geomania

Hi, folks. Has anyone had any problems with Garmin etrex series GPSrs? I've have a Vista for about 18 months now, and have recently become aware of a number of niggles, both in constructional quality and in operation. Firstly, the 'operational' problems: On a number of occasions, on power-up the location has been innacurate - putting me somewhere about 200 miles off the western coast of Portugal rather than in NW England, and giving my speed as something in excess of 1000mph (!). This suggests a 'software' type problem, to me. Occasionally, the unit will turn itself off, for no apparent reason (batteries good). Occasionally the display will become garbled, or have vertical lines running down it - a power on-off cycle returns things to normal. Now the constructional problems: When I bought my Garmin 12V power/data lead, it would not fit into the 'socket' on the rear of the unit - I had to carve a small amount of the plastic case (of the GPSr) away in order to get it to fit. Recently, the glue used to stick the rubber 'bump strip' around the edge of the unit has started to ooze out, resulting in a slimy mess on the sides of the GPSr. The rubber flap covering the data/power 'socket' has started to tear. Has anyone else experienced similar problems with the etrex series, or is it just me that's got a 'Friday afternoon lemon'? Cheers, G.

quote:Originally posted by Pooter:Is there any limit to how far south you have to be to get a signal because my Vista sat out on a post in the garden (near Glasgow) for half an hour with not a trace of 33 or 44 making an appearance. Pooter, The WAAS/EGNOS sats are in geostationary orbit, so you shouldn't have a problem 'seeing' them, provided that you have good, low-elevation view to the south and east. You should be able to see the symbols for the sats , even if you can't receive the signal. Don't forget that you have to have WAAS enabled from the setup menu... you should then see (on the sat page) up to (only) 10 'normal' sats, and the 2 WAAS/EGNOS sats - 33 is almost due S, 44 is out to the ESE, closer to the horizon. Give it another go, and remember that to initially acquire the data might take 15 or 20 mins - you should be able to see the'grey bars' whilst this is happening, though. G.

quote:Originally posted by Daisy&me:The oldest virgin cache in the UK now appears to be GC693F Ordnance Survey Map 1 (Shetland), which was placed about 9 months ago. When you see where it is you'll realise why! Well, that's just not on! I'll be going up to Shetland soon, so I'll have a go at finding it when I get there... Hopefully it'll have a log before it's first birthday Regards, G.

OK, chaps. Have now messed with the Vista for a week or so and have noted that once the almanac data is acquired from Sats 33 and/or 44 then a reported accuracy of 6 feet is common, even when travelling at speed. reported accuracy is definitely lower than without WAAS/EGNOS whilst acquiring data, and it doesn't seem to make any difference whether 33, 44, or 33 & 44 are visible. Now I guess that the question is - how long is the almanac data valid for? It appears that the 'D' markers stay visible for a few minutes after loss of the WAAS/EGNOS signal, and are quick to restore when the sats come into view again provided that the signal isn't lost for very long. I'll have to have a dig arouond to see if I can find out more... Regards, G.

quote:Originally posted by Team Blitz (Michael): Remember....you're not a salmon Unless, of course your name happens to be Fintan, in which case, you might well be.... G.

Thanks for that, chaps. Krazy Kats, you mentioned that these '.rp' marks are only found on 'large scale' maps... What scale do they have to be before these marks are used, and when did they stop marking maps in this way? IIRC the maps I have here are 6"/mi, from the 1848 survey of Manchester/Salford and surrounding areas. The photo records of the rps - are they archived on-line?, or are they indeed available for scrutiny at all? It would be a shame to think that they had all been chucked in the skip! Thanks again, G.

Hi folks, Reading the earlier thread about benchmarks, reminded me of somthing that's been puzzling me for ages... I have some 1848 (?) OS maps of this area somewhere, and seem to remember several instances of points marked thus:- .rp Does anyone have any idea what these are meant to be? Theres one within 100yds of my houde, and it seems to be marked on the map at the corner of a building - I've scoured the corner of said building, and the pavement around, but can't see anything, so am stumped Any ideas? Cheers, G.

