Arndtwe

I agree..

This is a poor location for a geocache. In one of your posts, you dais that you did not actually open it to retreive what you thought to be the geocache, and that it was the only likely spot. What you aren't remembering is that coordinates are often far from the real location, possibly 100+ feet away. If this is the case, what you came across could have just been junk or trash that rolled/washed/whatever into this spot, and seeing as micros ofter are pill bottles you may have been mistaken. I would make sure that the location you came across is actually the geocache, for some reason I highly doubt that what you found is a geocache.

Good luck!!!

You may regret doing that. When my GPS says the next closest cache is GCxxxxx, and I want to look up the cache on my palm, I only have to enter in 4 or 5 characters to get an exact match (I omit the GC). The made-up names are usually twice that long, and you often have to enter the whole thing to be sure you're searching for a unique name. Besides, if your GPS has a "note" feature", the real name can be put there. And, of course, you can read the real cache name, and everything else you need to know, on the Palm. Is something like "JSTTHCSHNM" really more helpful than the real waypoint id? I would have to agree with this.

Just out of curiosity what kind of Palm are you getting? You can change the waypoint names to actual names, what program are you using? GSAK or EasyGPS? For EasyGPS, simply open it then click "edit" and at the bottom select "preferences". A new little box will open up with a few different tabs one of which says "my GPS receivers", click on that one. now you should see more buttons in this order "remove", "geocaching...", "settings", "add GPS". Click on "Geocaching..." and a new window will open. At the top you should see "waypoint:" with a drop down window next to it. Change the drop down from "geocache ID" to "geocache name". and now you are done. For GSAK, I have no clue . You will have to ask someone else

The way that you view the cache sin CacheMate is simply a list of the caches. You can sort them by cache name or by the GCXXXX code. Once you have decided which to sort by you can find the cache you want to view in the list then jut click on it. A new screen will pop up with the name, GCXXXX, difficulty, terrain, type. Then a line break and the owner, size. Then another line break and the description. Another line break and the hint. Another line break and the first log and how ever many you choose when exporting the .PDB file earlier(I think that you can only go up to 5). You can choose for the hint to be scrambled or unscrambled, which ever you choose. Sadly, there are no maps that come with CacheMate, but you can get another Palm program called EarthComber (that one will need its own little thread) it is completely free and has very good detail. On to the SD card. You actually don't need to get one to do CacheMate. The exported .PDB file takes VERY little space. The max SD memory will very depending on which unit you get. My Tungsten T3 will take a gig, but the Tungsten TX will take 4. The older ones might not have any SD slot in the first place. Any Palm PDA can hold (on its internal memory) at least 5 PQ's. Chances are that they will hold more, that's 5000 cache records! More than anyone would ever need! If you have any more questions, just ask! Thanks arndtwe, this is all very helpful. Will earthcomber display the query's? I would imagine earthcomer would need additional memory? Would earthcomer replace Cachemate? I also have been playing with GSAK, but am having trouble getting it to see my garmin zumo 550. Still it is getting easier. I also downloaded and installed easy gps and for some reason it wont display a map on the left. Just the caches. So, I will use mapsource to load the gps till I get the bugs out of the other programs and cachemate to load the palm. Now the only advantage GSAK has over mapsource is way better sorting and documenting and a zillion other things right? But loading is loading? Thanks again! Tater EarthComber will show your queries, it is kinda of a complicated thing to do though, like I said, that needs its own thread. Once again, EarthComber does not need an SD card. And no, EarthComber will not replace CacheMate. I would suggest using EasyGPS to load Cache to your GPS and GSAK for specific filtering of caches. EasyGPS does not have a map at all, just caches, this may be a little wird but you don't really need one anyway, you only really need a map on GPS. You are correct, the only thing GSAK does different then mapsource is filtering and a "zillion" other things. In my humble opinion, loading is loading like you said, in that case I would use EasyGPS.

