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FTF Frustrations


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Ok well I am starting this topic to see if anyone can shed some light on this for me. I have 76 finds now under my belt and have yet to log a FTF. It seems I am getting the reviewr notices far later than others. I recieved one this morning and it had already been logged 3 times!!! How are these guys getting the info so fast? I even have aPQ set up and they arent showing up on there. How do I get ahead of the competition at least just once....

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There is a topic or even a faq somewhere about the notices. Some the notices tent to get help by some ISP's for some reason. That is what may be happening to you. Not sure what there is you can do except switch Internet providers (if this is indeed the issue).

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You say you're getting your "instant notification" well after others have logged the cache?

 

If so, maybe there is something going on with your ISP that slows e-mail coming through. I know for some reason whenever my wife sends me an e-mail from her work account I usually don't receive it for several hours. Sometimes the next day. Not sure why. Everything else comes through instantly.

 

Perhaps you are having a similar issue with Groundspeak mail.

 

Perhaps you should set up a Gmail account just for your cache notifications and see if that works better.

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Make sure you are set up to receive notifications of when a cache is published. You probably are, but good just to check.

 

Otherwise, just keep checking them. When I got my first FTF, I was quite excited. No one logged anything on the cache for a few days after that. This was is in a relatively active geocaching area (although it required about a 3/4 mile walk on a trail to get to it). So sometimes you have time to get your FTF.

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Ok well I am starting this topic to see if anyone can shed some light on this for me. I have 76 finds now under my belt and have yet to log a FTF. It seems I am getting the reviewr notices far later than others. I recieved one this morning and it had already been logged 3 times!!! How are these guys getting the info so fast? I even have aPQ set up and they arent showing up on there. How do I get ahead of the competition at least just once....

 

All the FTF fiends around here use instant notifications on their phones and dispatch from where ever they might be when they get them. I am sure they keep them by their beds noting that some of them are logged well before sun rise.

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Maybe you are just further away from the hides? B)

Or maybe you are just slower? ;)

 

Lol wish this was the case, If I knew about them before they were fouund it wouldnt bother me as much :D

 

Just keep checking the nearest unfound caches every so often. They will show up there if they are available and that's often faster than your email notice.

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I used to feel the same way you do now. Then one night before I went to bed ( at midnight )I checked my listings in my area and found that 8 or 9 new ones just popped up. Never having a F.T.F. I really wanted to nail one badly and would do almost anything to get one. so at 12:15 am I headed out to get it. Fortunately for me the 3 main cachers in the area have never done midnight runs, none according to the logs I have read. so I was hopeful to get one. I was able to log my first F.T.F. that night and low and behold I got my 2nd one less then 3 weeks later at 3 in the afternoon, after all others had logged D.N.F.'s the day before. Not being a premium member yet, I do not get the instant notification feature so I'm left to the old " caches within 10 mi. " page in my favorites folder and check it 3 or 4 times a day. You will get one with out the instant notification when you leas expect it, you ll see just give it time

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Our reviewer usually posts new caches between 630 and 7 in the morning, lunchtime and then about 7 at night during the week. On the weekends, they are posted in the morning and then at night. She caches, too!

I usually check my unfound list around these times and then periodically during the day. I do not wait on the "new posting" email as there are always finders on the new caches by the time I receive it.

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Be willing to travel! Our first FTF was far, far away, in the middle of nowhere.

 

In our area, it seems like there are certain people who get a lot of FTF's. These tend to be the people who are willing to run out at a moment's notice, or who (like me) check for new caches every single time I am about to leave the house (and a few times in between). As someone mentioned, try to detect a pattern as to when your local reviewer publishes caches, then be vigilant at that time of day. If you see one new cache published by him/her, keep watching for a while to see if others pop up within the next half an hour or so. And most importantly, be flexible! We have been FTF at odd times and places, such as before church, in a neighboring state, at night, in the rain, during deer season (like a war zone in these parts), or instead of cooking (or eating) dinner. We have an active group of FTFers here, so it's fun to see who gets it for each new cache.