quote:Originally posted by Pharisee:Can anyone confirm that the EGNOS satellite is now transmitting data that is acceptable to Garmin GPSr's ? I seem to remember someone saying that it would be on-line and transmitting valid data as from today. John Age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability. John, I've done a bit of playing last night and today... without WAAS enabled on my Vista, I have been consistently getting '16 feet' accuracy with a good view of the sky, dropping to '23 feet' or more as the conditions worsen. Last night I put the Vista on the bedroom windowsill (faces East, so sat No. 44 is possible, No.33 obscured by the house) and after giving it chance to acquire data, had the Vista reporting '9 feet' accuracy. I went out this morning, on foot, and didn't seem to be able to 'see' #44, but could get a reasonable signal from #33. without WAAS, the performance was 17 feet, as normal. With WAAS enabled, reported accuracy deteriorated around to 30 or 40 feet until data was acquired, whereupon the reported accuracy was '14 feet'. Whilst this is better than I have ever seen without WAAS, it's not exactly an earth-shattering improvement. I'll need to try it whilst staionary for a period of time to see if it improves over time, and will try to get out to a place not far from here where both #33 and #44 are visible so that i can see if there's any difference in performance. I realise thet this test has been neither exhaustive, nor scientific, but at least it shows that some improvement is to be had with Garmins fitted with WAAS. I'll post more when I've had a chance to collect more data. Cheers, G.

quote:Originally posted by Team Galaxy:Even though food in caches is discouraged, chocolate bars still seem to get put in with amazing regularity. No-one wants them, so they linger and linger. My question is this. Would you ever, EVER eat a twix you found in a cache? I mean even if you were starving to death? ____________________________________________ _Everyone is entitled to my opinion..._ Never, Never, NEVER!! I can't stand 'em (Now, a nice chunky KitKat would be a different matter...) Seriously tho' if it was sealed in an airtight wrapper, didn't look as if it had been there for a couple of years, and I was really in need of the sugar, I'd do it. In fact, I was most dissapointed when I found the cache at Windy Hill to discover that there was no KitKat in there! Regards G.

Mark, I'd just like to say, publicly, that any excess voting on the poll was nothing to do with me, despite the (prvately emailed) question I asked the other day :-) BTW, would blocking on the IP address work? Sure, for someone with a static IP like myself, it would be a go-er (but bear in mind that you *can* force a re-assignment of IP address even on a nominally static broadband connection), but anyone on dial-up internet access or with a frequently re-assigned dynamic IP could still get around things couldn't they? Regards, G.

quote:Originally posted by geomania: It takes a while but does get you the beat price in the end Sorry, slip of the finger, there... That should have (of course) said: 'It takes a while but does get you the *best* price in the end ' G.

Hi, vki. I'm not a native of London, but whwenever I am down there, I usually head for Tottenham Court Rd. for this sort of thing. Try these: Ask Electronics 248 Tottenham Court Road London W1T 7RB Tel: 020 7637 0353 (Open Thursdays until 7.00pm) Kamla Electronics 251 Tottenham Court Road London W1T 7RB Tel: 020 7323 2747 McDonald Electronics 70 Oxford Street London W1D 1BP Tel: 020 7636 2877 (Open Thursdays until 7.00pm) Harp Electronics 237 Tottenham Court Road London W1T 7QW Tel: 020 7636 4611 (Open Thursdays until 7.00pm) All of which I've bought stuff from at some time in the past. It's also worth trying any/all of the many other stores you'll find in the same road, and don't forget to HAGGLE!! most of them will match or beat prices give by the others.... It takes a while but does get you the beat price in the end Cheers, G.

quote:Originally posted by The Hornet:... I'm afraid your free time won't be the same any more. No journey will be undertaken without that quick check just to see if there are any caches on route. My deepest sympathies to you and your family. ..... Thanks for your good wishes. I've got to say, that my wife didn't look *too* pleased whilst I was scrabbling about in the undergrowth, but to be fair, she wasn't feeling too well today... She can't really complain, as she's been on at me to do more walking/excercise, and now I've got the perfect excuse for more moorland excursions! I just wish that I'd found out about 'caching before now. I spent two years doing 3 nights a week in a hotel in 'sunny Borehamwood', watching the telly and sitting in the bar - if only I'd known, I could have been wandering around Watford and the rest of Hertfordshire, looking for your caches! (And all without my wife having to get involved ) Regards, G.

Greetings, all. I'm pleased to say that I'm no longer a geocaching 'virgin'! Went out today, armed with my shiny new eTrex Vista, and found (after a little ferretting around)my first cache. 'Lead Mines' by the Carney Family is a nice easy walk for a sunny but cold afternoon - Thanks to Ian and family for the excuse to re-visit the area. I've been up there quite a few times previously, but was blissfully unaware of the presence of a cache until a month ago! Regards G.

