DBleess

First and foremost, state parks aren't the only place to put caches so it's probably wise to not overreact like the complaintant has already. Guidelines for geocaching already emphasize that placers should avoid impacting the environment. We are out to improve, educate, and enjoy, not destroy. We are asked to clean up the environments we vist, not damage them. (Carry your trash bags people - cache in trash out) I think she also overestimated the traffic an average cache can generate. She is protective of "her" parks partly because she probably wants as few people as possible stomping through her forests. These places are here for all of us, and people who take advantage of lands maintained with all our tax money and then complain when others publicize that they exist however responsibly are being nothing more than selfish. A good starting point for an education would be this person. If she is just being selfish, then there is no winning. Then work on the state people and let them understand her motives. Most state people understand that there has to be a balance between use and protection and Geocaching is in that scheme an asset, not a liability. (Keep it that way people in all that you do) If she fears something will be damaged, a more appropriate action would be to educate us, so that we may help pass on that education to others. Keeping people out and ignorant is by far NOT the point of these facilities.

I second the SA3 recommendation. I use it with both a laptop on the road and at home with my desktop PC. Combined with my Garmin48 it is excellent software for vehicle navigation. www.delorme.com

To what program on your PC are you trying to get it to communicate to? If you get it to talk to hyperterm, then it *is* probably taking to your pc. If you can advise what softare is offending, then someone may know those settings that will help. I use easyGPS and Delorme's street atlas with my Garm48. Both programs communicate great (when configged right )

(Assuming the com1 port is active, installed properly and working under windows) Make sure your GPS is on. Make sure it is in GARMIN Interface mode (Page 52 of your manual) and it is securely connected by its data cable to your laptop. In easygps, select FILE - PREFERENCES and in the window that results, make sure you have eTREX vista, and Com1 selected. From GPS, test serial connection. If that still fails, post more information if you can. It may end up being a PC com1 config problem which isn't really the scope of this group but Sony may be able to help

You might also try Paint Shop Pro, I use .jpg format with 15% compression for my Geocache stuff. I resize until I get my filesize to within limits. For my own page stuff, I use my own judgement based on the detail I want and the webspace I have. SAMPLES: http://members.cox.net/dmbleess/geocache/ http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=ab4095 www.jasc.com PSP is another one of those advanced graphics and photo manipulation software programs, but once you get the hang of the basics of it, it's very useful.

First and foremost, state parks aren't the only place to put caches so it's probably wise to not overreact like the complaintant has already. Guidelines for geocaching already emphasize that placers should avoid impacting the environment. We are out to improve, educate, and enjoy, not destroy. We are asked to clean up the environments we vist, not damage them. (Carry your trash bags people - cache in trash out) I think she also overestimated the traffic an average cache can generate. She is protective of "her" parks partly because she probably wants as few people as possible stomping through her forests. These places are here for all of us, and people who take advantage of lands maintained with all our tax money and then complain when others publicize that they exist however responsibly are being nothing more than selfish. A good starting point for an education would be this person. If she is just being selfish, then there is no winning. Then work on the state people and let them understand her motives. Most state people understand that there has to be a balance between use and protection and Geocaching is in that scheme an asset, not a liability. (Keep it that way people in all that you do) If she fears something will be damaged, a more appropriate action would be to educate us, so that we may help pass on that education to others. Keeping people out and ignorant is by far NOT the point of these facilities.

A good shot glass is hard to break, don't use anything fragile and you have that concern addressed.

I'd like to contribute to this also if possible. I'm trying to work up an outline of some useful points to make and come up with some ideas of how best to make them. I just subscribed tonight to GPgeocaching.com and I will offer what I can to help out.