I agree that that method of getting info is a lot hoops to jump through. Have you heard of CacheMate? It is an $8 program for palm PDA's and handheld PC's. It comes with a little program that converts a pocket query into a palm .PDB file. All that means is that it will be compatible with your Palm PDA. I personally think this is the best way to go. It sounds a little complicated, but in reality, once you get started it only takes 7 mins to load 500 caches to my PDA and GPS. On to GSAK. I find GSAK very confusing, it can extremely intimidating to newbies. I would suggest simply getting EasyGPS. All this program will do is send the info to your GPS. This is not related to gettting the info on your PDA. Anyway, that's just the way I do things. Here I will go into detail on how to get started will CacheMate using a Palm PDA. First thing you do when you get your PDA is to setup the software that came with it. This is fairly self explanatory. After you have done this, go to www.smittyware.com then go the CacheMate link. Go through the process of purchasing it. then you should be able to download a .zip file (I can't remember if it comes in the email, or if you get it from the website). "unzip" this file then load the necessary files to your PDA. It will tell you which files to load inside the .zip file, so don't worry about knowing which ones to load. Okay, now that you have the program on your PDA, you can download a PQ to put into it. Go to the GC.com site and go through the PQ process, then make sure at the bottom of the PQ page that you have selected it to send you the .GPX version NOT the .LOC file. wait a few minutes and you should get an email with the results. The PQ comes in a .zip file as well, so you need to unzip it. inside you will find to .GPX files, one with a string of numbers and one that has a string of numbers with a "wpts". For your first time, don't bother with the one that has the "wpts". Just delete it (you may find that you want to use it in the future, but that's just another thing to add to this, so don't mess with it). Now that you have that figured out, open your GPS managing program (either EasyGPS or GSAK) and load the .GPX file. Then send it to your GPS. Now don't delete that .GPX file yet. Open the program that came with CacheMate, it should be titled "CMConvert" and click (in the upperleft) "file", "load" then select the .GPX file. then highlight all of the below loaded caches and click "file", "export PDB". Name it what ever you like. Now hotsync that PDB file your PDA. Next time you turn oe your PDA and go into the program CacheMate, it will ask you to put that file into a category. And now you're done! Arndtwe, That is an awesome primer. Under stood perfectly. I know that took some time to write and I appreciate it. I have a few more questions for you or somebody else, How does the info open up on the palm, like a word doc? or pdf? Does it look just like the web page? are the hints unscrambled? What about the map? I will need to get an sd card. What is the max size supported? I searched on it and got 1 gig. Does that sound about right? I dont figure that the PQ will fit the on board memory. Tater The way that you view the cache sin CacheMate is simply a list of the caches. You can sort them by cache name or by the GCXXXX code. Once you have decided which to sort by you can find the cache you want to view in the list then jut click on it. A new screen will pop up with the name, GCXXXX, difficulty, terrain, type. Then a line break and the owner, size. Then another line break and the description. Another line break and the hint. Another line break and the first log and how ever many you choose when exporting the .PDB file earlier(I think that you can only go up to 5). You can choose for the hint to be scrambled or unscrambled, which ever you choose. Sadly, there are no maps that come with CacheMate, but you can get another Palm program called EarthComber (that one will need its own little thread) it is completely free and has very good detail. On to the SD card. You actually don't need to get one to do CacheMate. The exported .PDB file takes VERY little space. The max SD memory will very depending on which unit you get. My Tungsten T3 will take a gig, but the Tungsten TX will take 4. The older ones might not have any SD slot in the first place. Any Palm PDA can hold (on its internal memory) at least 5 PQ's. Chances are that they will hold more, that's 5000 cache records! More than anyone would ever need! If you have any more questions, just ask!

I just an ad for the Geocacher permit, it is a 3x5 sticker for you vehicle window. I was wondering if there are geocaching permit "cards" not stickers? I could not find anything on that, that would be so cool!

