The Merman

Please don't get me wrong as I am in no way suggesting that you should donate it to the Scouts, or am I taking a pop at you for your comment, but I am very curious as to why you should think that Scouts are well funded. I will put my cards on the table before you answer, as I am a Scout leader in a Scout group that has sufficient funds to run its weekly program and pay the bills, but no extra funds for maintenance (including a like of paint) of its HQ on council owned grounds. As for a charity, well I'm not sure as there are so many deserving causes and it's such a personal thing, but I would suggest that you try auctioning it off on the forums (if it is aloud!) or on ebay and donating the money. I meant no offence to the Scouts with that comment, I spent very many years in the cubs and scouts. I was thinking of those types of organisation where every penny that comes in goes out to try and keep the wolves from the door. A year or so ago I was caching with a couple of friends and we found an injured deer. I contacted the police who gave me the number of a rescue centre. I spoke to them and offered them the lat long of my location to be informed that they did not possess a gps. Eventually they rescued the animal and it was taken to the rescue centre. I spoke with Garmin and made arrangements for them to donate a couple of units to the centre to help them to locate animals found by hikers etc. They had no spare cash to buy GPS units as every penny raised went to feed and heal the animals they rescued. Perhaps I will end up having to sell the unit and donate the money to a charity, but I just hoped that some soul would know of some organisation which would really benefit from a high end gps.

Put on your thinking caps please and come up with a worthy charity that I can donate a GPS to. I have a Garmin GPS V and I would like to give it to a worthy cause. I was thinking that it would benefit and animal rescue organisation perhaps, or possibly a charity that takes disabled people outward bound. I am not going to give it to the Scouts or similar organisation that is well funded, I would prefer it to go to an organisation that would really benefit from owning a reasonable well specked GPS that can be used in a vehicle but is still a great tool for hiking etc. If you know of anyone then contact me through GC.com. Thanks Love and Peace The Merman

The last time I spoke with Mark was during a Grockles Grand day out. He phoned me with a problem he was having setting up his iQue to route him round the last cin foxhunt and I was glad as ever to spend a while chatting to him. He would sometimes phone me at night whilst I was working and we would chat for ages about the Yorkshire that we knew as kids, both coming from the same area. I met him a couple of times and immediately liked his passion and Yorkshire determination. Rest easy good guy. Chris

I like to do a nice big first finders bag for my cache placements containing a nice bundle of goodies. (First finders feel free to comment! ) I am now leaving little pocket kites in the caches if there is room as kiting is a particular hobby of mine, but I rarely take anything unless it is cacher related. (A badge or sticker etc)

I do remember some talk of Either Mollinis Crew or Nawtcher putting in a night cache in Cornwall but don't know if they went ahead with it. Night Vision was I think the first night only cache (ie could not be done in daylight) in the UK and it was a sad day for me when it was removed, as the work that goes into planning and siting a cache of this type is arduous but rewarding when you get to read the great comments from the finders. I would love to do another one based on what I have learned from both this cache and from the one that Paul Blitz and Omally did for the HCC event. It would however have to be sited in a safe area with the approval of the landowner, and that rules out Hampshire and the New Forest area.

I agree with Hornet totally on this one. The article was not poking fun at the hobby and I think that one of the reasons was that they went out and did it instead of stage managing a cache for the article. We can all try to explain our reasons why we cache but they now know because they got cold and tired and went home with a sense of smug satisfaction after the day out. I suppose that Pharisee will be turning up for our Grockles grand day out on Saturday wearing sunglasses and carrying a set of signed 6x4's now that he is a celeb

Superb photography (But then I would expect nothing less from a Times snapper!) I get the Times delivered to my office so guess who will be pinching the T2 as soon as it arrives on my desk

Because of the density here in the south of the UK, then the memory of the GPS V will just about do two counties, however in the USA the same memory will probably do half a state in the less populated areas. So I guess the answer to the question asked is "Depends where you live"

I use my iQue with cachemate software while hunting caches but don't use the gps feature as it chews battery power. I love the sucker to death and keep it dry in a ziplock bag..Works fine, totally dry and I can use the stylus through the plastic. Aquapac $20....Ziploc 2 cents!

I leapt up from the Palm M130 to the iQue 3600 and wow! Running the iQue with cachemate is a dream. I use the iQue to get to the cache site, then my normal GPSr to find the cache and then the ique to fill in the log on cachemate. One of my friends actually used the iQue to find a cache with, but at the price of it I would hate to risk it. Most of the people who cache with PDA's in the UK tend to lean towards the ipaq and memory map.

