KSJohn
-
Posts
35 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by KSJohn
-
-
Kind of a dumb question in this day and age, but when was the last time the satelites were scrambled or turned off to cause the GPS units we all use to be inaccurate? I remember when I bought my first GPS in about 1998, it had accuracy to 200 feet or so.
-
I have been thinking of getting a PDA.
What is a good one to get in this day & age. Am prepared to spend $300-$400 on one.
Lets here your recommendations.
I will be using mainly for addresses, notes while on the road. In doing some looking online, there are a lot of choices. The one I am using now is a Garmin IQue 3600, but the gps has quit working and I have not contacted Garmin yet to see if they will fix it or not. I really liked the garmin while on the road and getting around someplace new, as long as I had the street address in it ahead of time. Are there any of the new ones out now that have the gps?
-
Ya, I know, look at the post below with 200 replys. I know I need to contact the Rolla, MO office for my area, I also know it is in this topic somewhere. After looking thru 3 pages worth of posts, I give up.
In a nutshell can someone sticky a post that goes thru the what & who I need to contact and what info to ask for to get the info needed to start looking for the USGS marks?? It can't be that hard to do and would be so helpful for everyone.
-
Ya, I know, look at the post below with 200 replys. I know I need to contact the Rolla, MO office for my area, I also know it is in this topic somewhere. After looking thru 3 pages worth of posts, I give up.
In a nutshell can someone sticky a post that goes thru the what & who I need to contact and what info to ask for to get the info needed to start looking for the USGS marks?? It can't be that hard to do and would be so helpful for everyone.
-
Ok, just got a copy of National Geographic "Topo Outdoor Recreation Mapping" software for the area I live. This program is put together using USGS 7 1/2 maps. In scrolling around the area I find BM X. In pulling up the NGS benchmarks for my area, there are some showing on the map that are not included in this list.
My big question is -- Is there a place that I can look using the coordinates, that will show whos benchmark this is, as in NGS or USGS or other?
Also where can I get a list of the USGS marks for the area I live?
Thanks in advance.
-
While on vacation this year, I wanted to try and climb this hill to find this benchmark.
Have been going to this area for 40+ years for summer vacation. Have always wondered about the building on top. Finally got brave enough to try the climb this year. Where you park to start the climb is at 12,300' and from there to the building is 1/2 mile (as the crow flies). Was a great day, a little hazy. Got to the top and could see for miles. Could see the town of Pitkin to the south, the town of Tincup to the north and Taylor Res. and Union Park further to the north. What I thought was haze was actually smoke from a fire on the UT-CO border so all distant pictures are really hard to make out.
For a bit of history, the building was built in 1910 under the direction of William Kreutzer who is noted as being the very first Forest Ranger. The building was used as a fire lookout station until 1914. Seems the building was known for attracting lightning strikes and finding workers to stay up there was next to impossible. The building is still in good shape except for some holes (said to be from lightning).
-
You can use it. Have to use the GPSbabel program. I have both a Garmin GPSMap 76CSx and a Magellan XL. Have the MapSourse (garmin) and MapSend (Mag.) and for this summers vacation so far I have about 400 miles worth of trails for riding the ATV on. Magellan doesn't let you build a track like the Garmin program does so I built the track on Garmin program and sent it to the Magellan program using Babel. Learned about this on the ATV site I go to.
-
I also use the Lobster "Shrimp" mount on my ATV. Have one for the XL and another for the 76CSx. To me the Lobster is a better setup than the Ram, but that is just my opinion. I really like the part where you can use the cradle to hold the GPS while doing data transfer to the computer.
I am not real sure they are still in business. I know after getting mine and then doing a review of them on the ATV site that I go to, someone asked for the web address. When I went to get it for them all product information had been removed and all it showed was where you could buy them from. I later found a write up that "Ram" had sued them over patent infringement or something.
-
I haven't tried it yet but in my pen making, the final sanding is done with a product called "Micro Mesh" which is supposedly used by the airlines to remove scratches from the plexiglass windshields in jets.