 

I'm sure you'll get that FTF sooner or later...good luck!

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Ok well I am starting this topic to see if anyone can shed some light on this for me. I have 76 finds now under my belt and have yet to log a FTF. It seems I am getting the reviewr notices far later than others. I recieved one this morning and it had already been logged 3 times!!! How are these guys getting the info so fast? I even have aPQ set up and they arent showing up on there. How do I get ahead of the competition at least just once....

 

I have a suggestion for you my friend !

Come to Greece, there are many caches that are still without any find, even if they got activated months ago ! ! !

I think the geocachers in your country are very "hungry" and wait anxiously for any new caches...

Come here to hunt for FTF and you will be rewarded !

: )

 

Yanni

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I don't get why people are so into being FTF. I'll get one eventually when the other FTF'ers are not paying attention (most likely middle of the night), but I won't stumble over people to get one. Oh well, cache on

 

It's the lottery tickets! You never know when you might strike it big with Northeast PA's favorite FTF prize! :blink:

 

Also, it's nice to find the cache as the owner actually intended it to be hidden, to open that unsullied logbook, and to say "Yay...FTF!" when you log online.

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One of the the best things about going for a FTF is that it really increases the chances of meeting other cachers on the trail, which to me is one of the best parts of caching.

 

Good point. My 1st FTF, the next cacher after me was a few days. My 2nd FTF I missed the next cacher by about 40 minutes. I thought we'd be tripping over each other! I'm sure that is to come.

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Okay. I've got a few FTFs. Not sure how many. I haven't kept a list. New cache four miles east of here, published near noon today. I'll look for it this weekend.

Disadvantages: I went looking for one, and was told by the cache owner that he does't actually hide them until after they are published. In this case, seven hours after I went looking. Another that was definitey not hidden until the next day.

Cache owners with bad math skills. A multi. Add/subtract/mulitply and divide from the plaque. Coords for the second stage led us to someone's living room. Only .12 mile off! Same cache owner: Typed in a 4 instead of a 3. Coordinates about 10 miles off. (Though, I know of a drive-by cache hunter who logged FTF on a cache that was actually thirty miles north!)

My interest in FTFs has waned a bit from the time I went hunting before work. Another typo cache.

I did manage to brute forced an FTF on a cache where I couldn't solve the puzzle. :rolleyes: Beat the 3rd and 4th to find by fifteen minutes.

Was hiking throught he woods once, when I saw suspicious activity. Said Hi to the cache ower. After he left, I signed the log., and claimed FTF. He took exception to this, and went back twice. Once to move the final, and then to replace the log. I don't hunt his caches anymore.

Went looking for a cache in an area that I do not frequent. I was doing two other caches in the area, and said: What the heck. Coords were obviously wrong. They led to the middle of the lake. Two DNs, and a 'temporariy unavailable'. Didn't stop me from trying 'typo error' locations. Didn't find. Oh, well.

Naw. I'm not the FTF Ho that I might have been previously.

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one guy in my area works for a telecommunications company...

 

He gets to drive alllllll over Delmarva...

 

His truck is equipped with a GPS AND a laptop with the verizon wireless card.

 

I JUST got my first FTF Tuesday and another new one popped up less than a quarter mile from where I work.

 

I didn't have my GPS with me and stopped by. Saw the area had about a MILLION places for the cache to be hidden. I went home to get my GPS and returned to see his truck sitting near ground 0. He saw me and had a HUGE grin on his face.

 

I knew FTF was gone... it was just the luck of the draw.

 

I went out for one that JUST posted ( I had just refreshed my page and there it was)

 

I was there in 10 minutes... I searched EVERYWHERE... for almost an hour... got NOTHING.

 

Returned home and went to bed. Woke up first thing in the morning and checked the posts... 3 finds.

