kifcog

Thanks for the replies folks, I think my attempts at being diplomatic may have led to confusion. Whilst I think you are right about people experienced or otherwise dropping a coin in a cache and just apologising, what I am really wondering is about those people who have taken coins with no intention of moving them on who put them in a drawer and MUCH later have flash of conscience (I'm thinking time periods that couldn't be accidental!) So really I would be aiming this at people who have "pinched" coins from a cache, who are still active geocachers and who want to return said coins without facing other peoples wrath (I've read some pretty nasty forum posts about genuine mistakes) Anyway, that was my idea, there seems to be some interest so how should we go about it. A few people have mentioned a list of addresses, where is it? I have added my full address to my profile which seems like it could be a start!

Here Here, Hang on to your cherished coins and only send out coins you wont be upset about losing I do a mixture of drilling and sending out just in coin case with some details. So far the only coins I have lost I have lost myself! (Dropped one at a cache site and my daughter pinched another and lost it!) I have lost far more TBs that coins - even thought they where all inexpensive items, never mind

I have been mulling over an idea for some time, particularly as I have had a number of coins vanish lately (I'm not moaning as I expect it to happen to a certain extant) However, I wonder if people have taken coins from caches and then been "unable" to place them in a cache for whatever reason (I'm NOT saying they have stolen them, although that is a possibility of course!) This has happened to me when I found a coin in the bottom of my rucksack that I had completely forgotten about taking months earlier - I placed this in a nearby cache as soon as I realized my mistake. Anyway, I am sure that there are many people who would like to return coins to caches, but don't want to accused of being coin thieves, likewise I am sure that there are people who would be glad just to have thier coin back in circulation - so here's my idea! A network of people around the world who are willing to have "missing" coins sent to them no questions asked! They should be willing to have their address posted somewhere so that returnees can simply post them to the amnesty person without having to contact them. They would then contact the owner and let them know their coin was safe before finding out what they wanted to do with it (eg, place in another cache or return to the owner) I know I would be happy to do this service as I'm sure a lot of other people would, but at the moment I'm just canvassing opinion!

Anyone with more than a few coins knows that the activation codes are often repeated. All of the UK garmin coins have exactly the same activation code. Also there are only a few places to get activation codes, so even trying ALL the sites to get the codes would't really take that long (I know, I've had to do it!!) It sounds like a genuine mistake, so get over it and move on. In future retrieve all your codes and write them down somewhere, that way nobody else can retrieve the code accidently or deliberately.

There have been cases in the UK where the radar guns have been calibrated correctlybut the user has been operating the device incorectly. The laser speed guns should be aimed at the number plate of the car, anywhere else can give wildly inaccurate readings. I remeber reading about a case where a lorry (with a governer set to 52mph) was clocked at doing over 100mph! I think as the previous poster pointed out, reasonable doubt counts for a lot!!

I think people have got the jist - GC.com needs a more inventive solution. I have a cache that was never activated AND I archived that I store my personal geocoins in, I also use it to kick start my travelling GC/TB's mileage and to upload photos that aren't related to any particular cache. This cache, "Kifcog's geocoin piggybank" is my home coordinates, but nobody can see it because it has never been activated. I would love people to be able to browse the GC's I hav ein it and to view some of the photos, but they can't! I would love for a solution, perhaps a "home cache" (with the coordinates hidden) or a section on the profile where you can drop things - GC.com already has my home coordinates for calculating my nearest caches, surely it can't be that difficult to have all TB's and GC's set of from them. As for the original post, I think this is a simple case of somebody mishandling your TB. I would NEVER log somebody elses TB into my cache as it is inaccessable!

It's the bog standard eTrex - replaced (with the help of birthday funds) with a CSX60. It was my 30th one candle oer decade! I hadn;t noticed one was missing - wierd

Just thought I'd share a picture of the birthday cake my wife made for me - She's no Deliah smith but I think she did a good job!

I'm gobsmacked - I thought the competition was way too tough. I always struggle at vituals and earthcaches where you have to take a picture of yourself at the cache site so I always like them to be a little bit whacky. The crazy hairdo was the result of getting into a mullett growing competition with a friend of mine (I won!) Thanks for the cointest, and thanks to all the other entrants who gave me a good chuckle.

Here's a piccie I took of myself to claim an earthcache nearby. My wife fell about laughing when she saw my hair. Neadless to say a had a haircut soon after!

I think a collection inventory would be a great idea. My modest collection is growing and I have an unpublished and archived cache that I currently keep my trackables in. Whilst this is accepateble it is far from ideal for a number of reasons. I would like people to be able to see the cache and it's contents, which they cannot do as is. Also, I would love to be able to see all the contents of this cache in one list, however, you can only se the first 15 or so items. Bring on a method of handeling collections in bulk, and whilst your at it software to keep track of how far all you traveling TBs have gone, where they are etc, without having to visit you trackable page and go through each item one by one!

Sorry the piccies are so big - This is the size I make them to try and capture as much detail as possible - Some of my pics are available on the geocoin wiki site ( I won the Australia coin by addinf phots etc to that site.

