GermanSailor
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Posts
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Posts posted by GermanSailor
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What do you bring along to CITO glass or other sharps?
A canvas (jute) shopping bag . The plastic ones just get torn.
GermanSailor
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Ack, that's cheating!!
Definition of cheating by Mirriam-Webster online:
1
a : to practice fraud or trickery
b : to violate rules dishonestly
2 : to be sexually unfaithful
3 : to position oneself defensively near a particular area in anticipation of a play in that area
Let's not forget: Geocaching is a hobby, it's not about winning prices or making money. Especially this FTF mumbo-jumbo is just a very unofficial side-game. To some it's the most important thing in the world, other couldn't care less.
GermanSailor
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How is it possible for someone to find the cache before it's published?
The owner gave the coordinates and / or the listing to some friends before it was published by a reviewer. There is absolutely nothing wrong about it. Some call this "beta-test", others just don't want to wait. However it's not possible to log online until a listing is published, but you can enter whatever date you want with your log.
GermanSailor
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Any help would be awesome!
Sand the plastic, so the surface isn't smooth any more. Than just paint it with the cheap Walmart spray cans.
Or you apply a very thin coating of silicone, this stuff is really sticky. Glue dirt, leaves, grass and whatever is surrounding the box, to it. This is the most natural looking camo you can achieve.
Don't forget: There are no straight lines in nature, so make sure so spray you camo pattern freehand.
All this priming and sealing is not really necessary. It's a geocache not a Porsche! ;-)
GermanSailor
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And if you mean deleting your account, bad idea because you will be erasing other caches and other peoples history. They might not like that. Just don't use your account anymore.
That's exactly why it is not possible to delete entries. Groundspeak archives data, so it is still there but not directly accessible.
@slyguytoo: Just open another team-account and keep yours. Many of those couple teams don't work to well when the couple separates. So have a team account but keep your own one.
GermanSailor
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that works great driving but I had a hard time getting it to work when we were walking.
Maybe there is a "lock on road" feature enabled. This can make off-road navigation nearly impossible.
What GPSr do you have?
GermanSailor
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And is there a way I can avoid this big data transfer hit every time I look at a page?
Not sure if it helps you. Have you tried Geocaching Live? Seems to be designed for cell phones.
GermanSailor
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How do I log my first to finds. I saw a pop up box of directions that you need to check a box by the description but I do not see the box.
There is no box on geocaching.com. However if you use GSAK you can check the geocaches in the FTF-column.
FTF is nothing official by Groundspeak, it's just another statistic.
GermanSailor
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Every time I'm away from home for a week or so a couple of new caches get published.
GermanSailor
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What do you think, would thes intrigue you?
Both sound like decent sized containers and you put some thought into hiding the geocaches. We need more of those geocaches.
Please hide them!
GermanSailor
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USB
in Trackables
What do you think about USB-Stick witch is a Trackable Item. You save a videomassage on it.
This was discussed several times.
You get people who can't secure their computer and freak out about an USB-stick, but use the internet...
And you get people who use it.
I personally would use the usb-stick, but wouldn't put any videos of me on it.
It's not against the guidelines and whoever doesn't want to use the USB-stick, can just log and move the trackable anyways.
GermanSailor
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What is a bearing of 4000 mils?
225°
4000 / 6400 * 360
Mils is based on a 6.400 graduation.
GermanSailor
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baaah what happened to basic math skills? don't people learn about degrees, minutes and seconds in school any more?
What a helpful comment!
GermanSailor
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it's not mandatory! maybe for you personally, but not for other people. if somebody doesn't want to log any DNFs at all, acknowledge the fact that you disagree with them, but at the same time there's also nothing wrong with what they chose to do.
Yes, that's what I meant. TO ME a DNF is mandatory. Maybe because that's how I, as an owner of several caches, found out that one was missing.
Of course I don't want you to tell other people what to do.
If it is okay not to log DNFs at all is a different topic. I don't have the consumer mentality. Find, find, find, but never hide and never tell that something might need some attention. DNF logs do that - in my opinion.
But again: That's just my opinion, you have every right to differ.
GermanSailor
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I am wondering what a cheap handheld GPS for a beginner.
Thanks.
The Etrex H is really good and quite cheap. Also the retail value on ebay is just amazing.
It would be nice if you could offer more details:
- What do you want? (maps, routing, USB-connection, paperless caching)
- Were do you live? (USA, Europe, ???) prices differ
- What is "cheap" for you? Are you the sultan of Brunei or living of welfare?