It seems I must have bashed the 'post now' button twice, there..... Sorry, G. [EDIT by T&J] No problem, duplicates deleted. [This message was edited by Tim & June on February 14, 2003 at 09:38 PM.]

quote:Originally posted by Pharisee: quote:Originally posted by geomania:............. and you'd like to complicate the accurate delivery of munitions in the homelands... /QUOTE] If, heaven forbid, it comes to that, I don't think it will matter too much if a nuke, biological or chemical warhead hits me bang on the head or only manages to get within a 100 yards of me. John Yes, quite. However, the wonderful government wouldn't be much worried about the back of *your* head -- they'd be thinking more along the lines of whether *their* bunker would take a hit within 15feet, or 100yards! quote:Originally posted by Team Blitz: Yes, the L2 frequency carries much more accurate timing information, the decoding of which is the prerogative of the military agencies, and a few other licenced users, These receiver only use the data on the L1 frequancy to make the TTFF manageable. The point is that (essentially) only the military agencies of 'friendly' (to the US) countries have access to the sub-metre accurate L2 service, everyone else has to make do with what 'domestic equipment' (combined with DGPS and/or WAAS) can offer. It therefore makes sense to degrade the performance of that domestic service in friendly areas, whilst leaving things alone in the theatre of operations, for the reasons already pointed out -- i.e shortage of genuine mil-spec GPSrs for issue to ground troops. Sorry, rambling a bit, now... hope this all makes sense ;-) Regards G.

quote:Originally posted by conedxf & family:I have used both Nicad and NiMH batteries without problems, if you own a Garmin GPS a number of them allow you to specify the type of battery in the system setup, so if you use rechargeables, the battery meter remains accurate. The cheapest place I have found for batteries is http://www.7dayshop.com , they are currently doing 2000maH batteries at abour £6 for a pack of 4 Best Wishes Mark Don't forget that, as Team Blitz reported on 30/01, Maplin have packs of 12 NiMH 1800mAh rechargeables on offer at the moment for the bargain price of £14.99... I bought 2 packs, and am pleased with them so far... G.

quote:Originally posted by Bill D (wwh):Selective Availability as it was used prior to May 2000 applied worldwide. But the technology now exists to enable it to be imposed on a regional basis, for example applying it to a Middle East war zone but not elsewhere. I don't think there's any real likelihood that we're going to see it back on a worldwide scale. Bill Curious, but I've always thought that in the event of war, they'd want to have SA *on* at home, and *off* in the war zone - on the basis that you'd like to know exactly where you are in the region where the trouble is, and you'd like to complicate the accurate delivery of munitions in the homelands... Isn't this what WAAS is going to be all about? they can permanently degrade the main GPS signals worldwide, and selectively improve matters in 'appropriate' areas using WAAS - look at the coverage areas for each WAAS satellite.... just my 0.02Euro... G.

Yep, I can concur with Bernie on this. I ordered on Saturday night, and would have had the unit in my sweaty hands by Wednesday morning, had it not been for the sterling efforts of Royal Mail! Anyway, I had it by yesterday (Thursday) am, and am now getting to grips with it... By the way, the same guy has just put another batch of Vista's up on Ebay (at £210) and also has some basic yellow eTrex's (at, IIRC, £85) these prics are plus postage/insurance of £6 I suppose that I should say that I have no connection with this guy, apart from as a satisfied customer, BTW Regards, G.

Sorry, the above didn't come across too well in the post - It was supposed to be a multi-line caption, not three separate attempts (a silly old bugger, am I...) G.

Welcome to Geocaching lesson #1. OK LiS, what is it we do now?... Put this in here?... No, you pair of daft ugly old buggers, you put the *tupperware* in the hole and use *the GPS* to find it... Cheers, G.

I spotted this post last night (saturday), and had a look - only one left by then, so I took the plunge... Bernie, I'd be interested to hear from you (assuming that Sue hasn't 'done' for you...;-) ). Drop me an email at geomaniaNOSPAMTHANKYOUVERYMUCH@aibidil.co.uk , and let me know when it arrives . How did you pay BTW? So, Bernie has bought one, but have the other two gone to anyone else on the forum? Regards G.

Have a look at the poll that I have posted, and let me know how 'brown drinking tokens', 'paper tokens', 'squidlets', or whatever you'd be prepared to part with for a 'patch'. Cheers, G.

Sorry!, This poll is connected with the thread "Anyone with a fancy sewing machine?" started by Team Blitz a few days ago. I hadn't realised that starting a poll would start a new thread Regards, G

These 'patches' sound like a good idea. Maybe we could have "beginner's", "bronze", "silver", and "gold" versions depending on your number of cache finds? I have access to machinery which is capable of making them, but would have to put *some* money into new software before I could actually produce any. Before putting my hand in my pocket, I'd need to know whether I could recover the costs in a sensible time... So, chaps (& chapesses...) how much would you be prepared to pay for one these 'patches'?