smillersmiller
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Posts posted by smillersmiller
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Looks like most people missed the point here. I think it's clear NUGUNSLINGER is shopping for a budget priced GPS. The Garmin V is a lot more expensive than the most expensive receiver on the list.
I have a Magellan GPS 315. It's awesome for Geocaching and similar activities, and much better than the yellow eTrex for not much more cash. The 315's antenna is better than the yellow eTrex. The 315 shows all nearby waypoints on the map screen (the eTrex will only show the currently selected waypoint). The 315's base map of towns and cities isn't a big deal, but it rounds out the fact that it is better than the eTrex.
The eTrex cammo is just a yellow eTrex in different clothes.
Based on price, you should consider the eTrex Venture, but I actually chose the Magellan 315 over the eTrex Venture. I liked the Venture's graphics and WAAS capability, but in real life side-by-side testing, I found the Magellan 315 antenna blows it away in the woods.
The Magellan SportTrak appears to be the direct successor to the 315. Don't be deceived by it's black and yellow color - it's much more than just a basic eTrex. While I haven't used the SportTrak, it appears to be the best on the list.
In the same price range ($90 to $160), you should consider the Magellan SportTrak Map combo if it is still available at Sam's Club and Costco. It's $250 with a $100 rebate - final cost $150. I bought my brother one of these as a Christmas present, and I'm green with envy. I still like my 315, but th SportTrak Map is very nice.
ICQ: 5563417
[This message was edited by smillersmiller on January 31, 2003 at 01:06 PM.]
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OK, thanks to a lot of help from SpinWebby, plans have been finalized for Geocaching 101 - February 8th at the Science Center of Iowa.
For more details, check out the cache page.
Hope to see you there.
ICQ: 5563417
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I think the original poster thinks we should search the system for it. From what I've seen, archived caches don't show up in searches. They also don't show up when you view the "hidden" caches for a user's profile.
As Welch said, you'll have to provide more details and perhaps the URL for the cache.
ICQ: 5563417
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Isn't carrying a card to explain your actions proof ipso facto that you're a nut job, and the cops should lock you up without hesitation?
ICQ: 5563417
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Thanks to IV_Warrior for helping me to complete this cache.
I'm still available for anyone to take pictures in 93° 48 to 93° 34 (usernames with the first character W, X or Y, second character D, E or F). Just outside of that range, I can take photos sooner or later, but you might have to wait a while.
Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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Come on, kids, don't feed the Trolls. Placing a cache on this location, regardless of type, is obviously a dumb idea.
Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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I noticed you've done 7 benchmarks already.
Very impressive for someone who's only been Geocaching for a month, and during Pennsylvannia Winter at that! Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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Cool deal, IV_Warrior.
I checked the maps as well. One option for you would be Sunbury, PA - it's about 2 miles West of the target longitude. According to www.mapquest.com, the travel time is about the same as driving to Harrisburg, PA. Of course, where you go is up to you, as long as it takes you East to 76° 45.53.
Good luck and have fun. -- Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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Looking for someone to pair up with on the Where's In A Name? (GC3153)
My name converts to 76° 45.53 minutes. A couple of the larger cities 76° 45' passes through: the Western suburbs of Baltimore, and the Eastern part of Harrisburg, PA (in fact it passes through the middle of the Harrisburg airport). Of course there are lots and lots of other towns and cities near this longitude as well.
To work with me on this cache, you need to be able to take a photo of your GPS that clearly shows this coordinate and a shot or two of the nearby area. The East/West coordinate would be 76° 45.53# (where # is any digit). You pick the North South coordinate (someplace safe and hopefully interesting!). After obtaining the photos we both are able to log this as a find.
Also, for anyone looking for a photo taker, I can do 93° 48 to 93° 34 without much trouble (usernames with the first character W, X or Y, second character D, E or F). Just outside of that range, I can take photos sooner or later, but you might have to wait a while.
Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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Two of the toughest cache hunts I've been on resulted in Not Found logs.
In one case, it was the extreme summer vegetation (capped by a surprise summer thunderstorm) that caused the NF.
In the other case, our absolute determination to find the cache regardless of the 90% humidity and temps in the 90s that kept our team of 5 sweating in the forrest for 2+ hours (including a hike back to the car for more drinks before resuming the hunt). Based on the previous not founds, the amazing amount of person-hours spent searching, and some evidence I found at the cache site (the evidence was examined and confirmed by the cache hider), it's clear that the cache had been stolen. Had the cache actually been there, we would've found it in under 15 minutes and been on our way.
The point I'm making (and others have made) is that the Not Founds can be more interesting (and for those that need it, more of a proof that you are "hard core") than dozens of roadside cache and dashes.
ICQ: 5563417
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I didn't know females could be Tangerine Dream fans!
Seriously though, the Dream thing struck me before I realized the obvious similarity to the topic at hand.
