Travel bug decals for car

[+Alid49]

Hi passed a car the other day with a large travel bug sticker on it. I noted the trackable code down but when I went on to register my find it says no trackables found. Is there something different you do to log a trackables on a car? I would find it hard to think the owner stuck it on the car without activating it! Shame as I was so excited to see one! Anyone know where you can buy them?

Thanking you all in advance.

[+The A-Team]

They act just like any other trackable, so if the search failed, there's only 2 possibilities:

1. The owner hasn't activated it.

2. You noted down the code wrong.

 

As far as buying one, pretty much anywhere that sells geocaching items will probably have them.

[+brenda&&rew]

There is nothing different to logging vehicle travel bugs. One thing I find often is that I write down the number/letters incorrectly or I can't read my writing My 2's look like Z's or viceversa often.

Something to check is if there was a 0 or an O which would make a difference. Or how about a 1, l or I.

 

Besides that maybe you are right, maybe they have not activated it

 

I remember the first and only time I have seen a vehicle travel bug while driving down the highway. It was pretty cool and logged it right away... no worries, my husband was driving our car

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Most likely you copied the tracking number wrong, or you are misreading it.

 

Easy to do: 1=I; 2=Z; B=8; 0=O=Q; 5=S; and more......

[+SwineFlew]

Thats why I use a camera, if the picture is still not clear enough, I will write it down.

[+Plodding Porcine]

I have one, it is activated.

I had a friend try and log it but it says it is in the hands of the owner, well duh....

If he tries the letters from the sticker it says it is unpublished.

 

How exactly do i release it?

[+Mushroom420]

Yeah, wouldnt it need to be "in a cache" to be trackable?

[+kunarion]

Yeah, wouldnt it need to be "in a cache" to be trackable?

The TB Owner may log a "visit" to the caches the car goes to. But other people will probably log only a "Discovered It", when they see the car on the road (and maybe mention where they saw it).

Edited May 2, 2012 by kunarion

[+The A-Team]

If you're talking about "The chick magnet", it's ready to be found. Vehicle bugs should almost always be "In the hands of the owner". When someone wants to log it, they log a "Discovered It" log. I can't say I've ever seen anything to do with a TB that said "unpublished". Can you get more detail from your friend about what he was doing when he saw that?

[+Plodding Porcine]

Yup, thats what the kiddos nicknamed the car

Yeah, I think the person I asked to check the code to see if it was "Active" put the reference # in as a cache not in the trackables.

Some people just cant click in the right place

[+Mushroom420]

Yeah, wouldnt it need to be "in a cache" to be trackable?

The TB Owner may log a "visit" to the caches the car goes to. But other people will probably log only a "Discovered It", when they see the car on the road (and maybe mention where they saw it).

AHHHH, alright, thank you

[+GArunner]

Also, please be sure to log it as "discovered it". First time logging was after geowoodstock X. Lots and lots of tbs on cars! After around 9 logs I noticed that I put "grabbed it" Quickly contacted all the owners and they changed "grabbed" them back from me. It was funny - one guy said "give me my car back". Another one said, "I was wondering where my car went".

[+global2]

Just received my first travel bug decal. I did register it and will now stick to my car.

The designated code contains a zero, but I initially took it to be an O (alpha).

Will that happen to those wishing to log the bug? Is there a way to alter the zero to make it obvious it isn't an alpha O? Perhaps write the word "zero" above it with a sharpie?

[+niraD]

21 minutes ago, global2 said:

Is there a way to alter the zero to make it obvious it isn't an alpha O? Perhaps write the word "zero" above it with a sharpie?

There are various ways to distinguish between the numeral 0 and the letter O. Some fonts make the numeral 0 narrower, and the letter O wider. When I was studying computer science, I learned to put a slash through my numeral 0, but not through my letter O. (In contrast, I put a slash through my letter Z, but not through my numeral 2.)