 

I returned a few days later and REchecked the lamp post skirting... and there it was clear as day. It was NOT there when I first went. I have a hunch that a cacher had already nabbed it and was WAITING to replace it as I was searching. :o

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The first four caches I ever done were FTFs before I even knew what FTF was all about.

Recently I spent a year working in a very populated city where the compitition for FTFs was very fierce but I was still able to slip in ahead of the compitition by checking my computer very early in the morning or late at night. If a cache was posted during the day, by the time I got off work it would already be logged. But one thing about all those FTF hounds, they mostly competed in the city. I FTFed one cache that had been available for 10 months (took an adventurous 25 ATV ride to get to it). Other cache listings involving a hike, long drive, puzzle, multi, etc. may give you a better chance to be FTF.

I've noticed a difference in notification times between my e-mail and a fellow cacher's e-mail. I asked him if he saw the new cache posting I received a couple hours earlier. We checked his e-mail on his computer but no notification... then I logged into my e-mail on his computer and showed him the new cache notification. We have the same internet provider and same e-mail service. Both have cable modems and we live about a block apart. It just doesn't figure but at least I am receiving the e-mails first (right now he is my worst compitition). :lol:

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Ok well I am starting this topic to see if anyone can shed some light on this for me. I have 76 finds now under my belt and have yet to log a FTF. It seems I am getting the reviewr notices far later than others. I recieved one this morning and it had already been logged 3 times!!! How are these guys getting the info so fast? I even have aPQ set up and they arent showing up on there. How do I get ahead of the competition at least just once....

 

I just rely on the instant notification email. Of course my first FTF was in Montana and I live in California. :)

 

Other than that one though they've been local and the only way I find out about them is via the instant notification email. I have 130 FTF so far.........

 

It helps that I'm willing to go caching when a new cache pops up at 10:45PM and I'm heading for bed because I have to get up by 6:00 AM. I just load it up and grab my bag and go. I once found a bunch of FTF in a series the night before Thanksgiving. I had to get up early and drive several hours for a family dinner. It was MY job to drive there (my wife was going to drive back a day later) so I knew I had to be "alive" the next day. I finally quit working on the series due to the late hour and finished up my logs around 1:30 AM. I've cached out by the river at night when a new series came out (great case of poison oak from that series) and I've been up in the foothills on a dark and moonless night climbing around with my flashlight. A dediicated FTF hound isn't necessarily the most practical person......

 

There are other pitfalls to being FTF as well. Have you ever found a cache that had coordinates 110 feet off - and put you down a steep hill at a patch of poison oak? That one took me quite a while to find. I've had other times when I've found the cache and it was 40 - 60 feet off the coordinates. I had one cache where I drove 25 miles, parked at a locked gate, hiked into the woods for 1.5 miles and ended up with a DNF. The coordinates were over 10 MILES off. The cache was actually on the other side of the mountain along an easy path. I searched for one just this week where (the same cache hider!) had the coordinates 3.5 miles off. That one was a DNF as well.

 

If you want to go for the FTF just recognize that it isn't always easy and you have to be prepared to cache at the drop of a hat no matter what time it is and that you will be the one to suffer the consequenses of bad coordinates.

 

A note about the instant notification: I use an email sound to alert me when I get new email. If you've ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail you will recognize the phrase used by Patsy when the arrow with a note attached sinks into his chest. He says, "Message for you, Sir!" I use that as the sound when I get a new email and I keep it turned up LOUD. I usually know when I get a cache notification. :lol:

Edited by Thrak
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It helps that I'm willing to go caching when a new cache pops up at 10:45PM and I'm heading for bed because I have to get up by 6:00 AM. I just load it up and grab my bag and go. I once found a bunch of FTF in a series the night before Thanksgiving. I had to get up early and drive several hours for a family dinner. It was MY job to drive there (my wife was going to drive back a day later) so I knew I had to be "alive" the next day. I finally quit working on the series due to the late hour and finished up my logs around 1:30 AM.

