Utm Coordinates

[survey609]

Hello

I just recently purchased a Magellan Explorist 500. The UTM coordinates I recorded at the first cache I found do not correspond to the published coordinates for the waypoint. At first I thought it might be a metric/standard conversion problem, but that did not seem to correct the problem. I also noticed that the published UTM coordinates of the waypoint started with "18S", I took this to mean section 18 in the southern hemisphere. Since New Jersey only slides south about 1" a year I figured it was a mis-print. I've also scaled a Lat/Long off a quad and ran a conversion of that through NGS, but it still doesnt jive with my receiver.

Its gotta be something simple that I'm missing.

Thanks for any help!

[+Kai Team]

I'm not that familiar with UTM, and the person who hid the cache may not be either!

 

Why don't you post the GC code for the cache so that others familiar with UTM can take a look and tell you if it's you or the hider that made the mistake?

[Tahosa and Sons]

This Old House

 

N 39° 52.850 W 074° 11.455

UTM: 18S E 569183 N 4414844

 

I'm not sure what the full meaning of 18S means. But the way the coords are

written on the cache description can be confusing to a beginner.

They are usually listed as 0569183mE 4414844mN. And when I put the coords listed on the cache page on TOPO and changed the format the results were the same as on the cache page. Its the 18S that is confusing to me.

 

A little further research reveals UTM Zone Designators scroll down and you will find the grid. And from there I even learned that the cache you were looking for is farther South than Denver.

 

Ok here is what I figured out Zone T goes from 40° North to 48° North

and Zone S is from 40° N to 32° N.

 

Thanks for teaching me something, now if I don't forget it.

[+Cornix]

If you are using a Magellan unit, the default settings for the secondary coordinates are UTM/NAD27 if I recall correctly. You have to switch the secondary map datum to WGS84 if you want to use the UTM coordinates for geocaching.

 

Cornix