GermanSailor

Hi, what you could do is write a program which gets the data from every cache to every cache and puts this information in a matrix. (Like the ones found on paper charts to figure out distances between towns). For example __A B C D A _ 5 2 7 B 5 _ 3 6 C 2 3 _ 4 D 7 6 4 _ And then let the program always find the a route to the nearest new cache unless all are found. Lets say starting at A, one would go next to C(2), then to B(3) then to D(6). You would have travelled 11 units, compared to the 12 you would have done by following in the alphabetical order. This system ist far from perfect and is only likely to produce a good solution, but it's fairly easy. It's has been quite a while since I had to deal with the travelling salesman problem. But I remember that the method described above is one of the solutions and by far not the best. If you have time or a fast enough computer, a kind of brute-force approach might be the solution. Let the computer, again using the precalculated matrix, calculate all possible solutions and pick the shortest one. You could considerably reduce the required amount of calculations by defining a threshold (the number which you already have by using the first method) after which calculations on this combination stop. I hope what I wrote is not too confusing, not easy to write about such stuff in a foreign language. GermanSailor

Hopefully this little cache hunt doesn't get to expensive for the hider. GermanSailor

Can somebody explain to me what "battery level" has to do with the accuracy of a GPSr? The only think I could remotely think of, is that there might be receivers which turn the WAAS mode off if the batteries don't have a lot of power left. But I'm not even sure if there are units which have such kind of power save modes. Otherwise the unit is either on and working to its full potential or not working at all, but there is no degradation depending on how new or charged the batteries are. The other factors like interferance, foilage, ionosphere and so on of course do have an effect. GermanSailor

Hi, look here: http://www.world66.com/myworld66/ All you have to do is click the states or countries and then copy the link onto your profile page, or wherever you want to display it. GermanSailor Edit: To late, I didn't see that you where asking for counties not countries. My apologies.

You are so right! I'm always surprised how many people have the authority to decide what is "appropriate" and what not. GermanSailor

I like the option, since it tells me that my TBs are not MIA or AWOL. Actually I wrote in the description of one of my bugs to report it as discovered. It's a quite big TB, so it sometimes spends quite a while in a cache. Wish I added this request to the TB itself. I think it's never a bad thing to have options like the Discovered-it. If you don't like it - don't use it. GermanSailor

Yes, it has one. You get them on ebay for less than 20 bucks as well as the Serial-to-USB converter cables. I did exactly what you described using the Etrey Yellow and Microsoft Mappoint to get a poor man's Nav System for my car. GermanSailor

Yes, of course. But I consider myself a pretty low-accuracy piece of equipment when it come to following a bearing to one degree while hiking. GermanSailor

No, because: Never rely on just one system if it is that important Batteries can fail. I can drop / otherwise damage the unit. Nobody knows what software bug the unit may have and Murphy's Law tells us, that you will discover it at the most unappropriate moment. If you think your LIFE depends on some equipment you probably shouldn't be there in the frist place. Geocaching is just a hobby! GermanSailor

I would ask him to leave. As well as the wannabe cop how reported him! I assumed that the hobo camp was on land where nobody bothers, since it was considered okay to place a cache there.... GermanSailor

That's exactly what makes me avoid them. You just look suspicious searching / hiding something in such a location. But people seem to love them because it's so easy to make huge numbers of 1/1 caches. I don't mind. Someone said that if you don't like them, hide a better one, which is true, I would be annoyed if a "perfect" location would be blocked by a lame micro. But on the other hand, it first come first serve, and there are still millions of cool places around. GermanSailor

How are you making that decision? You have insufficient information to make any judgment call, which is what you are making whether you realize it or not. It is amazing how quickly that can backfire on a person. I base my decission on the fact that a person is innocent unless proven guilty! This applies even to someone how doesn't share your way of living. And as far as I know there are just a few really serious crimes where you are forced to report them. Just to report anyone, because you are scared or don't understand them is not necessary. What you want can backfire as well. If you have time, just read this Wikipedia Artikel and you probably understand what I mean. In dubio pro reo! GermanSailor

I couldn't agree more! GermanSailor

Just leave them alone! If the persons in question didn't do anything illegal why should you disturb their way of living? Since you weren't sure yourself if you should report them, you already gave the answer. No, because if there were I reason to call the police you would have been sure about it in the first place and wouldn't have asked here! GermanSailor

The UFD TBs are already activated. You don't own the TB, so there is no need for you to activate them. Technically you just grab them when you get them in the mail and then proceed like with any other TB. I added a label with the destination to mine and dropped it the same day in a local TB Hotel. Just use the Number on the DogTag like you do with all the other TBs you find in a cache! GermanSailor

Now that's what I call a cache. I wonder how long it takes for some Texan to build / hide a bigger one! GermanSailor

Post a note. Put it on the ignore list. Keep GC.com simple GermanSailor

Exactly: It's cheap, has all the functions you need and not all the extra stuff which just confuses a beginner! You get two of them for the price of a "better" GPS. Give them some good rechargeable batteries and a charger as well, we do our hobby in the nature, let's preserve it. GermanSailor

Interessting, after the McD BigMac made it into Macroeconomics as a informal measurement of purchasing power parity, I wonder if cache distribution in urban areas someday will correlated with social factors, like income, crime, security, etc. GermanSailor

Maybe I can promote my own cache here. It seem that Jacksonville is the micro Mekka, people just love to spit out micros and don't really maintain them. This one is pretty cool and doesn't take a lot of time. There are a couple of nice traditionals in Westside Regional Park. Just look for this one and the nearby caches. GermanSailor

Hi, why don't you grab the TB. You can change the description Page of your TB so it describes all the adventures and achievments of your TB probably even remame it like "RT-TB Name" So the retirees are nicely listed together. Don't forget, many users are a bit challenged already with all the functions and types of logs with a TB, just make it easy. GermanSailor

Exactly. The ones who care about statistic are like crying kids and over-competitve grown-ups. The rest just enjoys the outdoors and couldn't care less! I think it's pretty funny that some people switch into "competition mode" as soon as there are some numbers present. GermanSailor

It is as safe as you act. But still tell someone where you go and when you plan to be back. I think thats a good idea with pretty much every outdoor activity you do alone. GermanSailor

Immanuel Kant:" Or in my words: Just do it, you don't do any harm to anyone. It's just a hobby and it doesn't matter at all, if you have 5, 120 or 3453 finds, as long as you enjoy it. By helping hiding a cache in a nice location you contributed more to GC than some of the folks who have a gazillion finds, but just spread lame micros which are never maintained. GermanSailor

200 feet off that makes an area of 125 thousand square feet to "hunt a little". Why not just post in which state the cache is located? I would never look for a cache 200 feet away from the posted coordinates, especially if it had a couple of DNF logged before. GermanSailor