Hello and thanks for the link. Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through to get it on a hand held. The data seems kind of dated though, from looking at some of the log dates. Maybe it is easier now. There are quite a bit of handhelds on ebay really reasonable right now, And I want to pick up something cheap, like $50 dollar range, because I dont need it for anything else. From research, palm has its own OS, and others run a form of windows. I figure anything I buy I will at least become somewhat familiar with the process, and can upgrade later. Other than having usb, is there anything out there that will not work at all? I have been messing around with GSAK and and trying to become more familiar with it. But with out knowing what I want it to do, I am not getting very far. I appreciate all the replys to my post. I see there are several discussions going on right now on this subject on the forum. This is all way more complex than I could have imagined, But I enjoy complexity, but the time I have to spend staring at software interfaces is limited. Randy I agree that that method of getting info is a lot hoops to jump through. Have you heard of CacheMate? It is an $8 program for palm PDA's and handheld PC's. It comes with a little program that converts a pocket query into a palm .PDB file. All that means is that it will be compatible with your Palm PDA. I personally think this is the best way to go. It sounds a little complicated, but in reality, once you get started it only takes 7 mins to load 500 caches to my PDA and GPS. On to GSAK. I find GSAK very confusing, it can extremely intimidating to newbies. I would suggest simply getting EasyGPS. All this program will do is send the info to your GPS. This is not related to gettting the info on your PDA. Anyway, that's just the way I do things. Here I will go into detail on how to get started will CacheMate using a Palm PDA. First thing you do when you get your PDA is to setup the software that came with it. This is fairly self explanatory. After you have done this, go to www.smittyware.com then go the CacheMate link. Go through the process of purchasing it. then you should be able to download a .zip file (I can't remember if it comes in the email, or if you get it from the website). "unzip" this file then load the necessary files to your PDA. It will tell you which files to load inside the .zip file, so don't worry about knowing which ones to load. Okay, now that you have the program on your PDA, you can download a PQ to put into it. Go to the GC.com site and go through the PQ process, then make sure at the bottom of the PQ page that you have selected it to send you the .GPX version NOT the .LOC file. wait a few minutes and you should get an email with the results. The PQ comes in a .zip file as well, so you need to unzip it. inside you will find to .GPX files, one with a string of numbers and one that has a string of numbers with a "wpts". For your first time, don't bother with the one that has the "wpts". Just delete it (you may find that you want to use it in the future, but that's just another thing to add to this, so don't mess with it). Now that you have that figured out, open your GPS managing program (either EasyGPS or GSAK) and load the .GPX file. Then send it to your GPS. Now don't delete that .GPX file yet. Open the program that came with CacheMate, it should be titled "CMConvert" and click (in the upperleft) "file", "load" then select the .GPX file. then highlight all of the below loaded caches and click "file", "export PDB". Name it what ever you like. Now hotsync that PDB file your PDA. Next time you turn oe your PDA and go into the program CacheMate, it will ask you to put that file into a category. And now you're done!

All fixed! GET OVER IT and MOVE ON. It is not "ridiculous" that you can't have what you want, nobody gets everything they want, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Why do need the whole state loaded in at once? That's a little ridiculous. I this sounds hard, but PLAN where you are going to go geocaching, then load a PQ for that area. That's all you have to do! GC.com is not going to make this an option, period.

Wow, first off, let me say that you have some really cool skills! Another thing that you have that sadly a lot of cachers do not is enthusiasm to place caches with good swag. My I make a suggestion though? Don't hide any caches until you have found at least 15, this is be no means a requirement, it's just that too often newbies will place caches that are not quite what they should be. I hope that you do place some, and soon too. You need to consider some things before you do though, and I really think the only way to be able to consider all of the necessary aspects to find a few first. Enough of all that though. Great work on the personal token, that is totally awesome!! I wish I could do that kind of stuff, that's so cool. Thanks for sharing!

I hope you can to. Will you be going to it?

That so cool!!!

I am now changing this thread to a voting thread.If you agree that these boxes be removed from the "edit listing" page, but still want the boxes there for when they get sent into review then vote yes. YES

That's a good point. Look at Kooskoos post "I'd like to see those boxes NOT required unless I've also checked the box that it's ready for a reviewer." This is how it should work. That way you only have to check the box if the cache is going in for review. Why would you need to agree and undeerstand the guidelines if the cache is being published? Am I wrong?

Oooo, THANK YOU. I love Greasemonkey and was wondering if there was a script to fix this. Thanks again!

Ok, so heres the deal. I am a premium member, I have agreed to all the stuff that have to. I am not going to say anything but "I agree" so why do I have to re-check thses boxes EVERY time I want to edit my cache page? It is a puzzle cache that I am working on and it uses lots of HTML, so as you can imagine, I have to do a lot of editing. Is there a way to "automatically" check these boxes and I am just missing it? If not, I vote for this to become a new feature to the website for at least PM's but preferably everyone.

I would really hate to see the CCC thread get closed because people can't drop stupid issues that have been discussed many times. If you wish to debate the issue on elctrical cacehs and the such, please do it here. The entire purpose of THIS thread is for heated debate on the things discussed in the CCC thread. So, come and beat the dead horse here! Thanks you.

I would highly suggest you go with EarthComber, it is free and you can load any goecaches that you want. Getting the caches in might be a little tricky, but just read carefully and you will get it. Go HERE to read how to upload .GPX files to the program after you have it. The great thing about this program is that you don't need a GPS for it, internally or externally. Hope you enjoy, and good luck!

I got this chart from ItsNotAboutTheNumbers.com. You need to be a premium member to get the "my finds" PQ, then upload it to the website.

I would love to find all of the D/T combos, but as you can see, I have a looong way to go!

I really hope I can make this event! I hope to see you there!!

Oooo, you could try something that I've always wanted to try... MOSS! I can't remember the mixture to "make" moss, something like green paint mixed with beer and maybe water, then just "paint" on the mixture. Within a few days you should have moss growing on the rock that you made. Somebody help me, what is the formula?

Try FlashEarth <-- link

Cool!