elmo-fried

The URL is pretty vague, IMHO: http://www2.faa.gov/avr/afs/cabinsafety/FAR's/91-21.rtf So basically, they say the ban doesn't apply to (b)1-4, and everything else falls under an "if" in section 5 and is dependant on the operator (airline) or if it's not a carrier then the pilot. In other words the airline can say what causes interference or not and ban it, end of story.

Just want to let folks know out to be on guard when you cache with kids.

Also, to get a GPX file to test out, you could opt for the monthly membership and just try it out for one month ($3). Once you've paid the $3, then you're allowed to create a Pocket Query, which is what will email you the GPX file based on the criteria you specify (simplest is just to use your home ZIP code, 500 caches, and choose GPX format). I should warn that the GPX files can be relatively large for a dial-up internet users (2mb), so you should use the .ZIP/compress option for your Pocket Query and use a good uncompression tool once you download the file, like 7-Zip (totally free, unlike WinZip): http://www.7-zip.org/

Or a laptop + Pocket Queries + Watcher. Yeah, I cache with my laptop, but I don't have to sync with or remember to keep a PDA charged. Someone needs to make a universal Cell/PDA/GPSr with fuel cell batteries that run for months (years?) without needing a recharge ;-)

GPSbabel will do this conversion and many more. Here is an exact command-line that you'd use to convert from Geocaching.com's LOC to CSV use: gpsbabel.exe -s -i geo -f 35909.loc -o csv -F 35909.csv To convert GPX to CSV: gpsbabel.exe -s -i gpx -f 35909.gpx -o csv -F 35909.csv GPSBabel link is available on my Geocaching page, which can be found in my sig (I'm not the author, just a fan).

I received an email confirming that they were removing 'burying':

From what I've read online: WAAS is used to correct GPS information. Turning it off shouldn't speed up acquiring the normal GPS birds. If one of the normal GPS birds was acting up and you didn't have WAAS on, you wouldn't know not to use it (that's one of the good things about WAAS, it can tell you to ignore a bad signal). The only thing I can think of that turning off WAAS is good for is preserving battery life, or if you our outside of the WAAS coverage area (South America, etc.). Garmin correct this last bug with newer software updates, and I'm sure Magellan has or will do the same:

That's what you do after a nice day spent chasing down 'caches

I used their contact form to submit:

eTrex Software Support page Hmm, I don't think I've experienced this problem, but I'd hate to have it occur and I know I have had two WAAS birds tracked at once. I should note that this is for the eTrex Vista, Legend, Venture/Mariner and doesn't appear to affect other models.

I'd liken Geocaching to other sports or fun activities and put the question to her like that (or ask it to yourself): What if it was hiking or rock climbing or weight lifting or motorcycle riding or shooting down at the range (or in sporting competitions) or [insert your own activity here] - would you allow her to say "No, you can never do that, and you can never take our son"? Before I found GeoCaching, I hiked with my son all the time: I've an agreement with my Wife that my Son won't ride passenger on my motorcycle for another year and not until I buy him his own set of riding gear. Originally I was pretty peeved that she wouldn't even agree to let me ride down the block with him to the store, but she's right, an accident could happen at 35MPH an he really needs riding gear to make it through a fall safely. Ok, the point of my post is that any <i>reasonable</i> person shouldn't have a problem with any <i>reasonable</i> sport. I cache all the time at night as it is when I have the most time, but I nearly never do it solo unless I already know the area and know it's "safe" (safe is really relative these days). Usually it's with my Brother, and I feel rather safe no matter where we cache with the two of us. Perhaps you should find another male caching buddy to go caching with, especially another with kid(s)? Then she really should have no objection as you're going out to have your own personal time and involving your son. Just my two cents. Marriage is about compromises at times.

Hey, just wanted to claim first post in the CVC thread since the new forums have been online! As nothing significant was said at the temporary CVC forum site I put up, I won't bother to post the logs here. The one idea I did have was for a semi-official CVC webpage, much like the one that the River City folks have. I've got the webspace and hosting to do it, I'm just not much of a webmaster by today's standards. Hey, but I got permission to use George's logo for now. cvc-geocaching.artoo.net One idea I did have was to have write-permission for a number of folks (or perhaps anyone who wants it and doesn't abuse it) using Movable Type as an authoring front-end, much like a 'blog or slashcode style webpage, but less breakable than one where folks had write access to the whole site. As I've done 2 MT installs so far, setting up a 3rd wouldnt' be that hard at this point doing the initial web/mySQL back-end stuff... It's the HTML stylesheet and css customization that is a bit more work and where I'm not up to speed. I'm thinking about something that would appeal to those that want to "post your local story" type of thing here, I think, and less to those that just sign "TNLNSL" and jump along to the next dozen logs to sign. Alhough, writing about a days' dozen or so caches would be great too.