That females Geocache comes as no surprise. I'm just dissappointed there aren't more of them. Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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KYtrex,
As I interpret the cache directions, you can find your namesake coordinate by either lattitude or longitude.
Eyeballing the maps at http://aolsvc.maps.aol.com/research/main.dci
It looks like 59 degrees West goes through Greenland and Brazil. 59 degrees East goes through Iran (eek!), Kazakhstan (doh!), Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Russia.
E 59 through Russia, or W 59 through Brazil seem doable.
ICQ: 5563417
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I've got finds logged for a couple of caches I adopted after I found them.
In the text for who hid the cache, I have the original cache hiders names, with my name in parenthesis as the adopter.
ICQ: 5563417
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I just realized that I was looking at the wrong page on the calendar when I suggested the 18th and the 25th. Doh!
I had intended to pick a Saturday.Valentine's Day weekend seems like a poor choice. What about February 8th or February 22nd??? Time and activities to be determined by popular demand. I think a beginner's event on the 8th and a Meet & Greet on the 22nd would be a possibility.
Also, I stopped by the Franklin Branch Library today. Their room is available and will hold around 2 to 3 dozen people comfortably.
-- Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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I forgot to mention, if the 18th or 25th isn't good, but you are still interested in attending Geocaching 101, let me know what date you would prefer.
Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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The EOE exhibit looks very interesting, and I would definitely be interested in attending the GIS/GPS program. I haven't been to the Science Center in a long time, but sounds like I have a good reason to do so.
That does leave room for other indoor Geocaching events. Who would be interested in attending a Geocaching 101 session on February 18 or 25, say at 1:30 PM, somewhere in the Des Moines metro?
Scott
ICQ: 5563417
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Now that I think about, if 2 weeks notice is given, January is out. (*smacks forehead*
)For me, Monday through Thursday are out due to work, and I suspect Friday evening wouldn't be good for most people. At this point, I'm free any Saturday and Sunday in February. I'm also open to afternoon or dinner, and could even be talked into morning.
I have a couple of ideas for location. One idea is to meet at one of the meeting rooms at the Urbandale library. There is no charge for using meeting room, and they allow for discussion without disturbing other library visitors. They're not that large though. I think they're suitable for 5 or 6 people at most - maybe they have a larger room that I'm not aware of. There might be another library in the area that would be suitable. I think the Franklin library in Des Moines has a decent sized room they might allow us to use.
Another idea is to meet at a restaurant like Perkins or Okoboji Grill. This would be sort of a discuss Geocaching over desert or dinner. Potential drawbacks: to seat larger informally collected groups, I think they prefer off-peak hours (1:30 to 4:30 PM) and they might limit how long we could lounge about.
Third location idea: There may be an enclosed shelter house in one of the area parks we could use. By "enclosed", I mean one with four walls and a closing door, as opposed to the open picnic style with no walls (similar to the one used at the picnic spinwebby organized this summer). I don't know if any are availble with heat, so it might get a bit frosty.
Some of these ideas sort of depend on how many want to attend, how long, what activities. Of course, there's no rule that says we can't have more than one event cache over what's left of the winter. In December 2002, Spinwebby suggested another newbies trek, and there seemed to already be interest. I could see doing an event for just started Geocachers, with a newbie trek as the weather allows, and then at a later date a Central Iowa Geocacher's Meet & Greet.
What do you all have to say about that?
Scot
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quote:
Originally posted by Mopar:If all caches were "recycled" in this manner, very few of us would have more then a few dozen finds showing on the site, and an important part of geocaching history (the logs) would be lost.
On a few occaisions, I've spent quite a lot of time writing long stories and cropped, captioned and uploaded several pictures to illustrate my adventures. It would be an incredible waste of my time if say 2 months from now, my logs and pictures are wiped away! I also enjoy reading about other people's adventures, and wish more people took the time to write more than just "Found quickly, TNLN". Wiping the caches is a serious discouragement to anyone writing about their finds.
(If you're curious, check my profile to read my adventures.)
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I purchased an Oregon Scientific D-Shot III at Wal-Mart about 3 months ago for $60. I spent another $29 on a 32 Meg Smart Card. This combo will take approximately 120 1.3 megapixel photos at the maximum quality (I haven't used more than about 60% of the memory, but the picture counter appears to be conservative).
This camera is truely awesome for what it is. It's about the size of a deck of cards, and weighs less than my wallet. Drop it on a rock, and I'm out a mere $60. Drop it in the lake and I'm only out $90. My brother put this camera down, but then I asked him where his camera was on a cache hunt - he left it in the car because he didn't want it damaged. What good is a camera on a cache hunt when it is too expensive to take into the field with you? I take this little guy everywhere on the chance I might take a photo. It even works great with 4 year old NiCd batteries.
What are the negatives for the Oregon Scientific D-shot III? In poor light, the camera generally doesn't do a very good job. The flash tends to wash out the photos, especially if you're within 5 feet. In medium to low light situations with the flash disabled, the "shutter" speed slows down to the point where camera shake is a serious problem and the camera doesn't alert you to this. It doesn't have a preview LCD - this is particularly disadvantageous given the poor performance in low light.
