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This is sort of off-topic, because It's not about an actual gadget cache . Last Friday, at a local caching event, some friends and I started to talk about unusual special equipment needed to find some geocaches. We speculated what kind of "special" (but not hopelessly unaffordable) equipment we have not yet seen as required for a cache. Soon, a Geiger counter was mentioned. We then had a good laugh imagining a gadget cache design like this: At the posted coordinates, you find a box, with a small Geiger counter + instructions. The task is to find a very small radioactive item within, say, 30 meter radius (in the woods, so essentially unfindable by chance), which holds the logbook (or coordinates of the location of the logbook). To make it clear, this is not a serious cache proposal, but it was super funny to fool around with the idea. But the really hilarious punch-line here is that less than 24 hours later, I first read about the incident in Australia where they really had to find a nano-sized radioactive item with radiation counters ! You can easily google it, but for reference, here is one news link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-64481317

95% of couch logs so far are from very experienced players so this behavior is unlikely to be grounded in confusion about proper logging guidelines and ethics. Interestingly some are the same accounts who like to talk about game integrity in the forums The game contains this disclaimer in different locations: There's no mention of completing this game allowing players to claim a find on the respective cache. While we will try our best to curb couch logging, cheaters only cheat themselves, and it's on all of us honest players to advocate for proper gameplay in the channels at our disposal

Perfect, thank you! I'd missed that one. I spent a lot of time looking at airports back when I first started this list, but now I usually don't go back to a given airport unless one of the existing caches on my list has been archived. For Munich, I know I haven't looked at the map in at least a year. I admit, I struggle with puzzle caches. If it's easily solved, then no problem. But for many, the language barrier is too much for me to overcome. So I usually rely on (robot translated) logs. The best ones are of course any that say, "We had a 4-hour layover at the airport, which gave us plenty of time to go looking for this cache and get back for our flight." Failing that, I look for logs that talk about finding the cache on their way to (or from) the airport. That's why I resurrect this forum post now and again, so I can get feedback from folks who have found the caches on the list. Which brings us to, if any recent finders of GC5PF9M or GC2ABTH have opinions on how feasible it would be to get to either of those caches from the airport terminal, I'd be glad to hear them.

Interesting ideas all around. My 2 cents. I like the comment of Dani+Iris. Yes, it's tedious to maintain a physical location (although in my case it's not too bad honestly). On the other hand, there's plenty of examples of cartridges being (re)used outside of the original cache (the Hangman series in the US, the reverse Wherigo from Waldmeister). To attract a crowd for playing Wherigo's (isn't that what we all want), I feel the app/player experience is key. We (as builders) are obviously quick to point out the flaws/features requests of creating a Wherigo. But, in the end it's still the person that's loading a cartridge on his smartphone who's the boss. So what is it in Wherigo that can attract crowds over the myriad (successful or not) alternatives that have been launched? (I wish I had the answer to this.) Trying to dissect some of the ideas that were posted by Ranger Fox and others on the subject. 1. In general - I like the idea of having a map centric approach. It will put limits to how you can develop things, but I think it will give a much better experience for the player. - Videos: I do see use cases (eg. interaction with an NPC) but I would be deterred by the extra effort needed to create videos on top of building the cartridge. So for sure not a critical/v2.1 item for me. From that respect, Audio is more important. - Formatting of items to make it more appealing: text with different fonts/colors/..., different colors for the zones (if you still have those), ... 2. On Zones - Having a more 'stable' zone experience dealing with GPS-jitter - For most purposes, just a point is sufficient, but having a shape can be interesting (eg. I have one built on a roundabout, the zones are like a piece of a pie forming a complete circle; it's nice to have rectangles if you want to have a "gameboard" like experience) - I like the idea of having a picture/icon showing on the map, instead of just the zone shape. But we need to think about how to do it with overlapping zones/small zones (compared to the minimum picture size) 3. On NPC / Items - I like the idea of having a picture/icon showing. But we need to think about how to do it with many items on the same spot/in the same zone - I like the idea of not being forced to have these NPC/Items in a zone (or the inventory) for them to show up - Taking this one step further: what's the difference between a zone and one of these objects? From a logical perspective, not a lot (especially if you don't have shapes for zones). Only the options you have to interact with the Object might be different ("add to inventory" or "use" for Items, "talk" is typically something for NPC). 4. Online or not? - I do see the advantage of being able to play it offline. Trust me, as a European without decent/affordable data plans outside of Europe, it can become costly when visiting the US or other territories. - I like the idea of having a neatly integrated system with APIs to load a cartridge, post a "log", mark completion, ... 5. On Groundspeak/GC links - With the adventure labs, it's going to be difficult to sell a tour guide like Wherigo platform on them - From the GC posting guidelines: "specific apps" are not allowed. So they can easily block/disallow them. https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=97&pgid=297#mobileapps A small remark on this: yes, it's (more) work to create a Wherigo than just drop a pill bottle behind a tree in a forest. But I am sure some people put equally (if not more) time in building great cache containers, multi's, gadgetcaches or mysteries. That being said, to buld a community, you'll need "many" cartridges (of high quality), so you'll need many builders too. SWIPEE