I tote my laptop everywhere and use Watcher (Requires PQs) and MS MapPoint to import them as CSV files converted by GPSbabel. MS MapPoint allows me to draw a box and select items I've plotted and then say "Add as routes". From there, I can tell it to optimize travel to all routes... it's rather slick. Only problem I run into from time to time is when it cannot figure out to how to get close to a cache not near a road. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

Just thought I'd pipe in here. I have no problem giving respect to law enforcement. Having worked as tech support for a number of local agencies and hearing the crap they deal with, I'm not gonna hassle them with "my rights." Further, I want them to think positively of Geocaching. I've been questioned by 3 difference law enforcement personel while 'caching. Each time, I showed them my GPSr, the printout I had, and explained it. The cache was on public property, and no problem. One time they wanted my ID and ran a quick call (as we were about 60 miles from my address), and I have no problem with that (especially since I had a U-Haul parked on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere). The only issue I have is with rent-a-cops. I was at a local JC (junior college) which has a cache hidden on the private parking lot side. I'd previously searched on the public alley side and had no luck, so we tried the other side at night. The rent-a-cop wanted to know what we were doing, and I explained. He said we were on private property and that the school was closed and we weren't allowed to be there. I said I wasn't aware that it was private property, as there was no sign posted and that it was a public school, but agreed to leave. Not so fast though, he wanted our ID. Sorry, Mr. rent-a-cop, ain't gonna happen. You ask me to leave, I'll leave, but you're not getting my ID which has my home address. He said to wait and called his supervisor, who told him to let us leave. I put a warning on the cache that it was technically private property and to cache it during the regular school hours and if asked, say you were visiting the public campus library (which you could always go visit as it is open to the general public during normal hours). Anywho, I've heard too many stories about rent-a-cop's being sicko-nutjobs. In fact, my Wife and I tell our kids if they are lost to find a mom with kids and ask her for help (we don't mention anything about finding a uniformed person, who most likely would be a rent-a-cop, and not an officer of the law). Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

quote:Originally posted by MaxEntropy:I'm flying to Paris in April. I know that I'm too into it when I reject airlines because they don't allow GPS use in flight. American is OUT. Mickey Max Entropy More than just a name, a lifestyle. Heh, kinda like me when I book a hotel (has to have high-speed internet access.. but that's easier to find these days). Or when I buy a house (two now), it has to have DSL or I won't close escrow. I actually put it in the terms of this last house, that I'd pay for a phone line and have it installed two weeks before escrow and that it must sync up and work before I'd close. But then Modesto still doesn't have cablemodem, so it's not like I have a choice of high-speed low-latency internet. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

Just have to say the coin looks awesome and I can't wait until I'm able to order 'em! Personally, I agree with BB and say drop the coordinates. Or, make them be the exact coordinates of the Eureka seal at the Sacramento state capital (which is where the star for the state should be anyway)... just a thought. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

quote:Originally posted by SpongeRob: quote: This statement is ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT. You can download either format into the etrex through EasyGPS, which is a free program. No format conversion is necessary. Ok, perhaps I need to clarify here what I said. You can't directly take a LOC and feed it into your Garmin GPS. Easy GPS does the conversion. Based on the original post it seemed clear to me that the requester was trying to do this with mapsource not with EasyGPS. Hense my approach of conversion rather than Using Easy GPS. Ease up buddy. -- Sponge_Rob_ rwmech@keenpeople.com) http://www.keenpeople.com/ WPWU826 http://www.keenpeople.com/stats/ Not to get to nitpicky, but he just asked if he can get a .LOC or .GPX into his eTrex. Didn't specify the application. It was robertlipe who first mentioned Mapsource. The original poster may not even have Mapsource. For click-n-point ease of use, I'd recommend EasyGPS. For the more "advanced" user, I'd recommend gpxspinner first, then gpsbabel to upload (I have a batch file I use to automate the extraction, gpxspinning, and gpsbabel conversion/uploading of the file). But speaking of Mapsource, I also use gpsbabel to convert to GPX files so I can graphically view them in Mapsource. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

You know, as nice as USB would be, even bumping the serial port up to 115K would be a great start (vs 9.6K). Serial ports are easily capable of doing that. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

