25 to cover USPS Priority Mail shipping and PayPal charges. If you want to pick the cable up here in the New Haven, CT area, you can do that and avoid the shipping charges. I'm moving as of the 6th so if you are interested in the cable, I'll be able to mail it right away up through the 6th. Afterwards, I *expect* to have daily email coverage but when driving XC, one never knows. If payment made after the 6th, I may not be able to ship until around the 15th. Email me at exploristdatacable@alpinix.com with questions or to claim the cable. FWIW, the exploristdatacable@alpinix.com is a throwaway address as I would think these forums could be harvested by spambots for addresses. PayPal payment will be made through another address. You can always PM me if you don't want to send email. Should be fun to geocache the ~3000 miles back to Lake Tahoe. Provided I'm not in snow country. %-) ~Tom aka twm3

All gone. Thanks for your interest. ~Tom

Fairly sure I got it for my Meridian Gold that is no longer in my possession (I think I drove off from a site with the GPS on the roof :-(. Black about 8" x 3" x 1" and has a belt loop. Pick it up here in Truckee, CA by Wednesday 7 May or $5.10 via PayPal for USPS Priority Mail to the lower 48. If using PayPal, contact me before using PayPal for me to give you my correct address. ~Tom aka twm3

Thanks for the interest folks. Has been claimed. ~twm3

Err, should have said that the cable is a serial (DB9) cable. There are USB-serial (DB9) converters available though I don't recall if I got my converter to work with this cable. I *think* I did though. ~twm3

Lost my Magellan Gold and so moved onto an Explorist 210 leaving me with the data cable for my old GPS. No cost for the cable but $3 needed for first class postage. Paypal preferred to paypal(at)alpinix.com. If you are seeing this after 21 April, I've probably disposed of the cable and I just haven't deleted this (if I can delete it). Drop me a line with any questions at geocaching(at)alpinix.com . If you do drop me a line, you will get an intercept asking you to verify that you are a real live human being and not a piece of spam. ~twm3 (over 250 found :-)

Hiya Evenfall, Thank for the informed (? :-) opinion and/or fact regarding orientation. GC sez that I've attempted close to a 100 benchmarks and have found about half of them. I've considered our benchmarking venture as adding to the knowledge base on the web. In particular, by following our comments and photos (thank gahd for digital cameras :-), folks in the future will be able to find the benchmark faster than I did. To that end, I've tried shooting N, E, S, & W from the benchmark. In my last trip out into the field, I forgot to note my orientation when shooting the quadrants. But wait, maybe I can save my bacon if the "+" has orientation information built into it. Alas, it doesn't appear so which means that I will be entering my photos as views from the benchmark versus "Northerly view" from the benchmark. Thanks again for your help. ~twm3 and Cayenne, The Clueless, Hyperactive Non-Geocaching Dog

Duh, though I've recovered 50+ benchmarks, a probably obvious question has come up. Does the cross in the middle of the benchmark have directional significance, i.e. does an axis point to true north? If so, which one? The benchmarks I found yesterday, and probably in the past, have writing on them that is "right side up" going from the 9 to 3 o'clock position across both the top and the bottom. In the middle of the benchmark, there is a cross-hatch with a long axis running from 9 to 3 and a shorter hatch running from 12 to 6 o'clock. Do any of these axis point to north. If so, which one? Yup, my face is a bit red here. When I was out benchmarking yesterday, I forgot to note the orientation of the benchmark and then began to wonder if the benchmarks would have this information. ~twm3 and Cayenne, The Clueless, Hyperactive Non-Geocaching Dog

I've come across two bugs while using Pocket Query and my PDA, a Handspring Treo 300. 1) In looking at cache E731, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCE731, on my Handspring, the only text that was displayed beneath Difficulty and Terrain row was "This is a chance to learn some of the history of the San Francosco Waterfront ". All the important information for finding the cache was not present. "San Francosco Waterfront" was at the end of a "page" and the next page was the next cache that was part of my download. 2) In looking at cache GWB2, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCGWB2, the text "Cache Issues: * This cache is temporarily unavailable. Read the logs below to read the status for this cache." is not shown in the pocket query. Yup, I spent some time looking for the cache because the above information was not shown in the Pocket Query. ~twm3