[+cerberus1]

33 minutes ago, global2 said:

Just received my first travel bug decal. I did register it and will now stick to my car.

The designated code contains a zero, but I initially took it to be an O (alpha).

Will that happen to those wishing to log the bug? Is there a way to alter the zero to make it obvious it isn't an alpha O? Perhaps write the word "zero" above it with a sharpie?

 

My online bank has "zeros" with a diagonal line through them (slashed zero).   But most know if one doesn't work try the other.   

Just Sharpie (with a ruler) a slash through it if it bugs you.  Find a couple of old Travel Bugs and you've got S and 5, I and 1, list goes on....  

[+barefootjeff]

41 minutes ago, global2 said:

Is there a way to alter the zero to make it obvious it isn't an alpha O?

 

With GC codes, an O and a zero are interchangeable, for example one of my caches is GCACAA0 but searching on GCACAAO also finds it. I can't easily check it with a TB tracking code but I think it's the same with those.

[+Mermaid.Man]

2 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

With GC codes, an O and a zero are interchangeable, for example one of my caches is GCACAA0 but searching on GCACAAO also finds it.

I'm sorry but this isn't true.

[+barefootjeff]

6 minutes ago, Mermaid.Man said:

2 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

With GC codes, an O and a zero are interchangeable, for example one of my caches is GCACAA0 but searching on GCACAAO also finds it.

I'm sorry but this isn't true.

 

Care to elaborate? When I put GCACAAO (that's an oh, not a zero) into the Search page, it finds the cache:

 

Edit to add: Using GCACAAO (oh) with coord.info also works. The letter O isn't used in GC codes (along with I, S, U and L). As I said, I don't know if the same applies to TB tracking codes but I'd be surprised if it didn't.

Edited September 18, 2023 by barefootjeff

[+Hügh]

52 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

As I said, I don't know if the same applies to TB tracking codes but I'd be surprised if it didn't.

The specification would suggest that it does not:

 

Reference Code to Id
--------------------

if Prefix == "GC"
    ReferenceCode = Replace(code, "S", "5")
    ReferenceCode = Replace(code, "O", "0")

Perhaps it works anyways, though. Not sure. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Hügh

[+Mockingbird559]

Elsewhere in these forums, I noted that there are no letters ... L, O, U, I, S for cache GC numbers. Presumably that would also apply to trackables too.

 

Page title was Gc code Numbers, March 16, 2018

 

oops just saw barefoot jeff's note. Still true I think

Edited September 19, 2023 by Mockingbird559

[+barefootjeff]

33 minutes ago, Hügh said:

The specification would suggest that it does not:

 

Reference Code to Id
--------------------

if Prefix == "GC"
    ReferenceCode = Replace(code, "S", "5")
    ReferenceCode = Replace(code, "O", "0")

Perhaps it works anyways, though. Not sure. 

 

It looks like you're right. I've gone back searching through photos of tracking codes I've taken at events and finally found one with a zero in it. Changing that to a letter O in the website trackable search results in a DNF:

 

[+Mermaid.Man]

3 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

Care to elaborate? 

Ah well I must apologise for my sweeping statement.  What you suggested did not work on an app when I tried it.

Now that I am home I have seen that your statement is indeed correct when using the website.

That seems like a sensible feature which I wasn't previously aware of.  Thanks for sharing.

[+TeamRabbitRun]

Want a headache? Consider fonts from other languages.

[+global2]

On 9/18/2023 at 4:19 PM, global2 said:

Just received my first travel bug decal. I did register it and will now stick to my car.

The designated code contains a zero, but I initially took it to be an O (alpha).

Will that happen to those wishing to log the bug? Is there a way to alter the zero to make it obvious it isn't an alpha O? Perhaps write the word "zero" above it with a sharpie?

Placed the decal on my car today. Took a black Sharpie and put a slash through the zero. To my eye, it absolutely makes it look like a zero, rather than an "O."  Time will tell.