Hey, I'll agree that trying to 'cache with a laptop for guidance would be a pain, but bringing one along is great. Get a Yellow Etrex at least. I've been caching with my laptop ever since I discovered Watcher and Pocket Queries. With MapSource topo it's great as well (loading all the caches in a given area so you can see where they are, with the terrain and river info... although not always as accurate as is needed to guess the right side of a river). I never print cache pages these days, I just have my laptop in my backpack. I've got a nice padded case that my laptop sits inside of my backpack, so it's relatively safe (it's had minor bounces and slides, no big falls, but then I've also been carrying a laptop in my backpack for the last 5 years, so I'm trained to be more gentle with it). But then I also ride my motorcycle everywhere with my laptop, so I'm used to it. As far as battery life, I've got a spare battery, and so long as I suspend/hibernate, it'll last all day (2 hours with use, and I have a spare battery for another 2 hours). I usually geocache with the kids or my brother, so we take a car/van and I've got a AC/DC power adapter that drives any normal AC plug, so I'm usually 'charging' my laptop whenever we drive (we use the second cig plug for our Garmin power adapter to save GPSr food while driving to caches). But then we try and hit 5-10 geocaches per trip these days, so that's where a laptop is really nice. We don't plan where we're going, we just go. I have 500 geocaches for the 4 major cities where I live in PQ format. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

quote:Originally posted by Bill_Sumrall:No experience with this unit - but, if you are not familiar with GMRS, the FCC license per unit is $75 with a first time fine of $10,000. I order two GMRS units, read that and never opened the package! Sold them on eBay. Bill No, the license fee is $75 and then any immediate family member of the licensee can use any units they wish. So, my Wife, my kids, my Father, Mother, or Brother can all use any GMRS unit with my GMRS handle and are legally "Ok". It's not tied to the unit at all, only to the licensee. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

I post non-spoilers to the cache page and my own page. I post spoilers to my own page and don't link to it. I don't see any harm, and I doubt anyone other than my family and friends view my webpage. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

quote:Originally posted by Pat Patterson:This is a huge one for me. I havn't looked much and may actualy be able to <hope hope hope> I'd like to be able to put 2 points in and have it list all the caches in a set corredor inbetween. Ie; home and edmonds wa where I was for a bbq. give me all the caches 10 miles left or rigth of that line. Then when I'm going on a trip I get a lat,long for my destination and then surch for all the caches that would be on the way. Also when looking for nearest, check boxes for only east of here <or any other direction.> Pat Patterson Garmin 12XL 82CJ7 & 79F250 Herd of Turtles 4x4 club Pay $3/mo or $30/year (or whatever it is) and become a charter member. Then set up a PQ for your home zip for 500 unfound Geocaches. Open the PQ GPX in ClayJar's Watcher and filter for the direction you want to go (I believe you can specify a box now as well): http://www.clayjar.com/ Use Babel to convert the PQ GPX to whatever mapping program you want so you can visually display it: http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net/ The member-only PocketQuery feature is really all you need from GC.com, as there are so many offline tools that can process the data contained within them. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

quote:Originally posted by ZingerHead:Invest in a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger. You will recoup your investment in just a few months of occasional caching, and the environment will be just a little bit better off as well. I go through the recharhable ones like crazy, so I second your advice. I just bought a GPSr car cigarette power adapter ($13) to try and cut down while driving from cache to cache. Also, always keep two sets of spare GPSr food (aka batteries) as well. I typically have two spare sets of rechargeable AA and two sets of disposable *just in case*. The other reason I carry 'extra' AA batteries is because my FRS/GMRS radio takes 3 AA batteries (has it's own rechargeable ones that I can swap out but they tend to only last half the day if I'm using it much), my digital camera takes 2 AA batteries and eats through them before I can fill 128mb of flash, my mini-Maglight takes 2 AA batteries (even though it lasts forever, but I'd hate to have it die while night cachin'). Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

quote:Originally posted by ChiefPig:Now I discovered my unit loses power sometimes after bouncing several times on my chest while walking with the unit hanging on my neck. Did I make a bad decision buying an etrex Legend? My unit is just a day old! Please see my other post regarding this problem: http://ubbx.Groundspeak.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=5726007311&f=7116058331&m=67660997 My Legend developed this problem. It didn't have it at first, as I'd ride with it tied to my bicycle and it never shut off. When I had it exchanged for a warranty repair 9 months later (streaking lines) I realized how 'delicate' it had become as this new unit is much more accepting to bounces. I'd contact Garmin if you're beyond your stores 30 day exchange policy. My replaced Legend is wonderful. Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net

Got my GPSr back from RMA yesterday. As far as I can tell, this is a totally new unit and they just transfered my memory chip(s) over (I have all my same waypoints, routes, plus 8mb worth of Metro and Topo maps). I can't see them spending 3 hours to transfer the maps, which is why I'm guessing they are able to just move the memory chip(s). Another way I know it is a new unit is that the serial number in the battery compartment and the Unit ID reported from the setup menu are new, plus the thing just has that new smell/feel. Not a bad turn-around as I sent it USPS on the 6/25 and got it back on the 7/5 via FedEx (signature required, but we didn't make it to the door in time, but they left it anyway). 8 days without my GPSr was hard, but I managed somehow. Thumbs up for Garmin support Jason Roysdon jason.roysdon.net