The coursest grit is about the same as 300 or sandpaper and the smoothest is about like a sheet of copy paper. If you have a Woodcraft store near you, I believe they carry it (darn CRS, seems like that is where I got mine). Or if you know someone that makes pens from wood they will have some. Its not like you are going to ruin it, just ask if you can use it for a couple minutes.
-
I had a Vista that I had used for years. Got into ATV'ing a year ago and with the Vista on the ATV, I would have to stop to be able to read the screen. After getting back from vacation last year I bought an XL as there were some good reviews on it on the ATV Forum I go to. With the screen being almost exactly 2X as big as the Vista, this thing is a really nice unit to use while on the ATV. Then in january I bought a Garmin Map76CSx.
Keep in mind I have NOT used either one of these for Geocaching yet.
In comparing them. The XL has the biggest screen, very easy to use. Probably easier to navigate thru the screens than the Garmins are. Battery life is great. With the MapSend program on the puter, when you download a track from the GPS, you can actually play it back (like a video, which it shows your speed from point to point). Downside is the MapSend program does not allow you to build a track. You have to take a point from their existing "sample" track and then edit a track from there. Supposedly if the XL is used for Geocaching and you transfer the points in they can not be removed. Never tried this to see.
The Garmin Map76CSx is a very nice unit. Battery life is about the same as the XL (but only 2 instead of the 4 in XL). The 76CSx comes already set up with more things on it. Some of these I see no need for as they will never get used by me. As far as the MapSource program, very easy to use. For what I use the gps for (mostly on the ATV) I like to map out tracks that I hope to ride while on vacation the Garmin program is much easier to use.
Ok, both have color screen. In my opinion the XL is easier to see in bright sunlight. The XL has larger font size than the 76CSx.
The XL is about a 1/4" taller and maybe 1/8" wider than the 76CSx.
Both units will acquire a good lock on sat. while I am setting at my computer in the house. Both will also keep a lock if they are already on and I carry them inside at work (metal roof). Sat. lock time is about the same on both units.
On the front of the XL it has 8 buttons, 76CSx has 9 (XL power button is on side). The pan button on the XL is similar to the Vista. The pan button on the 76CSx is the bigger diameter deal that in my opinion is spaced to close to the surrounding buttons.
Over all I would give both of these units a big thumbs up.
Hopefully this will help someone in future decisions on the 2 units.
-
NO NO I'm not in the Denver area. It is my cousin that is involved with it. For the life of me I cant remember what kind of job he has. I know the cousin that I talked to is a map maker for National Geographic doing the Trails Illistrated maps.
-
Has anyone seen or used one of these things. Saw one at a NRA banquet last night. This thing is HUGE. Being in a metal building I couldn't turn it on or anything. Looked at the manual (very small & very few pages).
-
Has anyone in the Denver area heard of the GPS classes that are being taught??? I just heard that a cousin of mine is involved in it but don't know anything else about it. Going by what cousin's brother told me its going over really good out there.
Will try to get more info and let everyone know.
-
As I said, I was the only one to drive the vehicle (98 Dodge Ram w/360). I'm sure it governs out around 100 somewhere (never tried it).
Just thought it was strange. Had never had errors on the max until I did the upgrade about a month ago.
-
Is it just me or has anyone else had trouble with the Max speed on their Vista?? I leave mine plugged in at all times in my pickup. Went to reset the trip computer the other day and it was showing 166 mph top speed. Reset a few days later and it was showing 142. No one but myself drove the vehicle between times and I can guarantee that I was no where close to this speed.
-
My daughter (15) wanted to use my pickup the other night. I always keep my Vista plugged in and turned on in the pickup. Well before she left I reset the trip readings. She had a 10:30 curfew. Well she made it home on time with a few min. to spare. Next morning I found out that she had put over 80 miles on and top speed was 85. Hit her up about it, her comment was she didnt want to be late. Now I need to figure out the trip log feature so I can see where all she goes next time. Had a laugh at the look on the face when I hit her up about the speeding. She said how the heck did I know.
