Ok, what did I do wrong?

[+kahanamoku]

I just got back from my first geocache. Not that I didn't have a good time (nice spring day in the park) but I had a lot of problems.

 

First of all, I probably shouldn't have gone looking for a 2" camoflauge cylinder in a park for my first geocache but I'm thinking my failure was equipment related. I knew something was wrong right away when I got in my car and my etrex told me the cache was 5 miles away and my cell phone with trimble told me it was a half mile away. Knowing what I did about the cache, I knew the cell phone was much more accurate. So I drove to the park and got out of my car. Sure enough, the etrex was still telling me the cache was miles away.

 

I double (and triple) checked both sets of coordinates. The thing I noticed was that the decimal points were not in the same places but the etrex doesn't give me an option of where to put them. Could this be my issue?

 

Anyway, I relied on Trimble but still never found the cache. It seemed like I was right on top of it but the Trimble was so slow to react to my movements that when I stood still I could see the curso moving around, tracing my steps. After a while I just put the phone down and started looking. I really didn't know where to be looking. One of the logs said the person spotted it from 30 feet away. I, on the other hand, was trodding around in the middle of a bunch of pine trees trying to figure out how in the name of god I was going to ever see this thing.

 

Anybody have any advice/tips for me? Like I said, I still had fun but I was a little disappointed not to have found it. Thanks guys!

[+huskerrich2000]

I remember the one time I used etrex Yellow, it was difficult to mark a waypoint, but not impossible, I use etrex legend, but now I use GSAK to automatically enter my coordinates. First off, I note that there are events in the oregon area this weekend listed for the Portland and Medford, Oregon.

If it is possible for you to make either of these I think it'll help you.

[jholly]

 

I double (and triple) checked both sets of coordinates. The thing I noticed was that the decimal points were not in the same places but the etrex doesn't give me an option of where to put them. Could this be my issue?

 

 

This is a clue. On the etrex go to the units menu and make sure you have DD MM.mmm (degree, decimal minutes) and the WSG-84 datum. Now your the same as GC.com. The cell phone your on your own.

 

Jim

[+kahanamoku]

 

I double (and triple) checked both sets of coordinates. The thing I noticed was that the decimal points were not in the same places but the etrex doesn't give me an option of where to put them. Could this be my issue?

 

 

This is a clue. On the etrex go to the units menu and make sure you have DD MM.mmm (degree, decimal minutes) and the WSG-84 datum. Now your the same as GC.com. The cell phone your on your own.

 

Jim

 

hmmm what about hddd mm.mmm? that seems to be the closest option

[+kahanamoku]

 

I double (and triple) checked both sets of coordinates. The thing I noticed was that the decimal points were not in the same places but the etrex doesn't give me an option of where to put them. Could this be my issue?

 

 

This is a clue. On the etrex go to the units menu and make sure you have DD MM.mmm (degree, decimal minutes) and the WSG-84 datum. Now your the same as GC.com. The cell phone your on your own.

 

Jim

 

hmmm what about hddd mm.mmm? that seems to be the closest option

 

and i wasn't on wsg-84 either. maybe that was it.

[+ZSandmann]

Yup that's the one ddd mm.mm Degrees and decimal minutes.

 

Oh there's yur problem as the saying goes. Datum can really change your location.

Edited March 27, 2009 by ZSandmann

[+kahanamoku]

I remember the one time I used etrex Yellow, it was difficult to mark a waypoint, but not impossible, I use etrex legend, but now I use GSAK to automatically enter my coordinates. First off, I note that there are events in the oregon area this weekend listed for the Portland and Medford, Oregon.

If it is possible for you to make either of these I think it'll help you.

 

I don't live in Oregon. I'm a fan of the sports teams

[+kahanamoku]

I changed the datum and that didn't really seem to help. It's still saying the cache is too far away. Anything else I could be doing wrong?

[jholly]

I changed the datum and that didn't really seem to help. It's still saying the cache is too far away. Anything else I could be doing wrong?

 

Look up the location with Google Earth or Google Maps (link on cache page). Does that look like where your gizmo is pointing you? How did you enter the waypoint? manually? downloaded? tapped it with your wand?

 

try inputting your gizmo waypoints into google maps and compare.

 

Jim

Edited March 27, 2009 by jholly

[+kahanamoku]

I changed the datum and that didn't really seem to help. It's still saying the cache is too far away. Anything else I could be doing wrong?

 

Look up the location with Google Earth or Google Maps (link on cache page). Does that look like where your gizmo is pointing you? How did you enter the waypoint? manually? downloaded? tapped it with your wand?

 

try inputting your gizmo waypoints into google maps and compare.

 

Jim

 

Here's the problem I'm seeing. The coordinates for the cache are N 43.04198 W 088.05886. When I enter them in my Etrax the look like N 43 04.198 W 088 05.886. This can't be right can it?

