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Ragnemalm

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Posts posted by Ragnemalm

  1. We just got started on making 3D printed geocaches, including our own designs. (I have owned an M3D for a long time, but now I have an Ender-3 which is much better and that got me started, finally.) The latest is a Corona virus. Just in time. :)

     

    So far, I have focused on PETG for caches and PLA for other things, but one cache is PLA, painted. Any expericences on how well that would work in the long run?

  2. On 3/6/2020 at 8:53 AM, Tungstène said:

     

    I have good news! WhereYouGo has been taken over by a brand new team of developers and they released 7 hours ago a test version to their beta-testers. Up to now, feedback is really great. So I'm confident that WhereYouGo's functionalities will be back soon.

     

    You are perfectly right! After the latest update, it works again! :)

  3. There are many answers to your question. Really, anything beyond a plain regular with a standard container in an ordinary location.

    My most popular caches have various bonus problems to solve, either trad with a trick to find the log book, or a multi with a field puzzle at the start/intermediate stages.

    My two most popular ones are 4-stage multis with rather easy but often very special field puzzles in each stage, including a stage where you need to use a flashlight to illuminate some sensors. The next after them is a birdhouse with a hidden log book. Then, a Wherigo with hidden locations so you need to search for the zones according to clues, and then a somewhat special final. But my personal favourite is not as often found, it is a rather tricky electronic cache in a tree, so you need to climb up (just a few meters) in order to reach it and then solve it up there.

    In my search for ways to make fun caches, I have very much turned to multi caches with field puzzles. They are not found as often but they are much more popular than traditionals in terms of  of FPs. Of course, you need to figure out different puzzles for each.

    • Helpful 1
  4. On 11/19/2016 at 1:57 AM, paulio10 said:

    1. install WhereYouGo app on your android phone

    2. go to settings, and enter your account information to the Wherigo web site (login & pw)

    3. Install c:geo app on phone

    4. Configure it with your geocaching login & pw, make it work, basically

    5. in c:geo, click "Search". Enter the GC code of the Wherigo geocache you want to experience.

    6. swipe right to get to the description of the Wherigo cache.

    7. scroll to the Wherigo cartridge link, and click it.

    8. your phone will ask what app you want to send that link to, choose the Wherigo app!

    9. Wherigo will now launch, and figure out the long hex code of the cartridge you want to install.

    10. let Wherigo install the cartridge.

     

    Has something changed for the worse? Step 2 does not work, I enter the login/password, but there is no confirmation on it to be correct. (It is correct though.) When I get to #10 and try to install, it signals that it is downloading for a while (Connection.... Logging in... downloading...), and then it reports an error ("Downloading: Error") with no further information.

     

    Is this some configuration/compatibility problem of mine or do others have the same problem?

  5. 16 hours ago, on4bam said:

     

    Yes it is.

    There was a time you could log a cache more than once but no more. Good thing.

    There was a time you could "find" your own cache but no more. Good thing.

    Now why would you re-log a cache? You don't have to find it but merely so to GZ and write your name in the log again. What's the challenge for that?

    If it's a multi, would you go and "find" all stages again or just go to the final coordinates? If directly to the cache, why re-log a multi?

    If it's a Mystery, do you re-solve it?

    If you "found them all" ( (c) some other game) why not travel further from home? If that's not possible why not place one or more caches?

     

    Our count is getting close to 10000 and we still have 1800+ unfound caches in a 20Km radius, 120+ within 5Km. No need to re-visit anything.

     

     

    As was noted above, I started a similar thread. I insist that rewarding "re-visits" would be beneficial. My idea was to have a special "re-visit" log type, which must happen at least one year (or maybe even more) after your first visit and only once per cache or once per X years. It is very likely that something has changed during that time which makes the re-visit interesting.

     

    Why would this be interesting and a good thing?

    • Caches would get visited more often. When a cache isn't visited in years, the CO loses interest in it and won't check it out any more - nobody seems to care.
    • Re-visiting a good cache is in my experience something nice. I logged it three years ago, let's see if it is still there, and how well I remember it! I am already doing it, logging as "note", but few others do.
    • Cachers have something to do without travelling far. Driving 100km for finding a few petlings because you can't find anything nearby, that is not something I want to do too often. When I have another reason to travel, fine, but burning fuel for a few caches and spending time in a car instead of walking... no, not every day. Not everyone has many unfound nearby.