I've had a Garmin Forerunner for over three years now, nary a problem. All that time I've had a USB to serial connector plugged into a USB port, always ready to connect the Forerunner, first to a Garmin program, then to GSAK, and lately to Garmin's Connect website. Now, all of a sudden, I can't connect anymore. GSAK says "Garmin: Can't Init Com5." The Garmin program CRASHES with a blue screen that says "IRQL NOT LESS THAN" The connect website just says there's nothing there. If I unplug the USB connector, Vista promptly removes it from device manager, and re-installs it when I plug it back in. Manually remove and re-install the driver, to no avail. Garmin won't help me, says the problem is with the USB connector. The things only cost $16, but I really don't think a new one will help. Anyone else had this problem? Thanks, all! Mike

I'll add one that's been present for several years now. When a PNG or GIF image is uploaded to a cache page, the contents of the file are quietly changed to progressive jpeg with no warning and no change to the file suffix. There are plenty of puzzle caches that rely on these file formats, for example where the solution is encoded in RGB values, yet this behaviour isn't even documented in the Help Centre, leaving unwary COs oblivious to the fact that their carefully crafted PNG or GIF file has turned into a jpeg without even the .JPG extension to suggest anything's changed. The only explanation given for this is that, for players on slow internet connections, it looks prettier for images to gradually come into focus than to be built up raster-fashion. Talk about form over function!

Bundled Uverse-$152 a month-some glitches Smart phone with all the bells-$82 a month-some glitches Groundspeak-$2.50 a month-some glitches Which one gives you the most for the least? Thanks to ALL at Groundspeak for what you do!

Be welcome! I would suggest that you do some caching for a while, attend some Events and talk to folks there... I bet all (almost) your questions will be answered just by playing. On the other hand you may be interested also in some geocaching based books and movies or series, like Splinterheads, Dark, etc. Some rare geocoins would be good things to leave in the caches, or memorabilia from pop culture, like the original artifacts in the APE Cache series, from Planet of the Apes. Enjoy and be inspired. PS: I have done a lot of covers for the portuguese versions of Goosebumps, from R. L. Stine.

