How Do I Create a "Chirp" Cache?

[+Crescent Trekkers]

I enjoy finding CHIRP caches and would like to place one.  Garmin is the main(sole?) supplier of transmitters and I don't have a Garmin GPS, except for an old nuvi.  I have the chirp app on my android.  Must I borrow the appropriate Garmin GPS to create the chirp cache?  Thanks to anyone who can provide a road map to accomplish this.

Frank

[RuideAlmeida]

16 minutes ago, Crescent Trekkers said:

Garmin is the main(sole?) supplier of transmitters...

And you would need one to place your cache.

[+kunarion]

22 minutes ago, Crescent Trekkers said:

I enjoy finding CHIRP caches and would like to place one.  Garmin is the main(sole?) supplier of transmitters and I don't have a Garmin GPS, except for an old nuvi.  I have the chirp app on my android.  Must I borrow the appropriate Garmin GPS to create the chirp cache?  Thanks to anyone who can provide a road map to accomplish this.

Frank

 

What App do you have?

Look at the "ANT+" Apps.  A Samsung phone or a phone with ANT+ dongle, or certain other phones should work.

At some point you may need to see how the data is displayed on a Garmin GPS, if you want cachers with those to be able to view the data.  It may be different than expected.

Edited February 20, 2018 by kunarion

[+Crescent Trekkers]

Now that I know I need a garmin, is there a model that's the best for this application?

[+Crescent Trekkers]

I have the Chirp app on my Android and it works great when finding chirp caches.  I will look into the Ant+ option.

[+kunarion]

9 hours ago, Crescent Trekkers said:

I have the Chirp app on my Android and it works great when finding chirp caches.  I will look into the Ant+ option.

 

If you don't have an App that can edit Chirp data, look for the "ANT+ Plugins Service" in the Play Store.  The feature is built into "Locus Maps".  I used my Samsung tablet to edit my Chirp cache to remove a cacher's special message. 

I placed the original text with a Garmin Oregon, and it has a particular structure, plus limits on what data is shown.  But I don't know if there are any precautions to take when creating the text with an App, to ensure that a handheld GPS can read it. It is much easier to edit a Chirp with an App than with a Garmin Oregon.  Anyway, Garmin Chirp is best treated as highly experimental.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2018 by kunarion

[+JohnCNA]

8 hours ago, kunarion said:

If you don't have an App that can edit Chirp data, look for the "ANT+ Plugins Service" in the Play Store.  The feature is built into "Locus Maps".  I used my Samsung tablet to edit my Chirp cache to remove a cacher's special message. 

Did you install anything additional to get this support in Locus? I use Locus Pro and don't recall seeing anything mentioning Chirp support. 

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, JohnCNA said:

Did you install anything additional to get this support in Locus? I use Locus Pro and don't recall seeing anything mentioning Chirp support. 

 

I don't know if the App ever uses the term "Chirp".  The function is called "ANT", a sensor monitoring protocol for several types of little devices.

In "Other Functions", there's an "ANT Manager", and in that are the "devices", one of which is "Geocache".  You have to enable it, but I don't think there's a special plugin to download.  I only ever bothered with it one time, but it was pretty easy.  It's just a matter of hunting around in Locus Maps' maze of menus.

 

[+JohnCNA]

7 hours ago, kunarion said:

In "Other Functions", there's an "ANT Manager", and in that are the "devices", one of which is "Geocache".  You have to enable it, but I don't think there's a special plugin to download.  I only ever bothered with it one time, but it was pretty easy.  It's just a matter of hunting around in Locus Maps' maze of menus.

Ahhhh, Thanks.  I found it.  And tried it out today on a local Chirp. 

Love that Locus, but the learning curve is significant. 

[+The A-Team]

For anyone programming a Chirp, please make sure you put something in the message/description/whatever Garmin calls it. I did one recently and didn't think it was working right because I kept getting a message on my Oregon 600 that said something like "No information available". It took a few tries until I realized it had successfully downloaded the coordinates and created a waypoint in the background, and it was just that the CO had left the message part blank. You can put the coordinates and maybe a hint into the message so it's obvious to the finder that the download has worked.