[+StarBrand]

I changed the datum and that didn't really seem to help. It's still saying the cache is too far away. Anything else I could be doing wrong?

 

Look up the location with Google Earth or Google Maps (link on cache page). Does that look like where your gizmo is pointing you? How did you enter the waypoint? manually? downloaded? tapped it with your wand?

 

try inputting your gizmo waypoints into google maps and compare.

 

Jim

 

Here's the problem I'm seeing. The coordinates for the cache are N 43.04198 W 088.05886. When I enter them in my Etrax the look like N 43 04.198 W 088 05.886. This can't be right can it?

Where did you get those coordinates?? The website does not use that format except in downloads that are meant to be computer loaded on your device?

 

Those coordinates are in decimal degree format. DDD.ddddd

[+Taoiseach]

When I enter them in my Etrax the look like N 43 04.198 W 088 05.886. This can't be right can it?

 

That's the way you want it to look

 

If you entered your Waypoint before you changed your datum from NAD27 (I'm guessing) to WGS84, what you did was convert your incorrect waypoint, into the right datum... It's still wrong though

 

If N43 04.198 W088 05.886 is what you want, try re-entering that, now that your GPSr is set to WGS84

[+kahanamoku]

Well after all is said and done, I entered those coordinates in the ddd.ddddd setting and now they work. I see what you mean about the website not using that format, but when I use my phone to look up caches they come up that way... or at least the first one I looked at did.

[+Taoiseach]

How odd...

 

I bet if you were to change your GPSr back to ddd mm.mmm now, it would probably work.

 

Either way, I'm glad you got it working!

[+Renegade Knight]

I changed the datum and that didn't really seem to help. It's still saying the cache is too far away. Anything else I could be doing wrong?

 

When you changed the datum it also chagned the waypoint to the same wrong location (your GPS translates between different datums).

 

When the datum is WGS 84 and the DDD MM.MMM is set. Then enter your coords. Then things should work right. I wouldn't reccomend looking for a micro cache as your first though. Those are harder just by being smaller than everthing else.

[+Renegade Knight]

Well after all is said and done, I entered those coordinates in the ddd.ddddd setting and now they work. ...

 

When inputting using the DDD.DDDDD format you need to be looking at waypoints given in the same format. Or you need to do the math to change from decimal minutes (DDD MM.MMM) to Decimal DEgrees (DDD.DDDDDD).

 

The numbers mean different things and you create errors when you mix and match. Rather like plugging in what time it is and leaving out time zone or using regular time when the program expecting military time.

 

It's easies to just work in DDD MM.MMM and WGS 84 rather than keep track of translations between the different datums and coordinate formats.

Edited March 27, 2009 by Renegade Knight

[+TwoSox Trekkers]

Yikes, that had to be frustrating. Glad you got some good advice.

 

And one other point- you might want to try again but for a larger cache. It will give you a better chance of success. Finding the small ones is hard enough!

 

Keep at it.

[+Lassendograiser]

I concur that you should probably start out with the regular size caches. I am still new enough at this that I have stumbled on some nano's but only because I knew what I was looking for. If you can search your area for an event. A lot of the areas are having their spring fling events and there is a wealth of information at these events. I have attended ony one and was jaw dropping amazed when I left the event. It was extremely helpful. Can not wait for the next one. Keep at it and good luck. You will get the hang of it very soon.

Edited March 28, 2009 by Lassendograiser

[+kahanamoku]

Just an update... I ending up finding that GC later that night. Pretty well hidden. I spent the whole rest of this weekend geocaching. I think I'm obsessed!

 

As far as the coordinates go, they are in one format on the website, and another format when I search them on my phone. No idea why, but it's easy to switch back and forth bewteen formats if I need to.

 

Thanks to everybody for all your help!

[7rxc]

Just an update... I ending up finding that GC later that night. Pretty well hidden. I spent the whole rest of this weekend geocaching. I think I'm obsessed!

 

As far as the coordinates go, they are in one format on the website, and another format when I search them on my phone. No idea why, but it's easy to switch back and forth bewteen formats if I need to.

 

Thanks to everybody for all your help!

 

Now that you have things well in hand. IF you wish to be consistent in how you check coordinates, take a look at the Cache Page on your computer... just to the right of the 'Standard' DD MM.nnn coordinates you will see Other Conversions... click on that, and you will see the 'Standard' plus several other forms that represent the Identical location... different formats and Datums... including the DD.dddd your phone uses.

 

Which you Hunt with is up to you... I often use UTM... BUT I always make sure that I have the correct coordinates regardless of the format / datum... As you now know you can use the GPSr to convert them,

I just mention this option for your information... It may come in handy if you care to hunt in the phone format... Not sure what goes in using the paperless downloads... I'll check, but someone asked why the difference... I think that the raw data is given in DD.dddd either by the GPS or satellites. WE choose to convert it to what WE want.

 

Good luck.

 

Doug