    Give me a reason to go out in the forest, that's the important thing. Much of my caching today is about maintaining my own caches. That's also revisiting. Why should a cacher who is not a cache owner not have that reason for exercise? Give them a cache type for that to encourage this beneficial behaviour.

     

    As with all geocaching, you could ignore the option if you want to, if it is not relevant for you. But for me it is.

    • Helpful 1
  6. It occurs to me that using a special program on the phone is not legal for virtuals. At least I don't think it is. That is an additional requirement for virtuals that would be against the rules, so a different type, adventure lab or Wherigo, is needed for adding that possibility. Or changing the rules.

     

    That sounds like an argument for a different type. But do we need a new type for it? I think it could fit into Wherigo or mystery.

  7. On 2/7/2020 at 11:55 AM, Isonzo Karst said:

    @Ragnemalm

    You can email a local reviewer with GC Code and get a listing unarchived - this assumes you are going to use it, and there's enough formatting to be worth saving.

     

    Really? AFAIK the reviewers are instructed to only unarchive archived listings for things like accidental archiving (due to hitting the wrong button on the smartphone) or other reasons that are mistakes or misunderstandings, but never for a listing archived because of inactivity from a CO. (This was possible in the past but not any more.) Does that not apply for unpublished caches? I have had a few unpublished listings archived because it took too much time and considered the listing dead.

     

    The question of unarchiving published caches is a question in itself but not relevant here. But it has some interest.

  8. I have similar thoughts. I have been offered to make an Adventure Lab, but as far as I can see, it is very similar to a Virtual and/or a Wherigo. And a little bit of Turf.

     

    I made a Virtual last year and I didn't do it well. It isn't popular, and I still can't figure out why. Now I don't want to repeat that mistake with an Adventure Lab. What do people like in Adventure Labs? Is it very common, and desirable, to connect the Adventure Lab with a bonus mystery cache? Is it just location, location, location like with Virtuals?

     

    Concerning the question of stages above, virtuals, too, can have stages, require multiple locations to be visited, and that seems to be my mistake with my virtual. I tried to make it funny, I should have made it long since people remember the long ones (naturally, with multiple interesting locations). Multis have multiple stages, Wherigos have multiple stages (often painfully many) so of course an Adventure Lab can have multiple stages.

     

    But there is one thing I can make with a Wherigo that I don't know if Adventure Labs can do: Customization. You can tweak Wherigos quite a bit. I havn't gotten started with Adventure Labs yet so forgive me for being ignorant, but I hope that Adventure Labs can at least have hidden stages. Right?

     

    So, any advice you can give me is welcome. I am trying to come up with a decent idea before the time runs out.

  9. On 1/29/2020 at 7:24 PM, bflentje said:

    1. A cache owner agrees to take on the responsibility. Why should the rest of us have an obligation.

    2. I find about 1250 caches a year. If I carried materials and stopped and repaired EVERY cache that needed it, that's all I'd be doing.

     

    When I was a younger and a newer cacher I used to have the same ideals. I'd carry baggies, logs, pencils, toys, until I realized I was footing the bill and wasting my time on things that others had an obligation to. My weapon is now NM and NA. It works for me. You do what works for you.

     

    1. I thought we agreed that the thread was about encouragement, not obligation.

    2. It is no big effort to me to have a few emergency logs (the far ends of the paper when I cut my logs, they go there instead of trashing them) in my wallet and two or three petling caps in my pocket when going out caching (put aside when I put a PET bottle in the recycling bin). The trick in IMHO to do the small and easy things that helps. Saving these emergency logs is as easy as putting them in the trash. The petling caps almost so. I won't always be able to fix every cache that needs it, but I can handle the easy ones.

    • Upvote 1
  10. I frequently repurpose planned caches. I have a location, and an idea... and then I decide it wasn't good enough, or too much work, or too hard to get to, or I submit and it collides with a mystery. (Happens all the time.) If the idea felt good but has to wait, I print the whole page to a PDF to save the text and details, and then edit the page to what I want to do first.

     

    I have got some unfinished caches archived (by HQ, I think) because I was too slow. That hurts, but the problem was that I showed no signs of progress or planning in too long time.

  11. On 1/24/2020 at 1:37 AM, BethDaddyKaty said:

    I would say a cache container is like the "signature" of a CO. As such I wouldn't appreciate being given a container with the *expectation* I should hide it.

