Logging etiquette for BMs seen from a distance

[+Team Lawrence]

I went out on my lunchbreak today to search for benchmarks near my office and went 2 for 4. One of the marks I was looking for is GV1642, which is at the intersection of two RR tracks. The RR people have erected significant barriers around their tracks to prevent access, but I might be able to read the benchmark disk with a good pair of binoculars. If I could spot the disk from afar, is that a "find" or not? Given that the penalties for trespass on a RR right of way are severe, how do you handle BMs near tracks?

[JamesAG]

You need to be able to verify that the mark has the G 247 designation, even if it "just has to be the right one". If you can see the G 247 from a distance you can claim it as a find without a close-up picture.

 

Some mark are just not accessible. I have several I doubt I will ever get to see.

[+shunra]

And what if it's a cross or a ball on a church spire? They're obviously not 'accessible', yet clearly visible.

[+BlueDeuce]

That is correct. There is no designation engraved into these types of marks, Nor should you ever try to scale one to get close to it.

 

These can only be determined from the datasheet description. There are still verification problems. A water tower is torn down so maybe people think the mark is the new tower. I logged a destroyed on a building that was simply listed as "Tower". It was replaced by a courthouse with a radio communication tower. Took me a while to prove that one. It took a beer to solve it. (The bar had old pictures of the city.)

 

Discs however should truly be verified by the designation. There are just too much of a chance for error due to several common "problems". A Non-NGS disc, a reset disc, not even a disc, etc.

 

Good question.

 

[This message was edited by TeamX40 on October 15, 2003 at 02:55 PM.]