Given that I have 120 shots of "free" film, I've learned that when the light is marginal, to take lots of shots, some with the flash on, some with the flash off, and to always brace myself or to set the camera down and use the built in timer to avoid camera shake.
Did I mention the D-Shot III has a tripod socket? I used the tripod socket to take some night photos of lighted statues and they came out OK - without the tripod, they would've been horrible. (Having a tiny little camera mounted on a full size tripod looks kind of bizarre, but what the hey.)
I held off for quite a long time buying a digital camera because what I really want is $$$$$ (Cannon D60), and because every year the technology gets better and cheaper. But with that attitude, none of us would ever own a personal computer.
As far as buying a scanner goes, I have one of those too, and they have their uses to be sure. Even so, I figure I've saved half the cost of the D-Shot III already in developing, and the ohter half in the time I would've wasted scanning the prints. Add to that the fact that I can post photos at the same time I post my cache find and travel bug find logs, and a cheap digital camera is a great buy in my opinion.
For some recent sample shots, (keep in mind I've cropped and downsized these photos to get them under the 100k Geocaching limit) check out:
Jan 1, 2003 - http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=38496 Dec 28, 2002 - http://www.geocaching.com/track/track_detail.asp?ID=4824 Dec 14, 2002 -http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cachelog_details.asp?ID=141988&L=816105
Don't get me wrong - this camera will never replace my Pentax manual focus cameras. I've had photos from my Pentaxes published in magazines, and I took family portraits for the first time last Thanksgiving that the family said were as good as a professional (I disagree, but you get the point). On the other hand, my cheapy little digital camera is awesome for what it does at the price it does it, and the most important point of all - I always have it with me on cache hunts.
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It's been a while since we've had an event cache in Central Iowa. I've got quite a few different topics I'd like to discuss with Geocachers in the area, both for experienced and beginner Geocachers. Now that we're done with the holidays, I'm up for organizing an indoor Meet & Greet type event.
To do it right, I think there needs to be at a minimum 5 days advanced notice (2 weeks or more is generally a good idea). Unfortunately, the weather this time of year is so unpredictable -- with warm clothing, today would be good for a cache hunt, but who knows what it will be like 2 weeks from now. Even so, it might be possible to organize a newbie trek as well. Maybe we could do a newbie trek as a conditional add-on depending on the weather, but plan on an indoor get together as the base event. At a minimum, all the people that got new GPS receivers for Christmas could bring them and we could "find" someone's car "hidden" in the parking lot.
Well what do you all think?
Suggestions, ideas and opinions? -
quote:
Originally posted by pogopod:I am new to this and I am having trouble Uploading a picture to a travel bug site. I have a 99.1k bmp file, and when I try to upload i continue to get the message "thatsite is not available". Any suggestions?
I've found that 99k images are too large. 98k images are too large too. :-) They need to be cut down to something more like 97k or so. Looks to be a classic 1024 vs 1000 problem (Computer Science people will know what I'm talking about).
By the way, when you say "bitmap", you don't really mean a .BMP file do you? If so, try resaving as a .JPG - for most things, the quality will be excellent with a much smaller file size
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Looks like a minor typo. This URL works though:
http://www.simplysailing.com/hiker.htm
I think I have the opposite problem (not enough time to properly enjoy spending what money I have).
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Just noticed this thread, but thought I'd join in since I have word the Coasties will still be in the area for the next few days (and for the benefit of anyone else that stumbles in here).
I'd second the recommendation on the WaterWorks park tour. The Ashworks cache is not that far from the Great Plains cache. You can do all 6 from the single parking location.
I also like the nearby Eager Beaver (GC31D0) http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=12752 One word of recommendation though - disregard the parking coordinates for Eager Beaver. Just park in any Grays Lake parking lot near the cache coordinates.
smillersmiller
West Des Moines, IA
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quote:
Originally posted by nincehelser:Heh!
_GC4DED_ Wonder if that waypoint id was planned or just luck!George
I hadn't noticed that before.
Members-only caches
in General geocaching topics
Posted
I decided to pony up the cash for a Charter Membership the day I realized I'd had so much fun Geocaching and Benchmark hunting, but feared the day Geocaching.com goes the way of other dot coms. I see the Charter Membership as a form of Patronage - it's not a matter of a direct exchange of money for goods or services, but rather support to keep the bills paid and so Jeremy and crew can keep adding new features and fix our screwups, etc. Same goes for the stickers, t-shirts and Travel Bugs I've bought.
Besides, who would want to be known simply as a "Geocacher" when you can be a 'Bandito'!
(must say this using a spaghetti western accent.)
As near as I can tell, there are no members only caches within 40 miles of my home, but then I suspected that would be the case before I paid my fee.
ICQ: 5563417