EScout

I have a card added with an extra serial port. But two ports are not enough for at least 5 serial devices I use regularly (2 GPSr, Palm, Terminal Node controller, Transceiver PTT/and interface, Yaesu ADMS programming interface, and old FSK demodulator.) Also have a switch box--easy to plug into this.

Here are some ways you can communicate with handheld radios while hiking. There are many places, even here in the Southern California Mountains where a cell phone does not reach, but I have never been to an area where I could not reach a ham repeater (most are open to all and free). In the Sierra mountains I have used a linked repeater system to reach my wife at home 300 miles away. In the local mountains, I can often reach home directly through one repeater, often 50 to 80 miles away. For pure coolness factor I demonstrate this to my Scouts in the summer: Using PocketSat on my Palm, I plot the satelites during that window from about 9:30 to 10:30 PM when it is dark, but they are reflecting the sun and visible. We then listen to the ham satelites with my handheld and sometimes make a contact. Seeing and hearing a satelite at the same time is even cool to some teenagers. God I love my gadgets. Anyway, they have made it easy to get a license: only one multiple choice test (used to be two). Handheld radios: one-band= about $100 to 150; two-band radio= $200 to 250; three-band radio= $250 to 300.

A 7" disk will fit in a small, .30 cal ammo box if the disk is tilted over. I guess you could put in a few, but not much of anything else.

Found 5 caches this morning. Wanted to finish early before the heat of the day. Still over 80° F at 4:40 PM. However, worried that the Santa Ana winds will blow fronds off of tree in yard.... Go ahead, let if fly--

Aervoe brand Camouflage Paint, by Aervoe-Pacific Co., Gardnerville, NV. Meets FS595 color specs and seems like good quality. Comes in olive drab, and other flat colors. Got these at the same surplus store I recently got .30 cal ammo cans for $2 each.

Dave: I also have a Palm III that I have used for other hobbies and it is easy to hook up to your etrex. I assume you have a Palm to computer cord with a 9-pin serial connector. If so, get a etrex to computer cord with 9-pine serial connector. You connect these together with a 9-pin male to male patch cord, or "null modem" These are easy to make, just connect pin 5 to pin 5 and cross connect pins 2 and 3. With "GeoClipping" you can paste a cache text to your Palm's memo pad. You can then cut and paste the hint text to "HintDecoder" on you Palm. " GPilotS" is a basic Palm program that will move waypoints between eTrex and Palm. You can spend money on mapping programs for your Palm and use the hook-up to the eTrex.

Being new at this and only a few finds, I have been thinking about containers because I found a great spot to place a cache. A couple of finds have had the the small ammo cans and they are rugged, but somewhat small. Knowing about the animals in the area (especially racoons) I can't imagine any plastic container lasting very long, what with the Pez candy, etc.that seems to be in a lot of them. Anyway, I bought 5 of the small 7.62mm ammo cans (3.5"X 7"X 10") for $2 each. They had the bigger 50 cal cans for $5. Someone mentioned a $25 can--it must be huge. Is the small can an acceptable size?

Kodak's4 is right on. The most important thing is whether the compass has a declination adjustment. A simple and inexpensive compass like the Brunton 9020G will work just fine. From my years of teaching Scouts, it is much easier if there is a declination adjustment.

If your PDA and GPSr both have serial cables with nine pin female plugs, all you need is a "null modem" jumper with 9-pin male plugs on each end. You can easily make one by connecting pins 5 to 5 and crossing pins 2 and 3 between one plug to the other.

Some of you have been debating single blades versus swiss army knife or multi-tools. As a long time Scoutmaster, I recommend that parents buy their Scouts a multi-tool, like the original Leatherman. It is lighter than some of the more recent tools, and has just enough tools. I find that the pliers and screw drivers are very useful, and used as much or more than a blade. It helps us.....be prepared.

Thanks. It helps to use the correct term. Thanks for the links. It appears that they do work and may be helpful in certain situations.

Does anyone have experience with these units I am seeing on EBay. They consist of a small antenna with a mag mount for your car roof, coax to a unit with a radome and a cig-lighter power cord. It takes the GPS signals amplifies them and retransmits them to your handheld GPSr (without antenna jack). Advantage is that you can mount/read your GPSr at any point in the car, mounted at any angle, and get much stronger signals.

NiMH batteries have more capacity and are great if you charge them right before using them. The disadvantage is that they lose their charge quickly--after several days to a week, you better recharge them again. NiCd batteries keep their charge much longer, and I use them for some of my radios because they also have the advantage of providing more current for high power devices. For hikes over a day, its several sets of alkalines, because each will last longer than any rechargeable. They are the best backup type because they keep for years. I have been getting them for 25 cents each.

This is good advice about the 12V gell cell batteries. One big advantage: you can charge them direct from your car cig. lighter socket. If you use a cig.lighter cord that is made for your GPSr unit, it has a voltage regulator made to handle the 13.8V =or- that your car puts out when running. (Unless it is one of the Garmin units that have a voltage regulator built-in.)

The description by K2dave is right on. He says it all, including the fact that high capacity rechargables die sooner. NiMH AAs cost about $2 each at a local electronice swap meet, so this is probably the most cost efficient. For a site that does some comparisons: http://library.solarbotics.net/pieces/parts_elect_pass_batcomp.html

Knowing a little about transmitters, we do not have the technology to make this work. To send a signal any distance, one needs a tranmitter, power supply and antenna. To put this in a body is not practical unless the reciever is a few feet away.

"throw-away"

As for through-away batteries, alkalines are the most economical. Their capacity: 2850 mAH for AA They cost about $1 for four AAs. As for Lithiums, the capacity is about 50% more, which means they last about 50% longer. The cost is about 5 times more than alakalines. Capacities of typical AA rechargeables: NiCD 700 mAH NiMH 1200 mAH So a set of alkalines will last twice as long as NiMH. The rechargeables will be cheaper in the long run because they take several hundred charges.

Alkalines have twice the energy density of NiMH and should last twice as long. And they do not lose their charge after sitting for a couple of weeks.But you have to buy new ones all the time. Alkaline 4-packs are 99cents at the store of the same name. They cost about the same in bulk at Cosco. I use alkalines in my GPS as a back up, but run it off cigarette lighter power in car or a large external rechargable pack (NiMH or gell-cell) out of the car. The packs charge directly from the cig lighter socket. My GPS has an internal voltage regulator and accepts a range of voltages (10 to 36VDC) on external power.

Alkalines have about twice the energy density of NiMH rechargables. If you are going backpacking, these are your best choice. I get alkaline AA's for 25 cents each (99c Store, Costco) My Garmin has a plug for external batteries with a range of voltages. Made a cig plug adapter for car, and for other external packs. The computer/Ham-radio swap meets have large NiMH or small gell-cell packs for only a few dollars. Wire this up and you have lots of power for radios, lights, etc.

As a Scoutmaster who teaches compass in an area with a large declination (14 E), it is very important to get it right. For Geocach purposes, I would recomend : GPS set to true. Use a compass with the declination adjustment. Some, like the Brunton Classic 9020G, have the inner part adjustable for declination. Set it once, and when the needle is lined up with the marker, you are reading true on the outer azimuth ring. Very easy-no adding or subtracting.