     

    I understand the conflict. I would say that there is a certain difference between expectation and encouragement but it is also easy to confuse them.

     

    A related encouragement is that of encouraging cache maintenance. A friend of one made a "cache maintenance stash" with some items useful for maintaining caches (like log books and pencils) - with the undertones that we can help each other with cache maintenance. That is also not allowed according to the rules, but is there any real reason for it?

  12. 14 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

    My cache with the lowest Wilson score is GC6647D (1.91%). It's had 38 finds since I hid it in 2015 and received only 2 FPs, so nowhere near as popular as your virtual, but it gets some nice logs like this one:

    It's one I'm quite fond of, located in what I think is an interesting spot with a themed container designed to give a chuckle, and has never needed any maintenance (other than replacing a missing pencil) in the five years it's been there. It's provided some happiness and entertainment for the locals and visitors to the area, so what more can one ask? I'd much rather find a cache like this than a needle-in-a-haystack micro in muggle central with a weather-beaten container and soggy log.

     

    Caching isn't meant to be a competition, for hiders or finders, and in any measure someone's always going to be first and someone else last, but does it really matter? Just putting a smile on someone's face is reward enough.

     

    Nice logs do count in the cache's favor, but they are harder to quantify. It isn't a competition, but the FPs is the only measure I have of whether a cache is enjoyable or not, which is important. Also, as CO I judge some of my caches as good even of the ratings are not so good. But I often question them and try to improve them. Why are they less popular, what can I do about it?

     

    And then, of course, there are many inofficial competitions, like FTFs, most founds, challenges etc. But there are so many things you can have as speciality, so we can all make our own niche.

  13.  

    9 hours ago, JohnCNA said:

    One of my friends had this to say on Facebook today. I don't understand the logic and wonder what the back story about this might be. He's not a power trail hider, so it's puzzling. 

     

    PSA: I learned something new (to me) last night. Groundspeak doesn't want us to encourage others to place geocaches. I submitted a new cache which is stocked with ready made caches and in the description suggested people take one and place it. Not allowed.

     

    I would call this an error from the reviewer, or an error in the rules.

     

    1) The cache encouraged finders to place their own. Suggested. It did not require it. Not a requirement, not an ALR.

    2) How can geocaching be a disallowed agenda for geocaches??? Isn't the "agenda" rule to avoid propaganda for irrelevant activities? Besides, there are thousands of caches with agendas only in my region! Have you ever seen a mystery about a rock band? Of course it wants to promote the band! Or yet another online jigsaw with a photo of a nice tourist location? Agendas, agendas, just as strong as this. This rule needs to be clarified and focused on the actual problem it wants to solve.

  14. 9 hours ago, colleda said:

    I liked it, sounded like fun. Sadly I'm not close enough to do it.

     

    Thanks! Sorry for whining, I am tired. Much work.

     

    The Wilson score is my measure of popularity (together with nice logs), not the number of finds. I would rather want to make caches that are not necessarily found often but are entertaining than dull ones that are just yet another find among many. No, I don't mind that others go for quantity, that's their preference and diversity is an important strength of this hobby.

  15. On 1/15/2020 at 5:40 PM, hzoi said:

     

    Really?  It's less than three months old and only has 51 finds, and you're already bored with it?  That's really unfortunate. I imagine there are hundreds of geocachers that would have loved the chance to place a virtual cache that would be enduringly meaningful to them.

     

    It is Sweden's second worst, in Wilson score. I thought it was funny and different, but seeing it in the absolute bottom, that means it was not a good idea at all and not fun. 51 finds is more than enough to be statistically significant. It is less popular than count-windows-virtuals! I want to make caches that visitors like.

     

    It is really hard to know what will be popular and what will not. Mine is probably too easy, since I was not allowed to demand what I wanted to make it interesting. My guess is that you need to make it really long with multiple (interesting?) locations to make it popular.

    • Helpful 1
  16. On 1/10/2020 at 4:33 PM, Vooruit! said:

    Nice to see this topic return. Here are my goals, though nothing set in stone of course:

    • Fill the D/T grid for the 28th, 29th and 30th time. Only 7 caches in total needed for that, shouldn't be that big of a problem.
    • ...
    • Wishful thinking, but: complete the Jasmer grid! Will have to visit Sweden for this one.