I've been checking and couldn't find a thread for this type of WM. How many times can we see a satellite and we have not had time to talk with a partner, or even two partners saw a satellite, but someone who also saw it (and is within the distance of being able to share WM) is left without being able to register it? Well, here we can write down what we saw or did (especially those that were not published)

AKA Mentor Wanted! Hi all New girl in town and living in the gorgeous Prescott Valley, Az. Just joined the site as a premium member so will be learning about all the functions and offerings. I stumbled over a cache accidentally last year while checking out an historical marker/graveyard and was officially hooked, though I'd been familiar with the site and concept for awhile before then. I was given a Magellan sports trak GPS but wasn't very intuitive and had no manuals, cables or anything and couldn't figure out how to use it. Anyway, I'm browsing Amazon ready to order something solid, reliable, and easy to use in the $300 range. I'm seeing high reviews for the Garmin Rino, so thought I would post and ask if anyone here is using it and how it fares for a complete noob and anything I might need to be aware of, and especially if I'll end up spending more $ on back end accessories that I will need but that don't come with (and worse, aren't even mentioned). Finally, if anyone is in Prescott Valley Az area, I would love to meet you. We're relatively new in town too and I've had little opportunity to meet people so far. Geocaching buds would be ideal! Thanks in advance. I think the email is shown, maybe in profile if you prefer that option too. Have a great evening!

Im giving a talk on geocaching for my moms watershed meeting tonight,and Im not really sure how to go about it.I was gonna start by giving the meaning of the word and a brief word on how it got started,then for there Im kinda lost.Any Ideas????

Yeah color me unimpressed lately with HQ. I definitely see them less as stewards now and more of a corporate machine that does not care about us, only about the bottom line. They talk a good game, but killing benchmarks and then messing up the search function and telling us "Sorry, we are on vacation and will get around to it when we get around to it" has me completely put off. At least I can go find a ton of adventure labs with little to no effort from a parking lot somewhere. What an adventure.

i have asked this question several times before and have yet to receive an empirical answer. where did this idea come from that an activated coin is worth less than a non-activated one? same coin, not circulated. i feel it is a myth, a false concept. if that myth was destroyed, then all coins of one type would be equally valuable, even those that were activated because someone wanted the icon. i can understand if we are talking about a circulated coin versus a non-circulated one. just like in the real coin world. this came up recently because of my "fix walter" sales. someone suggested that some of the coins were less valuable because they had been activated. i have long said to that "baloney!" if i want a coin, i don't give a flying hill of ducks if it has been activated or not. it is the same piece of metal, activated or not. so, let's keep it friendly, but let's talk about this.

The approach I've used for locations that haven't already had official geocaching policies has been to ask who I should talk to about getting permission. I don't ask "random employees" for permission. But I do my best to find someone who might know, and then ask that person who I should talk to.

Some people talk about High D/T ratings. Some people talk about solving a difficult puzzle. Some people talk about the cool places they go. But I'll be honest, I'm still chasing that high from the first time I submitted an EC to the Geoaware and said "looking for feedback on what needs to change" and he said "I can publish it right now." Whoosh. Blew. My. Mind.

Atlas, I understand your collection. I also know you realize the difference between using them and collecting them and are prepared to use bespoke software if you can get it at all. (Good luck with that Magellan stuff that required online registration, for example.) Mineral, close call! The 600 was actually the last device that I purchased when it was substantially discounted. The 450 it replaced had gotten crash-happy. The 600 at least rebooted more quickly when it crashed. By the time I purchased it, my own geocaching was largely limited by my own health and available time to business travels when I was "stuck" out of town. South SF Bay had enough geocaches to keep me occupied and there was enough flat land that I could choose my own adventures to tailor my days to my pain level for the day. I think I probably have a thousand or more finds that I've not even logged when I cached in part of a group on GeoWoodstock weekends, but I'm pretty much a former geocacher at this point. Thanx, user13371. For a few years after my surgeries, I was "frownie face" most of the time. While I still can't predict how much time I can devote to software just due to the nature of spinal issues, I do have some random lucid hours from time to time, so I can still pop out a release or two a year even if working from the bed or something. It's just the nature of my disability. The removal is in https://github.com/GPSBabel/gpsbabel/pull/961. Once I get that build green, I'll push it and it'll be gone in the nightlies and all future builds. For some reason, the doc build is silently failing on my machine right now and I don't feel like debugging that. I'll just "spray and pray" in the build cluster at Github. Once that PR is submitted, it shall be done. In vaguely related news, the birthdate of GPSBabel's original code turns drinking age this week. It was just before the Christmas holiday in 2001 when I was still in a neck brace from my very first spinal surgery (the morning of 9/11) when I started geocaching. I had a DNF from mistyping the coordinates in my Map330 and I started writing code to talk to the device from SCO UNIX after being frustrated with the tools available at the time.

