Frog Man

I just started doing Benchmarks also, I am also disappointed that GC doesn't allow creating GPX files for Benchmarks. I have found a workaround which has at least helped me. First if you have GSAK, it would be helpful - Create a Database called "Benchmarks" I then got the NGS Datasheet datafile for my county - see http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_archive.prl Select state, then county - download zipped file to a work folder on your PC Unzip it to the work folder Get this program "bmgpz.exe" to create a GPX file from the Datasheet file gotten from NGS - get it here - http://parkrrrr.com/ Download the program and put it in the work folder It is a DOS program which reads the NGS file, creating a GPX file. The created GPX file contains all the NGS data about all the benchmarks in the county(s) you downloaded. Note: it does not contain any GC logs. You can use this like any other pocket query GPX file, but I loaded it into GSAK. Using GSAK you can filter ones out and create Cachemate files. You can also record notes, finds, DNF etc. I actually went to GC.Com and found there logs for my local Benchmarks, copying them into a User Note in GSAK. These will be passed to Cachemate for reference in the field. My Palm wouldn't hold all the Benchmarks in my county, so I used GSAK filtering to get just Benchmarks in one area at a time. Hope this helps a little..............Frog Man

It's going to be interesting when all these "bandwagon jumpers on" realize that they can not mix & match "way-whatevers" and GC caches for easy downloading, logging etc. We just got the GPS vendors to recognize GEOCaching and now there is a new twist because people don't like virtual caches. My PC Software, GPS Unit and PDA all say "what is this". I've also been caching for a while and haven't found to many virtuals I didn't like. As a matter of fact, you can only use virtuals in National Parks, so they even have their own protected area. I've hiked out to a few virtuals, so there is no box - in my area they are going the way of the dinosaur anyway - now its micros, namos, puzzles etc. Also I seem to see a lot of TNLNSL! That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it!

Used new feature "cm2gpx" today. Took a little doing getting"cm2gpx" to work. Finally created GPX file from my cachemate founds. I then used the GSAK function to update my finds. Low and behold, no matches. I then just loaded the GPX file to GSAK and found that there was a waypoint matching problem. When creating the cachemate file using GSAK I stripped off the "GC" and added the cache type making a new waypoint name. Example: GCH9QF becomes H9QF-T. Now when I feed the cm2gpx created GPX file back to GSAK there are no hits because of the changes. Is there anyway in GSAK to get around this problem?

In the meantime, try turning your speakers off when using GSAK - makes the music much less annoying! Or turn off "play sounds" in your web browser settings. This is actually one of the problems with this request. Playing of sounds in HTML is browser specific and GSAK does not have control of your browser. In my case I use a program called "AdSubtract", which uses a proxy server to allow me to suppress music and background graphics without having to "turn off" things. What I wanted was to have GSAK use the same technique or my proxy server to suppress those things I don't want - I guess it's just to bad - thanks anyway........

This is the "Waypoint Name" I use when sending waypoints to GPS-V which allows 20 characters in a waypoint name - %drop2-%typ1-%smart %notGC %code This is the "Waypoint Name" I use when creating a Cachemate File - %drop2-%typ1 %notGC %code Note the dashes - makes the name more readable........

Mr & Mrs - that is no problem in Cachemate - just - Get into Cachemate list screen on your palm - Click on drop-down Palm icon in lower left corner of screen - Click on "options" in drop-down menu - Click on "List Options" - In "Extra Info" use drop down arrow to select "waypoints" That should now allow both waypoint name and description on list screen. You also should consider some of the functions in GSAK that allows you to drop the redundant "GC" in the waypoint id when creating Cachemate files and also when loading the waypoints to your GPS Good Luck...........

Two requests for GSAK - Option to suppress music some people are adding to their web-pages. Each time I click on the cache in GSAK the music plays - Option to suppress background pictures/graphics some people are adding to their webpages - just annoying during split screen browsing --- As always, if possible............. Thanks again for GSAK, hope you have enough paying customers to give you time to enjoy your product............

As CR mentioned, it's a good idea to check the results of your spinner output by using your default browser before loading it to your PDA. What I did wast to create a shortcut pointing to the 'index.html' created during the spinner run (example: D:Garmin GPSGPX SpinnerSpinner Created WebPagesindex.htm). That way you just have to click on it and your browser will startup. If it looks ok, make sure your ran "update" in plucker to create the new plucker files.

While surfing I noticed this webpage about wireless access to GEOCaching http://www.texasgeocaching.com/mobile_access.asp Good luck.............

If you feel comfortable with software, you should give a program called "cache harvester" a try - it can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~msargent2/ch/ The main problem with all these programs is the setup. With this one, the best thing is to get the coords you want caches from - input that and other General Options data and click "go". It goes right to GEOCaching to get all caches within the range you enter. If all you want is unfound caches, it will just do those. You can then click on any cache and it will take you to the webpage for that cache. You can also create a GPX file which can be loaded into EASYGPS and then to your GPS unit. It sure lets me do a lot of what-ifing without having to wait for a GEO GPX file. Good luck..........

The best software I have found todate is 'Cache Harvester' at http://home.earthlink.net/~msargent2/ch/ Once you set this program up you can mine data from GEOCaching anytime - no waiting for GPX files. You can click on a cache and it will take you to the cache's page. GPX files which can be used to load data to a GPS unit can be created. Many other file types can be created. The main thing is to set it up correctly - I use it all the time to find caches in any area.

‘Cache Police’ is a forum term I noticed used to refer to cachers who police other cachers’ actions. I have to agree with others that policing should be left up to the powers to be, not to someone who doesn’t like what someone does. This feature would just give cachers the option to remove themselves from the completion that seems to be forming around this ‘found number’. I found 8 the other day and I was asked if the reason was to jack up my numbers – not! As far as Dan’s list, I would say it just didn’t show up on the individual user stats pages. I certainly wouldn’t want take away from other stats.

I would like a new option added to the profile page – that is the option to hide ‘found numbers’. I am not in this to build up my found number – if it was money – well, maybe then! To just have a number next to my Id saying I was ‘hot’, just doesn’t turn me on. I would just ignore the number, but it seems, as I get higher on the chart (my friends as well), the ‘cache police’ start coming out of the cracks. These ‘cache police’ always seem to have high numbers – it seems to me that they become more concerned about the ‘rearview mirror’ as we get closer. By hiding my numbers, they might be able to settle down and enjoy the ‘search’ instead of their immortality!