 

Hey, I think I remember that. In our case we were 5 hours from home heading for a friends house for the weekend when a bunch of caches came live in the area we were driving though. We HAD to stop. Only got 2 FTFs that night, but got the last 2 in the series 2 days later. You meet some nice people chasing FTFs.

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I went out for one that JUST posted ( I had just refreshed my page and there it was)

 

I was there in 10 minutes... I searched EVERYWHERE... for almost an hour... got NOTHING.

 

Returned home and went to bed. Woke up first thing in the morning and checked the posts... 3 finds.

 

I returned a few days later and REchecked the lamp post skirting... and there it was clear as day. It was NOT there when I first went. I have a hunch that a cacher had already nabbed it and was WAITING to replace it as I was searching. :anitongue:

 

Actually, what may have happened is that the cache owner didn't uncheck the box on the cache submission page that says "This cache is ready" (or words to that effect). He may not have had the cache in place, but rather wanted to write up the cache page first just to make sure the coords were good (by using the map links to eyeball where the red dot appeared). So you could have searched for a cache that was published but not yet present! I doubt that a cacher would sit and watch another cacher search for a container that he had in his car or pocket without telling her...at least I HOPE not!

 

(Edited the quote for brevity.)

Edited by whistler & co.
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It helps that I'm willing to go caching when a new cache pops up at 10:45PM and I'm heading for bed because I have to get up by 6:00 AM. I just load it up and grab my bag and go. I once found a bunch of FTF in a series the night before Thanksgiving. I had to get up early and drive several hours for a family dinner. It was MY job to drive there (my wife was going to drive back a day later) so I knew I had to be "alive" the next day. I finally quit working on the series due to the late hour and finished up my logs around 1:30 AM.

 

Hey, I think I remember that. In our case we were 5 hours from home heading for a friends house for the weekend when a bunch of caches came live in the area we were driving though. We HAD to stop. Only got 2 FTFs that night, but got the last 2 in the series 2 days later. You meet some nice people chasing FTFs.

 

Yep. I found you trying to look innocent on a street corner late at night. I just asked something like, "found it yet?" and your flashlight was back on and sweeping the area for the cache in a heartbeat. :anitongue: I got 6 FTF that night.

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I have been reading that one can set up to receive instant notification e-mails of any new cache in an area. But I can't see any place to do this. There's nothing obvious on the pocket query page. Plus the only options for running queries are to set in advance what days the query should run, nothing that says to send an instant notification whenever there's a new query in my area. (Hope I'm explaining this correctly.)

 

And the options for PQ results are all non-text formats (.gpx, etc). So do you then receive the instant notification e-mail with an attached .gpx file and translate it through other software (vs just reading a text e-mail)?

 

This is probably obvious once you know how. But even finding the pocket query page is difficult, as I can't find a link to it and have to do a search in the search box on the main web site page to find it.

 

I am a premium member. Can someone tell me what I am not seeing, please?

 

Thanks very much!

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Just get one of your buds to give you the cords before they post..thats what I....I mean my crazy friend does.....JK

 

As you will find...I have no FTF's.....I came close yesterday.....45mins too late.... However I was beaten by a cacher who is retired and enjoying his Golden Years...so I didn't feel too bad.

 

I agree that midnight caching is the best bet...other than making a dummy account and posting caches yourself and finding them under your regular account like I did last wee......JK moderators....Don't take my premium membership away!!!

 

But seriously folks, if you have FTF depression syndrome.....plz don't worry...your day will come!!!

 

And for all those who will post negative comments about my phony suggestions:

 

Disclaimer:

 

Don't try any of the above methods unless Chuck Norris tells you to.

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If it will make you feel any better it took me 175 caches before I got my first FTF. Not that I didn't try just that there are too many factors involved. I probably have 30 STF's. A couple of them are a matter of 15 seconds. You just have to be in the right place at the right time.