     

    I am still working on the second round on the D/T. High T is not a problem, the big problems are high D. I can solve that with jigsaw mysts, but that feels like cheating, it is trivial, just takes time. But where can I then find a 5/3 or a 4.5/5? They are rare and extremely hard, like unsolvable mysteries or descending down *very* high cliffs with a rope (meaning working a whole day with multiple descents for a DNF...). Maybe high D are unusually hard here?

     

    Sweden? Can it possibly be Match Stash or Americana?

  17. In my area, there has been a series of events with FTF hunts after the event for caches that are at the time unpublished, scheduled to be published in the night after the event. All attendants are given a link to a file with information about the new caches, and once they have the information, the whole gang sets off for FTF hunt. That means that FTF on the new caches are reserved for attendants!

     

    This is perfectly legal, but the local FTF hunters don't like it. They are locked out from FTFs if they don't attend the event, and an FTF hunt with 20 people isn't much of an achievement.

     

    FTF is a matter of agreement of inofficial rules. It is a pity when people disagree on them but that is hard to avoid.

    • Love 1
  18. On 1/1/2020 at 2:19 AM, SwineFlew said:

    I am a pink pig.  Happy now? 

     

    And I am a yellow cheese :)and that's all I want people to know. Age, sex, color of my skin... who cares?

     

    In this hobby, what counts is that I try to be polite to others and be ready to take criticism. Also, to never ever get a cache archived by a reviewer nor be left in the forest after archiving, and to make caches that are better than average. So far it works pretty well.

    • Upvote 1
  19. On 12/28/2019 at 7:30 AM, SwineFlew said:

    Stop geocaching.  

     

    I decided that in 2016, but when I felt that my body protested over too little exercise after a week of two, it gave me two choices: Go out and find some fairly tough cache, or find some other means of exercise. I took a reflex trail cache, pretty long and hard, and immediately felt better.

  20. On 12/19/2019 at 12:32 AM, JL_HSTRE said:

    Over two dozen logs (mostly Notes) on the cache page in three hours. This cache page needs to be configured to only allow Finds. Unwatching.

     

    It must be very tempting to post a "will attend"-style log to something like this. I mean, we log "will attend" to events, so a similar log on this feels natural, although not very desirable.

     

    I can mention here, instead, that this will be a snap to log, since I will be part of arranging a Mega in september. No problem finding Signal there! Well, as long as I don't have to wear the costume myself of course! (That could be an interesting log picture.)

  21. On 12/26/2019 at 5:40 AM, ecanderson said:

    @31BMSG

    Regarding power use.  If you supply your own power, there's no need to keep the logic alive 24/7, even if a lower power design is employed.  A single 'start' button push (tied to the power source) can be used to either enable the logic by supplying power to the board (if you can get it booted fast enough) or instead, a small latching circuit that will keep the power to the board enabled through a 5V SSR until the board logic or a timer circuit  resets the latch to drop out the SSR and open the entire circuit from power (except for the 'start' button).  That may already be old hat for you, but if not, it's one way to increase your battery life dramatically.  All the battery has to do is keep the logic live long enough to deal with the puzzle, plus one high current but very short shot to the solenoid to pop open the door. 

     

    Absolutely.. A clearly marked "on/off" switch takes care of this.

     

    On 12/26/2019 at 5:40 AM, ecanderson said:

    Rechargeable lithium ion and standard lead-acid cells really do NOT like to be discharged deeply,  NiMH (and NiCd, if you can still find them) has one of the fastest self-discharge rates.  Lead types and lithium ion hold their charge longer. Lithium ion loses about 5% in the first 24 hours, but drops to 1~2% per month after that, making it a good candidate for longer term use between charges.  A factory fresh lead acid loses about 5% per month.  Both of the nickel chemistries (with some notable exceptions designed to minimize self-discharge as a trade off for total capacity [e.g., Eneloops])  lose 10~15% in the first 24 hours, then another 10~15% per month.

     

    I mostly use Li-Ion, but one cache is powered by a 9V alkaline. All of them hold their charge for months, and I mean many months.

    I was surprised that this was so easy. I thought the outdoors moisture would kill the battery in a matter of days, but it just runs and runs. Of course, there are no connectors exposed to the outside, everything is inside the box, but the box is not super tight.

     

    I also have one powered by a power bank, as Tungstène mentioned. This was not without problems though; with simple power banks it works just fine, but smarter power banks detect that too little power is drained from my low power circuit so it turns off! I had to add an extra resistor just to waste some energy!

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