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Chirp enabled


EraSeek

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My vehicle is now a "Chirp" enabled travel bug. If you are within 30' of my car with Chirp capable and enabled GPS for around half a minute, you will see the necessary TB info pop up on your screen to discover it.

 

Towtrkdug has also listed the area's first Chirp waypoint cache near Lake Ballinger. Something new and fun to try out.

Edited by EraSeek
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My vehicle is now a "Chirp" enabled travel bug. If you are within 30' of my car with Chirp capable and enabled GPS for around half a minute, you will see the necessary TB info pop up on your screen to discover it.

 

Towtrkdug has also listed the area's first Chirp waypoint cache near Lake Ballinger. Something new and fun to try out.

 

this is pretty cool.. but how are you dealing with the directional nature of them? e.g. they can only be detected if there is clear line of site between the transmitter and the GPSr.. and will likely be blocked by your vehicle depending on the approach. Did you test hiding it in different locations? and would you mind sharing where/how you chose to position it?

 

also, they are not weather proof, and since they won't work inside of a container, how did you address that?

 

personally, I think this type of application makes more sense then a stationary cache, which to me, kind of gives away one of the cool things about geocaching, searching for, and making the FIND.. if it evolves to just following a beacon, that sorta changes the whole game for me. Personally, I am glad Groundspeak is taking it slow, and not creating a whole new cache type.

Edited by robdogg
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<snip>

also, they are not weather proof, and since they won't work inside of a container, how did you address that?

<snip>

The Garmin blurb claims they are water proof. I would imagine that even here in the Pacific Northwet that would qualify as weather proof. As for not working in a container, I would imagine fastened to a window would be fine.

Edited by jholly
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<snip>

also, they are not weather proof, and since they won't work inside of a container, how did you address that?

<snip>

The Garmin blurb claims they are water proof. I would imagine that even here in the Pacific Northwet that would qualify as weather proof. As for not working in a container, I would imagine fastened to a window would be fine.

 

yeah, probably would do OK in the wet, but what I said about not working in a container, I meant metal so hiding one in one of those magnetic key containers is probably out

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As for not working in a container, I would imagine fastened to a window would be fine.

Someone tested one placed inside an ammo can and they claim that it worked perfectly fine. Perhaps Garmin is just being overly cautious.

 

I haven't looked into these too much but my thinking would be they would be a cool way to give an extra hint to finding the cache once you got to the cache site. For those people (and you know who you are) who don't like giving hints on the cache page, a chirp could be added to the continer with a hint to the final location.

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My vehicle is now a "Chirp" enabled travel bug. If you are within 30' of my car with Chirp capable and enabled GPS for around half a minute, you will see the necessary TB info pop up on your screen to discover.

 

 

Now THAT is a creative use of the chirp. Since it's reportedly not something supposed to go into metal how did you mount it? Pictures? What does the chirp data say to the discoverer?

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I have a Honda 2003 CRV (cache recovery vehicle). Lots of window area in the back. I have it mounted right next to the window (back, drivers side). I have no problem picking it up as I approach the car. GPS Fix mounted one inside an ammo can and got a signal as I recall. Yes waterproof. They have a seal on the battery compartment lid. I'm also mounting a bug sticker on my car for those who are not compatable. Photos later. The chirp gives the bug number (its name) and says Eraseek's Vehicle Travel Bug (chirp enabled).

Edited by EraSeek
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I'm curious, does the GPS need to be in a mode that is seeking the chirp transmitter? Or is it a passive thing that if you have your GPS on and happen to wander into the chirp zone it will let you know? Forgive me if this was answered above but it is late at night and I didn't readily see the answer.

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I'm curious, does the GPS need to be in a mode that is seeking the chirp transmitter? Or is it a passive thing that if you have your GPS on and happen to wander into the chirp zone it will let you know? Forgive me if this was answered above but it is late at night and I didn't readily see the answer.

you need to enable the option in the menus but after its enabled i think thats it.

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You need to have a newer Garmin like an Oregon. You need to have the latest update. You need to go to Setting>Geocaching> and turn on the chirp search option, and from there it stays on unless you ever decide to turn it off. From there you do nothing. It will automatically pick up a nearby Chirp, and display the info.

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You need to have a newer Garmin like an Oregon. You need to have the latest update. You need to go to Setting>Geocaching> and turn on the chirp search option, and from there it stays on unless you ever decide to turn it off. From there you do nothing. It will automatically pick up a nearby Chirp, and display the info.

 

Man, GC1EM93 really needs one of these puppies added to it :-)

 

I was going to grab one and either do the car TB thing or even make a keyring out of it but fortunately I realized that was unwise as with only an Oregon 200 there is no way for me to program it. Doh !

 

There were a few at REI Bellingham near WWU yesterday for folks up there.

 

There's an interesting technical review HERE from a long distance runner. Seems like it is 'possible' to have an external app developed to talk to the device someday. For instance, Garmin sells a ANT+ USB stick already. Wonder if they'll see that they have an opportunity for a nice integrated product base covering the fitness and caching communities....

Edited by vds
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Seems like it is 'possible' to have an external app developed to talk to the device someday.
Here's an explanation of why that's not possible.

It might not have been possible when your citation was published. But HTC provides customized phones to their

cycling team which use ANT+ to log position, speed, cadence, pulse, etc and upload it. Current Droid/Droid X

phones and iPhones have ANT capable hardware (minus the necessary firmware update and/or blessing from Mr.

Jobs). Someday is getting closer.

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Seems like it is 'possible' to have an external app developed to talk to the device someday.
Here's an explanation of why that's not possible.
For instance, Garmin sells a ANT+ USB stick already.
It only works in a USB host port -- the kind in your PC. It cannot be made to operate in a USB device port.

 

This is somewhat inaccurate. It would be possible with an external iPhone dongle. Please take a look at some of the other threads.

 

You can even vote for iphone support over in the iphone forum:

http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/7527...e-app?ref=title

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