Fascinating looking at these photos. I also love to take photos of all my coins - I post them on there pages. It is interesting to see thet you suffer from exactly the same problems, namely- If you take the photo straight down you catch your reflection in very shiny coins, you also produce light and dark areas on the coin instead of an even contrast. If you take the picture off centre you can eliminate the problem of the cameras reflection (although you may create other reflections - Unfortunatley you do create two additional problems. The coin will no longer appear round, and whislt that can be corrected, it can look odd if you can see one edge of the coin when you shouldn't (a bit like the way buildings can look "odd" on google earth when you can see thier frontages when you shouldn't be able to) You also have to reduce the apeture of the lens in order to increase the depth-of-field, this leads to increased exposure times and more blurry photos (even with a tripod) My method is to photo graph on a sunny but slightly overcast day with a reflector positioned on the other side of the coin to reduce the shadows. I take the pictures straight down. I have a shield I made from a piece of card that attaches to the end of the lens that reduces the reflections in shiny coins, the photograph is taken through a small hole in the middle, it causes a small amount of vignetting but I take the pictures oversize and crop it out. The shield thing is still a work in progress, the Mk1 Version was two tone (yellow/blue) this came about because artists paint reflective surfaces by imagining them in a desert. It wasn't entirely successfuy so I'm conducting experiments to decide whether white or some other colour would be better. Anyway, here's a couple of example of my work. I have loads more, but I have only posted pics of coins I own, so I extend the same offer,If I have it in my collection, you are welcome to a piccie!

Thanks for a great cointest - agree with 501, I think now this cointest is finished the dust might settle and this site will become an excellent resource for all us coin junkies! PS we don't get a thanksgiving holiday here in the UK :-( Nevermind, christmas is coming soon :-)

Whats happened!! I go away and do some painting for a week and the site seems to have changed completely - There is now a Animal Icon catagory and a Wildlife catagory, Animal Icons ins a "Major" catagory and wildlife one isn't - I don't get that! I think we need to start a new thread where we can discuss all the changes and organisation of this wiki, either that or start using the "talk" pages to discuss changes. Personally I feel that we should limit the number of catagories to those which are sensible, and catagorise each coin into all the catagories that fit. I think it's a shame that we can't display the icons in the catagory pages, I think I might experiment with tables and try to create a grid of coin icons that will be displayed at the top with the listing underneath. Anyway, hope to have a little play later, time permitting.

I'm thinking about somewhere near Southend/Chelmsford area. I'm looking at The HAwk in Battlesbridge (Does real ales, an essential feature) but I'm not sure if they have the space.

Thanks all, I didn't want to mark any coins as missing becaus they wern't, I knew exacty where they are! I now have a cache box that I will take with me to events, it's registered and archived, GC17ATA. As you can see my Geocoin collection really IS modest (I haven't activated many coins yet) I'm hoping my collection will grow come christmas!!)

I started adding catagories but I think this might create some problems. 1) The catagory page won't show the icon at for a particular coin on it (I can't see any way of making this work) You could have a seperate bit at the top that read like the catagory pages that have started to be created, but this will increase the workload considerably (people will have to add there coin twice or the original bog standard "catagory" page could be deleated so that you get sent straight to the proper catagory page. 2) Geocoins with no page (and there are a LOT on this site) can't be added without creating a page - This means that you have to create a page to put it in a catagory, it then no longer shows up as a pageless coin (prompting people like us to try and do something about it!) I didn't want to go and make some major edits without canvassing opinion, I will go on adding coins to catagories but not sure about how the final layout should work.

The Lavender Hill Mob (above) have done some excellent puzzle caches, well worth a look. I wouldn't particularily recommend Westcliff Stumpy as I think its a dogs urinal! As for Fishermans freing I haven't done it yet as I'm a yorkshire man and too tight to stump up the £2 to go down the pier!! There are loads in Langdon hills HOWEVER many are unmaintaied and missing/poor nick - It would be my third choice of area. I would recommend (not necesserily in this order) Hockly Woods (many caches) Thornden Country Park (Loads more caches nr Brentwood) and TLHMs cacches (Except Thundersly Micro and West Wood Tree, sorry i didn't find them worth the effort HOWEVER Ullr - Norse God of Skill and the Hunt is the best cache I have ever done - you need to dedicate some time to it though) When your in the area drop me a line and if i'm free i'll happily meet up - unfortunately I've done all the local caches, but I'd be happy to come along for the ride

Hi all, I'm planning to organise a geocaching event in south essex. This will be the first I've organised so I'd be grateful for ideas and tips on how to organise a great event. I thought a simple meet would be good as I'd love to meet some of the folks I see in the logs, but where and when?? Please help Jon (kifcog)

I'm afriad i've turned into a bit of FTF shark (2x FTF's today) I think the secret is to check regularily for new caches, and be ready to dash out of the door at the first opportunity (caching back packed and well equipped. Also be prepeared to go out at any time of the day or night to grab the cache.

They have to be purple because purple synegisic vibrations are tune to the universes fundamental harmonics and blah... blah... blah... To people actually buy this cr*p!

Thanks for all the ideas guys, Think I'll archive a cache I've never submitted. Cheers !

Do just US service personnel count. I served in the UK forces Royal Logistics Corp (driving lorries) and later in the Royal Army Medical Corps (As a nurse). My father also server with 2 PARA in the Falklands war. I was 7 at the time and remeber thinking it was very exciting him going off to fight. He never spoke much about the war until I read an autobiography written by a guy he knew. It was only then that I realised that friends of his had died. Just respected my 2 minutes silence here in the UK.

I have a very modest collection of geocoins that I would like to activate, however I don't want all the hassle of having loads of coins listed in my inventory. Do people create caches and then immediately archive them just to virtually "store" all there coins or do they just put up with them in thier inventory. Any other solutions would be appreciated!