Two Very Frustrated Newbies

[tatahead]

Okay, I thought we finally got the GPS unit figured out and went to two different locations. One (Bovine Rock Mooosic) turned out to be a field that was probably cleared last fall and was difficult to walk because it was so uneven, and it had a lot of broken glass. The other one (YES, THEY DO EXPLODE SOMETIMES!!) was an “oasis’ among the warehouses, but we saw nothing within 10 feet of the car.

What are we doing wrong? Would anyone be interested in helping us learn how to do this properly?

[+jwe4i]

hmm...sounds frustrating. i'm not sure what kind of gps you have but mine has 4 different navigation screens. what i do is enter the coordinates for the cache...i use the map nav screen to nav with the direction of the arrow. then when i get "on top of it" i switch to the nav screen that has the actual coordinates and move around until i match the numbers up, once i'm dead on, i start looking for the actual hide and then take care of the paperwork. keep in mind, the gps's sometimes seem to "bounce" around and frustrate you. if the detail on the web say stay on the trail, stay on the trail! hope this helps, good luck....hooyah!

[+TrailGators]

You could also cut and paste the cache coords into Google maps and look at the satellite view to see if that is the same spot you were looking in. If it was I would try another cache. Caches get muggled all the time.

[+Formerly Dominoes]

You could also cut and paste the cache coords into Google maps and look at the satellite view to see if that is the same spot you were looking in. If it was I would try another cache. Caches get muggled all the time.

 

And if it's not the same spot. Check to see that your GPS is set to WGS 84 datum.

[+Knight2000]

I can attest to being frustrated at the beginning. Do what Trailgators said. Also try to read you manual so you can understand the basic GPS functions. They can be complicated if you let them be.

 

Compare where you were looking to the topo maps from the cache pages. > View GOogle Maps then click HYBRID to view a pic of the area. Let us know what you find.

 

Be patient and dont look for hard ones to start with. Its very enjoyable once you figure it out.

[+TrailGators]

Be patient and dont look for hard ones to start with. Its very enjoyable once you figure it out.

That's good advice. Start by looking for a cache with a difficulty rating of 1!

[+FunnyNose]

Well I DNFed YES, THEY DO EXPLODE SOMETIMES!! but found it on my retrun visit.. It is a very well hidden cache.. Try some easier ones first..

[+Bundyrumandcoke]

Also check you have the correct co ordinate units in the GPS, eg DDD MM.MMM and not DDD MM SEC.

[+salmondan]

Glenn Widing looks like an easier beginning. Like the other posters said, try for caches with a 1/1 rating to start, that have been recently found. Bigger the better.

And welcome.

[+imajeep]

I'm a fellow newbie, and I understand your sense of frustration. I've been there. Here is a suggestion on how to get familiar with your GPS: Start with your house/apartment. Mark a waypoint outside the front door, then walk a couple of blocks away. Now, use the GPS to navigate your way back home. You should get to within 20-30 feet of where you started, at which point the 'needle' on the GPS will start swinging around.

 

Practice like this on a few different places, to get the hang of vavigating to a waypoint. You will learn the idiocyncracies of your unit. If your unit can record a tracklog (a 'bread crumb' trail), take a few walks with the record function on. Try holding the unit horizontally for a part of the walk, and try clipping it to your belt. When you get home, load the tracklog into the PC mapping software that came with your GPS unit.

 

If you don't have any software, download EasyGPS (free) to copy data from your GPS to your PC, and download Google Earth. EasyGPS will transfer the data as a GPX file, which Google Earth can open. You should see the track you recorded in Google Earth when it opens the file (it's a very cool effect!).

 

Sometimes the tracklog will be broken, or it will be wildly inaccurate (a couple of hundred feet off--20 to 40 feet is normal in Google Earth). Did that happen when the unit was clipped to your belt? If so, then you know you have to hold the unit level to get a good reading.

 

If you have a forest or woods nearby, take your GPS there and try it out under tree canopy. Many units lose their signals under tree cover (it's the water in the leaves that does it). If your unit loses signal under tree cover, practice finding a clearing to get a reading. Then practice triangulating on a cache location by finding two clearings, and getting a bearing at each one that points to the cache. Where the two bearings intersect, that's where you will find the cache.

 

If you play around with your GPS unit this way for a few days, you will develop a feel for what the unit can do, and what its weak points are. Pick some easy caches first--after you find a few, you will start developing a feel for where and how perople hide caches in your area. I found three at lunch today--even a couple of weeks ago, I would have had to search a lot longer for each one.

 

Hope that helps!

[+Thrak]

I'd say the two most important suggestions above are:

1. Make sure your unit is set to WGS84

2. Make sure your unit is set to DD MM.mmm

 

If you use the wrong map datum or the wrong coordinate system (or both!) you will never find caches.

[+TrekkingTurtles]

Okay, I thought we finally got the GPS unit figured out and went to two different locations. One (Bovine Rock Mooosic) turned out to be a field that was probably cleared last fall and was difficult to walk because it was so uneven, and it had a lot of broken glass. The other one (YES, THEY DO EXPLODE SOMETIMES!!) was an “oasis’ among the warehouses, but we saw nothing within 10 feet of the car.

What are we doing wrong? Would anyone be interested in helping us learn how to do this properly?

 

Good Morning!

I'm also in Portland - and have done Bovine Rock - it is not in a field. Maybe we can meet if you still need help?? email me if you need help.

 

R

[wvnewbie]

sounds like you have gotten some good advice and an offer of help. The people on here are great!

 

For me - as a newbie - I try to remember that as a general rule the GPS may only get you to within 30 feet (sometimes much less and you are right on it - but that isn't often). Then its time to put the GPS away and just start looking.

 

Good luck!