-
Well I have searched and read thru the posts, but still no idea how to do what im after. May not be possible with Mapquest. The few I found asking about it, someone always came back with Mapblast answer.
-
Is it possible to get coordinates from the Mapquest maps.
For example: High mountain lake in Colorado, find it on Mapquest, how do you get the coordinates for that lake? The reason I ask is last month on vacation I had a map that showed 4 lakes in a wilderness area. Decided to hike up to one of them. Got close coordinates off of map, put in GPS and away we went. There were supposed to be 2 lakes on the trail that we were on. The lower of the 2 was the target. Got close with GPS but no trail to this lake. Finally found what looked like deer trail. Took it and found lake. Was one of those cases if coordinates were available from Mapquest it would probably have been more accurate than taking off of map.
TIA
John
-
Frog
in Benchmarking
I can remember a few years ago at the local fairgrounds. They were having some work done and had a surveyor there to do his thing. Not sure who's markers he was using, but on the description page he had it showed this mark to be x # of feet from a red ant hill. Well the mark was easily found and a bunch of us decided to check out the ant hill deal. The original description was from the early 50's and dang if that ant hill wasn't still there and still active.
-
Well the slow response here is still faster than what Garmin has been. Its been 3 days now, oopps cant count today since its not a working day, and still nothing from them.
It's ok though, I deleted everything and reloaded it again this morning on the computer, hooked up the GPS and low and behold it worked fine this time.
Have no clue what was wrong the other times since I didn't do anything different this time. And yes SergZak, I had printed out the update page before doing anything else and was checking it off as I went along, since I had never done this before. Knew I was doing it right when it worked on the Vista. Did the update this morning before reading the forums so didn't do the contact cleaning either.
Must just be another of those things that make ya go hmmmmmmmm.
-
You will find the range finder very helpful in finding benchmarks. My first trip out bench mark hunting was 4 of them close by my house. First 3 no problem, 4th one had no witness post as stated, was in and area recently mowed by farmer, also had signs of recent underground phone line install. Looked for a while on this one before giving up that evening. Went back next time with range finder in hand. Found it in just a few min. With the description page showing measurements in 3 different directions was very easy to narrow down without having to measure anything with a tape.
Mine is a Nikon. Usually around now Nikon runs specials where if you by theirs at regular price you get a paper to fill out for a jacket (supposed to be worth $90) and all ya pay is $10 for shipping. They have done this the past 2 years now. I think I paid about $325 or so for mine last year. And the coat is a darn good one.
-
You will find the range finder very helpful in finding benchmarks. My first trip out bench mark hunting was 4 of them close by my house. First 3 no problem, 4th one had no witness post as stated, was in and area recently mowed by farmer, also had signs of recent underground phone line install. Looked for a while on this one before giving up that evening. Went back next time with range finder in hand. Found it in just a few min. With the description page showing measurements in 3 different directions was very easy to narrow down without having to measure anything with a tape.
Mine is a Nikon. Usually around now Nikon runs specials where if you by theirs at regular price you get a paper to fill out for a jacket (supposed to be worth $90) and all ya pay is $10 for shipping. They have done this the past 2 years now. I think I paid about $325 or so for mine last year. And the coat is a darn good one.
-
Didnt know these were available until reading these posts. Have a Summit and Vista. Both of them had 3 or 4 updates available. Tried the Summit first. No luck. Unloaded everything from computer and reloaded for Vista. Worked fine. Unloaded everything from computer again and reloaded for Summit. Still nothing. Gets to Updater part and does nothing for ever. Tried calling Garmin and sat on hold for 15 - 20 mins without talking to anyone, so in listening to their message on phone (faster service available thru website) I went that route. Message I got back from them was my question should be answered in 7 - 10 working days. Does this mean I could have been waiting on hold for more than 10 days on the phone????
-
How is he informing you to pull them? Logging or emailing?
Satelite?
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
Did they get shut down on 911? I honestly cant remember and seems like I had other things on my mind at the time..