GermanSailor
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That happens quite often.
You can:
- just drop the trackable, but write down the number, or even take a photo.
- drop it and attach a note, explaining the situation.
- keep the trackable until you had a chance to log it online.
Everything is fine as long as the trackable is moving and doesn't get lost!
GermanSailor
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So my question is this: Do you log a DNF even if youre coming right back? If so, do you log every time you revisit or just edit your first log? And finally, if caching is REALLY "not about the numbers", why do people care about OTHER PEOPLE'S DNF count?
If I don't find a geocache I log a DNF.
If I don't find it again the next day or quite soon, I don't log a DNF, but write an email to the owner and describe what happened and where I failed. Usually I get some help, recently I even got a phone number and chatted to a very friendly owner from Dresden.
I completely agree with you that there is no point in highjacking the online log by multiple DNFs. But at least one DNF is mandatory. Maybe the cache isn't there any more. DNFs are very important for the owner to find out that a non-scheduled maintenance might be necessary.
GermanSailor
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I notice that when some cachers log the log entry has the cache find# and other automagically generated information such as find date and time.
Which application(s) are they using to do this?
I have GSAK... could that be used to help?
Thanks in advance,
MrA
Please don't just log with a script! Write an individual, fair and meaningful log. What's the point of logs like:
?# 324 10-12-09 09:24 AM John DoeOwners generally put some effort into hiding and maintaining their caches. It's just respectful to put some effort into a found it log. If you, on the other hand, want to express that there was no effort at all on the onwners side, then log as short as possible. "+1" or all the 4 letter abbreviations come to mind.
To answer your question: Some logs state that the software by Trimble puts in that information. How would GSAK know at what time you have been at the cache?
GermanSailor
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I just completed a number of hikes in Chile & Argentina that I would really like to know the elevation gain for. Does anyone know of a program that you can calculate the elevation gain from by using the GPS tracks?
Thanks
There is a freeware tool called GPS Track-Analayse. It seems, it's only in German, but it does what you need.
GermanSailor
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Recently had a Puzzle cache to solve and the answer to the puzzle was that I had to email the cache owner with a codeword to get the co-ordinates for the cache. Is this an allowed procedure for a puzzle cache?
No, it's not allowed. Even offering the option to write to an autoresponder email as one of four options to get / verify the final coords was rejected by a local reviewer here in Germany.
GermanSailor
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I logged it in as grabbed but then a friend told me I should wait until the previous person logs it so I deleted my log. Now it shows the TB is in my hands, but not where it came from.
If you grabbed a trackable online, it is in your inventory untill you or someone less logs it again. Deleting your grab-log doesn't affect this.
Best thint to do is:
1. Grab the TB from current holder.
2. Write a note on the geocache where you fount the TB, and drop it there.
3. Delete this note.
4. Log a "retrieved-it" for the TB
By doing so, the TB's online journey reflects the actual situation.
GermanSailor
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Is there a way to turn off the compass? or stop using that screen and do the over head map view zoomed in.
Manual page 3 for the paper version, page 7 on the linked pdf.
Press and hold the quit/page key turns the compass on or off. It's the lower button on the right side of the unit.
GermanSailor
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I am new to this. I had my first find today. It was fun. My wife and enjoyed it. We ride horses and were wondering if there are any to do in the eqestrian frendly forest preserves in northern Illinois
Living in Germany I can't help you of course.
Why don't you hide some equestrian-friendly caches yourself?
I did it here in Germany, event put a 10 Euro voucher in for the first-to-find with a horse. Only to find out that there are not to many horseback riding geocachers around.
GermanSailor
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I found a geocoin in a cache yesterday and it has not been logged on the site so it still says in hands of previous user. I plan on waiting another day or two before I log it but how do I log it if they never do? My only options are discovered, grabbed from user, or write note.
1. Grab it from current holder
2. Write a note at the cache where you picked up the coin and drop the coin there.
3. Pick up the coin from said cache.
Or you can just grab the coin, but by doing so, the mileage is screwed up.
GermanSailor
What IS Geocaching? What validates your participation?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
Geocaching to me means:
- finding nice geocaches in a nice place
- having a destination to go after a hard day at work or at a new place
- finding out about places I would have never visited without geocaching
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- hiding geocaches so others have fun
- realizing ideas to provide above average geocaches
Best thing about posting in forums is to help people, especially with questions which can't be answered by simply using a bit of google or reading the manual. Every now an then such questions appear.
GermanSailor