The best things for me are those little personal items that people go to a lot of trouble to make, I am getting quite a collection of cards keyrings and badges. I think my absolute best find though was Lassitudes Hidden Treasures III cd I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

407 This is the area where I grew up. I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

Well done RCWIOW It makes it more of an achievement when you consider that you have to cross to the mainland to do your caching. I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

quote:Originally posted by Wood Smoke:I have three caches which are close to me that are 'temporarily archived'. My question is......How long before temporary should become permanent? These are the three caches in question http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=bd15036e-5875-4d5e-91db-8b3ccedf5946 last log 03/03/03 http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=39dad3af-880f-4a34-9946-09160f99e937 last log 19/10/03 http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2bf51f38-ff3f-49bb-9d1c-1cf3dd85c223 last log 22/06/03 but archived 27/04/03 WoodSmoke http://www.geocacheuk.com - _very_ useful resources for the UK Geocaching community And your reason for asking is what? In my case with Solent View it will be replaced when building work is finished, but does it actually matter whether a cache is archived or not, unless you are fed up of it on your local caches first page? I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

quote:Originally posted by Wood Smoke: quote:If I can get some nice kind soul to cover me The only thing I suggest covering The Merman with is a large oily canvas sheet..........saves all the rest of us from embarrassment :-) WoodSmoke http://www.geocacheuk.com - _very_ useful resources for the UK Geocaching community Are you sure the Smoke is from wood, and not some other substance? I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

The sailboat I live on is called Mermaid's Kiss and obviously every mermaid needs a Merman. I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

quote:Originally posted by Kerry: quote:Originally posted by The Merman:When? 1985 (believe it or not) .... Then you must have had a lot of spare time? What part of a day was actually workable? I suppose that would depend on if that was early 1985 or late (Nov/Dec) 1985. There was one more sat available for the last 2 months of 1985. But considering they were 10 Block I sats launched between Feb 22, 1978 and Oct 9, 1985 with SVN7 lost on launch (Dec 18, 1981) and no further launches until Feb 14, 1989 being the first of the Block II's and also with SVN 1, SVN2 & SVN5 failing well before 1985 then that left 7 operational satellites in 1985. Now that's a pretty big ask from only 7 Block I satellites in the jungle. Coverage a 7 satellite constellation today in the middle of Brazil and this is without the Jungle. Throw the jungle over the top of that and even those periods of barely 3 MAX satellites would vanish and the already completely shot DOP's would go completely thru the roof. What make/model of receiver was this? Cheers, Kerry. I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go [This message was edited by Kerry on August 28, 2003 at 06:57 PM.] Thanks for all the tech info Kerry I was obviously in the military at the time I was speaking of, and we were using US supplied equipment. You had to give the baby a rough lat long to work from before it would aquire. It was believe it or not portable (In the same way that the early cellphones were, which means a battery pack the size of a large motorcycle battery!) You had an external antennae that was similar to the modern GA29 and to get a fix you would need to be in a clearing. It gave you simple lat long on an LED screen and I believe it was a 4 channel receiver. You have to realise that we were just end users and the equipment was loaned to us by the US government, so as for make and specs etc, I have no idea. It would have been around the middle of 85 we were using it, as I left the area in the September of that year. If the info you gave was meant to inform me then thanks, if it was meant to shoot me down in flames then "whatever". A question was asked by a fellow cacher and I answered it truthfully, whether you believe me or not is not really an issue. If you would care to mail me I would be happy to tell you just why we were using the kit in question. Also just for the record, I have a sailing magazine from 1989 offering the first commercial handheld GPSr in the UK for the bargain price of £2000 which is about $3200 US! I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

When? 1985 (believe it or not) What? The jungles of central America What keeps me going? Geocaching and sailing I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

I just checked my schedule and I am unfortunately working that day (Yes I do know that far in advance!!) If I can get some nice kind soul to cover me then I would love to pop down and help celebrate birthdays and Christmas I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

I just checked the stats on Geocacheuk and it comes out at a remarkable 6.2 caches per trip The man is a caching machine. Very well done Seasider. I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

I see that 23 is the lovely Kathrina from Krazy Kats I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

quote:Originally posted by Stu & Sarah:Definitely a nutter, but not the 'muttering to himself with bloodstained trench-coat' type. Definitely the good sort. Stu Time for me to jump to the defence of the man For anyone who saw him in the middle of a wood at 2am dressed in a black trenchcoat during the HCC night cache......oh hang on I am supposed to be defending him.... The wooly Viking helmet has a logical use...He uses it to stick a gps antenna to it with velcro.....Erm... Ok the truth is that O'mally is raging mad if by that you mean someone who is passionate about caching, loves the countryside, reads several books a week drinks huge amounts of beer, is prepared to ride a motorbike round Britain to raise money for charity, and still found time to help out with the organising of the HCC event, and the thing that impresses me the most is that he can play "Classical Gas" on the guitar. Can we change the subject while his head still fits in that stupid hat? I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

Having had the honour of caching with John, it comes as no surprise he has 300. He walked me to death on the Isle of Wight, drove home late at night and still had the energy to log his finds the same night! Very well done mate I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

If all the elements are present ie. Nice day, great company, fabulous view, challenge etc then that to me is a truly memorable cache. At the moment the one that totally fills that criteria has to be The Vectis series by RCWIOW which I did with Omally, Keith from the Motley Crew and the ledgend that is Pharisee It was a lot of hard work but was a truly memorable day out on the little visited Isle of Wight. I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!

quote:Originally posted by Cholo:What does a troll do? My feelings exactly Cholo! Why is it when I read not a troll but...it usually is a post designed to wind us up? I woke this morning and my boat was not rocking...for one horrid moment I thought I lived in a house!