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I have been reading that one can set up to receive instant notification e-mails of any new cache in an area. But I can't see any place to do this. There's nothing obvious on the pocket query page. Plus the only options for running queries are to set in advance what days the query should run, nothing that says to send an instant notification whenever there's a new query in my area. (Hope I'm explaining this correctly.)

 

And the options for PQ results are all non-text formats (.gpx, etc). So do you then receive the instant notification e-mail with an attached .gpx file and translate it through other software (vs just reading a text e-mail)?

 

This is probably obvious once you know how. But even finding the pocket query page is difficult, as I can't find a link to it and have to do a search in the search box on the main web site page to find it.

 

I am a premium member. Can someone tell me what I am not seeing, please?

 

Thanks very much!

From your account details page, there is a link on the right hand side. In the premium features section, just below pocket queries and bookmarks. "Set up notifications"

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I notice that the FTFs are usually the same couple people over and over.

 

I think that all new caches should be published around 8-9 PM Weekdays local time by the reviewers. This gives many of the working stiffs (like me) a chance to get home and get ready for a new listing that pops up.

 

Now, I'm not a "FTF" nut (a Previous Thread")…but I see that many others miss out on the FTF's.

 

(Previous Thread)

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=166599&hl=

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From your account details page, there is a link on the right hand side. In the premium features section, just below pocket queries and bookmarks. "Set up notifications"

Thanks FamilyDNA! I found it now. I knew that the feature existed but it still wasn't obvious to find. I had gone around and around trying to find it. Your reply got me right there! I appreciate your post. :laughing:

 

(Seems that there should be a link on the pocket query page to do this.)

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I just got my very first ftf the other day, took me over 50 caches. More of a timing thing for me, they never pop up when I'm idle. Lucked out and got one right before lunch time less than 3 miles from my office. It was a no brainer what to do with lunch that day.

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Disadvantages: I went looking for one, and was told by the cache owner that he does't actually hide them until after they are published. In this case, seven hours after I went looking. Another that was definitey not hidden until the next day.

 

<_< If I had gone looking for a cache right after it was published and it wasn't there yet I would have been extremely peeved....a total waste of time and rightly so

 

Was hiking throught he woods once, when I saw suspicious activity. Said Hi to the cache ower. After he left, I signed the log., and claimed FTF. He took exception to this, and went back twice. Once to move the final, and then to replace the log. I don't hunt his caches anymore.

 

:blink: As for this one...If my cache hadn't yet been published and someone had spotted me hiding it and signed the log I would also delete his log and and possibly move it somewhere else....by circumventing the publication, it eliminates everyone else's chance at getting the FTF!! Everyone should be playing on the same field!

Edited by hike n'bike
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Disadvantages: I went looking for one, and was told by the cache owner that he does't actually hide them until after they are published. In this case, seven hours after I went looking. Another that was definitey not hidden until the next day.

 

<_< If I had gone looking for a cache right after it was published and it wasn't there yet I would have been extremely peeved....a total waste of time and rightly so

 

Was hiking throught he woods once, when I saw suspicious activity. Said Hi to the cache ower. After he left, I signed the log., and claimed FTF. He took exception to this, and went back twice. Once to move the final, and then to replace the log. I don't hunt his caches anymore.

 

:blink: As for this one...If my cache hadn't yet been published and someone had spotted me hiding it and signed the log I would also delete his log and and possibly move it somewhere else....by circumventing the publication, it eliminates everyone else's chance at getting the FTF!! Everyone should be playing on the same field!

 

Your post is very confusing, beacuse you deleted the 'quote' tags... it looks like you are contradicting yourself.

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Disadvantages: I went looking for one, and was told by the cache owner that he does't actually hide them until after they are published. In this case, seven hours after I went looking. Another that was definitey not hidden until the next day.

