Brown Dwarf

The idea looked good in theory to me -- but I found it hard to manage waypoints. Mapping software was also an issue. One way to go: use the Palm to store a gazillion nearby cache descriptions -- and use a standard GPS to handle the actual cache finding.

quote:do i need a topo map? compass? i would appreciate your help so i can make the gift complete...thanks! Depends on the cache. I'm a minimalist. For easy caches within a few minutes of the car, all I really use is a compass and a spare set of batteries. A good map of the streets of the area is also helpful. As for the longer list, think of the things you'd take on a hike of two or three hours, mostly a bit of food, water, spare jacket. A pocket first aid kit with bandaids, a tube of antibiotic goop, ibuprofen, and antihistamines gets me through almost anything. Everyone has individual preferences and needs; yours will emerge as you do a few caches. Start small and add the "I wish I had" items as they occur to you -- but avoid trying to carry the contents of your local camping store. Ain't no fun to be a Sherpa. Best, BD

quote:If I wanted to use the compass together with my GPS V, I think I have to set my V to auto magnetic north instead of true north so that they will be pointing to the same "north". Is this correct? Assuming your Silva can be adjusted for declination, you could set both the Garmin and the Silva to give you either magnetic or true readings. Which to use, magnetic or true? There are arguments on both sides. Some caches give bearings in either true or magnetic. Your life will be a little easier if you are working in the same system. Otherwise, imho, it don't really make a lot of difference, although there are those who will disagree. Better to spend your time hunting. Best, BD

You won't go far wrong with a Silva Ranger -- or any similar model that lets you correct for local declination.

quote:Originally posted by Yehaah:How do I convert the following coordinates to those i need on geocache.com? Latitude: 77° 41 Min.30 Sec. Longitude: 14° 48 Min. 00 Sec. 1) Where -- roughly -- is the cache? I ask because your coordinates suggest it is far north and far east, at least with respect to the US. Could your coordinates be wrong? 2) More generally, coordinates give the locations of specific points -- and datums are reference frameworks. What I think you want to do is change the _format_ of your coordinates to match the geocaching.com standard. You can do it -- as suggested -- by hand. You can also set both the coordinate format and the datum under the options or preferences part of the menu on your GPS. Hope this helps. Good hunting.

"I actually see more posts of people Whining about whiners, like this one. " After doing this for almost a year, I've noticed that most of what we're seeing is just "old whine in new bottles".

quote:other fields on my etrex include course, speed, turn, velocity,... if anywone can tell me what they have found to be the most useful, i would really appreciated it. On the map screen, I've found "Track Up" to be a easier to interpret than "North Up", which is the default -- especially in the car. With Track Up, where you are headed is at the top of the screen. If where you want to go is on the right of the screen; turn right, and so on. If you are operating in a metric country -- like Canada -- you'll find switching to metric units helps a lot, particularly with speed. Not fun to get bagged for speeding while you are running down a cache. And I prefer switching the compass reading from "Magnetic" to "True" -- but this wouldn't be a good idea unless you are using a compass that can be corrected for declination. The cheaper ones cannot

quote:Originally posted by N8GFL/N8JCM:Is it acceptable to use UTM ? All my maps and charts are military. Acceptable? What's that? Whatever works for you is acceptable. And note that the cache pages carry the UTM location, as well as lat/lon. But be careful that the map datum is WGS84, as opposed to NAD27 -- or you'll have major problems. The datum should be noted somewhere in the small print at the bottom.

quote:Is there a way to see all the caches around a lat/lon on a single map? Yup, sure is -- at least if you upload a bunch of waypoints directly to your GPS. Lots of mapping software will link to your GPS. Download the waypoints to the software and they'll show up on the map. Clumsy, but it works.

I've had good luck with an old Garmin 12XL, which will only indicate distance down to one hundreth of a mile, about fifty feet. What with other possible errors, I may have to look in a circle of about seventy-five feet in diameter. Too big to search, yes -- so here's where you have to start thinking like a cacher. Even though the circle may be large, there are only a few places where something the size of a cache could be hidden. Look for traces left by other hunters. Look for sticks piled in an unnatural way. This doesn't help? Use the clue shamelessly; that's why it's there. To tune your eye, you may want to do a handful of easy caches first. As you acquire THE FORCE, move up to harder ones. I'm still embarrassed by how long it took me to find my first one -- and by how easily I still overlook some easy ones. But that's what makes it fun.

As others have noted, the V memory _is_ limited. The problem is compounded by how slow it is to load maps. As I understand it, adding even one new map to the V requires reloading the entire set, a process that takes better than an hour on my machine. OK, if you are spending most of your time in one area, but ..........

We've been happy with the Garmin V Deluxe package. No more nonsense with separate unlock codes for different regions. I'd put a Lowe active antenna on top to get better reception. We got it just before a week touring the Olympic Penn. Performed flawlessly, giving us a great route from Canada directly to our hotel in Seattle, getting us around Seattle, and getting us to our hotels along the way. Well worth a look. Strengths: 1) Very good maps of the whole US and some key parts of Canada; 2) Good database of points of interest, including restaurants and motels. [We are often out puttering around -- and use it to find a good place to eat nearby.] 3) Autorerouting when you accidently -- or deliberately -- don't follow the suggested route. Although I still prefer the Garmin 12XL for fieldwork, the V is far more helpful in the car

quote:Is it possible to download the Track Logs and get the time/date stamp and coordinates from each update? If so, is this available using any of the readily available software for Geocachers (EasyGPS, ExpertGPS, etc.)? Yup, sure is. Just did it with a Garmin 12XL and GPS Utility [shareware]. Also gives velocity. Just think of the possibilities.