Is there a place I can read about the various chipsets? MTK v2, Sirf 111, Cartesio, Mediatex? I totally don't understand them. I am not even sure they are chipsets? Is there a chart that compares them? Or a chart that indicates which chipset that the GPS unit has installed? Seriously, I am just trying to learn. Thanks, Yvette

Come watch Geocache Talk on Sunday night - this podcast show's topic is desirable attributes, which may include talk related to identifying gadget caches At this point though, the Field Puzzle attribute is most relevant to identifying potential gadget caches.

I understand now about Muggles - being the general public. But what if you suspect that someone is also attempting to locate a cache. Do the rules state you can talk or is it STEALTH all the way and talk to NO ONE? Thanks The Bax

Did anyone listen to yesterday's show? Elliott was talking about how cars will drive up to the top of the parking garage on Rockville Pike, MD, and get out of the car, walk around, get back in the car and drive away. Usually 1 or 2 people and always different cars. A caller called in guessing that it might have been a geocacher--of course Elliott had never heard of it, so he and his morning crew completed busted this caller using words like, dork, loser, etc. What do you guys think?

I wish I could say that I was going on the trip with my parents to Sweden, but being a new father I am unable too. My parents have just learned to use my gps and want me to put in the cords for 2 places in Sweden. I is called Gillersklack (which is a ski resort in Kopparberg) and the 2nd is Arlanda Hotellby, Stockholm, Sweden (Which I believe is a Hotel) It would be very appreciated if someone could email me with these cords. gps_junky@yahoo.com

I occasionally look through my old finds, and noticed that I am the last one to find dozens of caches. In fact, I made a spreadsheet of caches for which I am the last to find, and I have now recorded 130 caches. I was thinking this could be a good Challenge Cache. Of course if you just went on a big Geo Trail and found 100 caches that might be unfair, so I could put certain date parameters on it like one of the following: "To qualify for this challenge, you need to be the last finder on 100 caches and the most recent "last finder" cache must be at least 30 days ago." or "To qualify for this challenge, you need to be the last finder on 25 caches and the most recent "last finder" cache must be at least 6 months ago I would like some feedback if the community thinks this would be a good idea for a Challenge cache. If people think this would be a cool idea, who do I talk to about writing the code for it?

OK folks, thanks for your help on past issues - Got another one now.... I can't get GSAK to talk to my Garmin Colorao 300. Got the USB box in setup check, and defined the Colorado 300. Have tried all 4 options of Interface in Setup in the Colorado. Error message in GSAK says it"cannot init a USB connection", or something like that. No use trying to learn any more GSAK tricks if I cant get it and Colorado to talk. In the meantime, I'm entering caches one at a time with "sent to GPS" option. TIF for any suggestions.

A lot of talk here about COs not using the OM log. My irk is when COs use the OM log to say. "I'm going to fix the problem." Case in point, a location I pass frequently when traveling where the cache has been missing for 8 months and the CO is doing nothing but posting bogus OM logs.

My Colorado 400t is not being seen when I try to send a geocache to it from geocaching.com. When I go to the Garmin site and do a communication link test, it recognizes my unit and everything looks good. I've tried uninstalling and re-installing software and drivers, but nothing seems to work. I'm out of ideas and seriously bummed out. I used to have no problem downloading caches. The one thing different between successful downloading in the past and now is that I had to do a system restore to an earlier date. I don't know if that would effected it(?) Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.