 

<_< If I had gone looking for a cache right after it was published and it wasn't there yet I would have been extremely peeved....a total waste of time and rightly so

 

Was hiking throught he woods once, when I saw suspicious activity. Said Hi to the cache ower. After he left, I signed the log., and claimed FTF. He took exception to this, and went back twice. Once to move the final, and then to replace the log. I don't hunt his caches anymore.

 

:blink: As for this one...If my cache hadn't yet been published and someone had spotted me hiding it and signed the log I would also delete his log and and possibly move it somewhere else....by circumventing the publication, it eliminates everyone else's chance at getting the FTF!! Everyone should be playing on the same field!

 

Your post is very confusing, beacuse you deleted the 'quote' tags... it looks like you are contradicting yourself.

 

Well apparently you figured it out

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Your post is very confusing, beacuse you deleted the 'quote' tags... it looks like you are contradicting yourself.

 

Well apparently you figured it out

 

Only because i had already read the 'quoted' text earlier in the thread and remembered it, and got very confused.

 

Something wrong with using quotes? You're basically stealing their words without attribution.

Edited by benh57
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Your post is very confusing, beacuse you deleted the 'quote' tags... it looks like you are contradicting yourself.

 

Well apparently you figured it out

 

Only because i had already read the 'quoted' text earlier in the thread and remembered it, and got very confused.

 

Something wrong with using quotes? You're basically stealing their words without attribution.

 

Methinks that this is now off topic and you are just being picky....Did you ever think that maybe when I was deleting the text that wasn't necessary to quote about that maybe I screwed up and deleyted the quotes by accident? Or are you just perfect?

Edited by hike n'bike
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I think I might have solved that problem, or created a monster, not sure yet. I am getting ready to host an event picnic that will begin at 11:30am. But I through the idea around to some of the locals about a way to draw a decent size crowd. I'm going to do a F.t.F. game in the beginning. If you place a cache you get a cache, and you will be the only one that knows where it is until the end of the event. Still working on the fine details but it is getting good reviews from some of the locals that want to be granted a F.T.F.

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Disadvantages: I went looking for one, and was told by the cache owner that he does't actually hide them until after they are published. In this case, seven hours after I went looking. Another that was definitey not hidden until the next day.

Why in heck would you wait until it was published to place the cache? :):P

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Grr. Let's try that again -- my first post done got eaten.

 

Sometimes you have to chalk up those instant finds to nepotism. If you get the instant notice email (premium member benefit), and then five minutes later someone has logged the cache, chances are they were tipped off by the owner. Chances are even higher if their FTF log in the actual log book has no date, and/or if they tend to go on cache runs with the cache owner.

 

Overall, though, you just have to be patient, be vigilant, and be willing to move out at a moment's notice. (Being a premium member to get the instant notice also helps.)

 

It took us 3 months after we started to get a FTF. Even after we started the instant notice going, we lost out on several opportunities, once by 15 minutes, once by 5. Our first fTF was our 212th find, and it took us another month to get the second.

 

But sometimes you just get lucky and are sitting by the computer when a cache pops up 5 miles away. The last cache I hid was found within an hour of getting published, by a guy I've gone caching with (but I didn't tip him off). He was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and then he raced out to nab the find and went straight home to log it.

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I haven't been at this long. I am signed up for e-mail instant notification. This afternoon I happened to check my PQ set up for New Caches and there were about 4 or 5 new caches listed. It is now over 4 hours later and I still haven't received an e-mail notification.

 

As others have stated: Set up a PQ for New Caches and check it often.

 

Good Luck I know that FTF's are hard to come by.

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Ok well I am starting this topic to see if anyone can shed some light on this for me. I have 76 finds now under my belt and have yet to log a FTF. It seems I am getting the reviewr notices far later than others. I recieved one this morning and it had already been logged 3 times!!! How are these guys getting the info so fast? I even have aPQ set up and they arent showing up on there. How do I get ahead of the competition at least just once....

 

I was having this problem also. Once i finally set up a gmail acct...it stopped. Now I get everrything immediately.

bosco7

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