Anybody got a good way to delete a bunch of waypoints at a pop? At five keystrokes per waypoint, cleaning out 200 of the little fellows isn't going to be fun. Thanks.

quote:Originally posted by Bonzi:1) I was wondering how the gpsr's reference north. Do they only use true north? 2) Can they be set to give bearings in magnetic north? If so do they caculate the declination for the area your in? 3) I would think it awful handy for the unit to give bearings in magnetic north so that one could just follow the compass without any further thought of the declination. Bonzi 1) The Garmins seem to come from the factory set to show magnetic north. As noted by others, you can have your GPS give you either True or Magnetic North. 2) The GPS "know" the declination for wherever they are. For caching purposes, the GPS declination is plenty adequate. 3) There are differences of opinion on whether it's better to use True or Magnetic North. If your compass doesn't have the capability to adjust the declination, use Magnetic. You can adjust the better [read "more expensive"] compasses to give you True North, which I prefer because most of the clues and offsets are given in True, rather than in Magnetic. Others prefer working with Magnetic bearings and headings. As long as you can convert from one to the other as needed, it really doesn't make much difference which you use as a basis

quote:Originally posted by Magnus2003:Does anyone know a really good website, tutorial, book etc. to help a newbie out with navigational information. Patience. You really don't have to learn it all at once. Might want to go for the basics first, and then add on as necessary. Go for a few 1/1 caches in your area. All you need to know is how to put the coordinates into your GPS and hit the GOTO button. When those are getting pretty routine, move up to harder caches. Keep pushing the envelope, yes -- but don't let yourself get overwhelmed to where the hunt isn't fun any more. If you have a cable to hook your GPS to a computer, the free EasyGPS software would make your life a lot easier. quote:Also a little confused bout how to subtract/add the clues into the coordinates. I'm not sure what you have in mind here. Clues and coordinates are generally independent of each other. If you phrase your question a tad differently, maybe someone could offer a suggestion or two. Good hunting

quote:Where Can I get this "GPS Utility"? Try this link: http://www.gpsu.co.uk/ One of its advantages is that it supports a variety of file formats for input and output. You can also geo-reference your own scanned map to your own waypoints. I've had good luck with it.

quote:How can I make the gps screen read the real cache names. If you _really_ want to do it, you can use one of the GPS shareware utilities -- I like GPS Utility -- to move the data to a Excel file, and swap columns around. Save it as a .dbf file; open it with GPS Utility; and send it back to your GPS. Most of us just learn to live with the GCxxxx names.

quote:Also, if I'm visiting a particular mountain or hiking area how can I determine if there's a cache there? Use the geocache.com Search and enter the latitude and longitude of the place you plan to visit. Don't have the coordinates? Some maps will have lat/lon printed along the edges. Using these scales you can make an estimate good enough to tell you if there are any caches nearby.

........ I was way off trail, rummaging around in the brush, looking for a cache. Heard a noise, looked up, and there was this woman walking toward me, with a crazed look in her eye, and carrying something in her right hand. I was getting a bit worried -- until I saw it was a Street Pilot III. [This message was edited by Brown Dwarf on January 16, 2003 at 08:54 PM.]

If you race out to be ftf on a newly listed local cache ....... ............ and realize it's exactly where another cache -- by another owner -- used to be. This really happened to me this afternoon. Yes, of course I logged it.

"I would say this sport is growing exponentially." Maybe we should start archiving off some of our not-so-clever hides? And the hides where hunters have worn a furrow to the box. At this rate, the the PNW will be knee deep in caches in a year or two. But seriously, the quality of the caches does seem to be improving. Anyone else noticed that?

1) Archived caches still show as finds. As I understand it, anyone who has already logged your cache will also still be able to read the cache details -- but they won't show up on lists of "nearest caches". As time goes by, you will see "no longer available" pop up on some caches you've logged. This means that the owner has archived them -- or pulled them temporarily. 2) You have two options: archive and temporarily disable. The first is permanent -- and the second -- obviously -- temporary. It's good if you've pulled a cache for maintenence -- but will be putting it back soon. 3) As for the list part of your question, I think the answer is that listed caches still show up on your cache page -- but you also still have access to the unlisted ones. Just takes another step to see them

....... a few of my favorite finds, just to see if others enjoyed them as much as I did.

Two ideas have come up in recent days. Doubt that I'm the first to think of them, so count these as votes, rather than a claim for originality. 1) Put a "Last Revised" field on the cache page. Sometimes folks add/revise clues and so on. Hard to know you have the latest version unless there is some date to check. 2) Put a "See Forum Posts" field on the profile page. [it's already there if you go to the profile from a forum note -- but it doesn't seem to be there if you come in from a cache description.