ghadrw Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 We are having a GeoCaching event next weekend and unfortunately it looks like showers are in the forecast. I know, in theory, GPSr's should work in that weather but wondering what the experience of others have been with this type of weather in the past. The good, the bad, the muddy (One good side - it certainly will keep the muggle count down) Quote Link to comment
+NorthWes Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Rain degrades both GPS reception and event attendance. However, we in Alaska have a theory - we play outdoors, so rain or shine the game's on! Of course, heavy snow and severe cold degrades cacher AND gps performance... a bit of common sense is a good thing. I've been out in -15 F weather happily caching along (that's tough on cheap plastic containers, by the way), and my friends up Fairbanks way don't think it's too inclement until it's in the sub-thirty range to venture forth. Just going to be a matter of what the locals think is too inclement... Quote Link to comment
+Night Stalker Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I have never attended an event in the rain, but I have geocached many times in the rain and can remember at least one caching adventure where it was raining so hard that I was walking in several inches of water while looking for the cache. I survived and I expect that your event will survive also. Quote Link to comment
+Ambrosia Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Rain can affect gps performance, but only slightly. Our Bellingham Cache Machine got quite rained out at one point. I felt like a wet puppy. But we had a blast anyhow, and found lots of caches. Quote Link to comment
+queen_ladybug Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 The first event we attended was very rainy. In fact there were some places that were flooded. I think we had even more fun than we would have had if it had been dry. It was an adventure trekking through the inch deep mud to find a cache. Not to mention the multi where the stream that was usually only an inch or so deep was over a foot deep and we had to find the best place to cross!! We have a lot of really fun memories from that day. Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Rain is not going to be a problem for geocaching with GPSrs made in the past several years. Rain was a problem in the early days of GPS technology before the introduction of 12 channel receivers. Quote Link to comment
+Bad_CRC Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 last time I went out in the rain with my etrex, it wouldn't get a signal no matter what. and there was no tree cover, and it was in a place i had been before. Quote Link to comment
+Prying Pandora Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Reception may be a little less than optimum, but will still be plenty good enough to find caches. If the trees are losing leaves you will find that reception is actually better than in the summer months. Rainy weather may stop a few fair-weather cachers, but there will still be plenty of die-hards left to attend your event. Now that they make Gore Tex everything, caching in the rain isn't uncomfortable at all if you're dressed for it. The significantly lower muggle count is an advantage too. You'll have a great time at your event! Quote Link to comment
Moun10Bike Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 It's a myth that rain degrades GPS reception by any noticeable amount. See http://www.gpsinformation.net/gpsclouds.htm. However, a coating of water on your antenna can be a different story! Quote Link to comment
+Airmapper Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Caching in good weather? What is that? Except for one, all the events I have attended had some form of bad or nasty weather. Caching in the rain is still a lot of fun, I was at the same event as queen_ladybug and we all had a blast. I've also hunted in the rain at other events, you just take your waterproof boots, a rain coat, and go anyway. Quote Link to comment
+Bad_CRC Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 It's a myth that rain degrades GPS reception by any noticeable amount. See http://www.gpsinformation.net/gpsclouds.htm. However, a coating of water on your antenna can be a different story! I've been told that too, but my experiences directly conflict with that. Maybe a coincedence. Quote Link to comment
winston24 Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 For some reason when we're out geocaching, it's almost as if we don't even notice the rain. Quote Link to comment
+GEO.JOE Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 The first event we attended was very rainy. In fact there were some places that were flooded. I think we had even more fun than we would have had if it had been dry. It was an adventure trekking through the inch deep mud to find a cache. Not to mention the multi where the stream that was usually only an inch or so deep was over a foot deep and we had to find the best place to cross!! We have a lot of really fun memories from that day. Over a foot deep if I recall that creek was over a boot deep There was a lot of rain at the Geocaching Weekend 2006 at Pennyrile Forest State Park. We hung out inside trying to wait out the rain Saturday morning but once we got wet we really had fun the rest of the day. If you can find a way to get the nuts to the event they will cache, and hopefully have fun doing it. GEO.JOE Quote Link to comment
+MIKEANDBETH4EVER Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 we cached all day in the rain today and got our most finds ever here in seattle we say if you don't do it in the rain you don't do it !!! Quote Link to comment
+Beta Test Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 Make sure that you put on the event page that it is on, rainy weather or not. Quote Link to comment
+wesleykey Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 I remember logging a city park cache in a hard rain. There weren't any mugglles about that day!! Quote Link to comment
+9Key Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 1) Does RAIN or SNOW or CLOUDS affect the reception of my GPS receiver? Answer: No. Not so as the user can tell without instrumentation. I wonder why storm clouds goof up my satellite TV reception. Quote Link to comment
+JaySTE Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 (edited) I've geocached in the rain plenty of times. It's not the rain itself that causes problems, it's when all the wet branches and leaves above you that block the signal. Bad_CRC - Nice avatar! I've never seen trees growing sideways like that, but I have seen jeeps in that position. Edited November 7, 2006 by JaySTE Quote Link to comment
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