GEOCACHING anyone ?

[Y_lifter]

www.geocaching.com


I have had a GPS receiver for a year of so used for hiking, offroad etc
and decided over the holidays to give this geocaching a try.

At above site I searched by my local zip code and found a few nearby.
Went to a couple of wilderness areas that had caches hidden in them
over the holidays and actually it was quite fun..
Half of the fun is when people post online the location and you learn of a new park or preserve or whatever that you didn't even know was near you..

Then its fun following the GPSr on trails etc to the LONG/LAT that they give you. Some are in nature areas with no one around and some are in city parks where you must be carefull not to let people see you get the cache as they may pilfer it..

The GPSr will get you to maybe 10 ft or so at best of the hidden cache and then most are covered very well by brush etc.. Some are easy to guess where it is (base of a tree) and some are really tough to find.

Caches are usually ammo cans or camo painted plastic sealed containers with a few toys/trinkets to trade and a log to sign. Some are micros like a film can with a slip of paper inside that you simply sign.
They you go back online and post up on the owners cache page that you found it and what you took or left as a trade item..

They also have Travel bugs that are toys that have dog tags attached that are registered and serial numbered. You can pick one up at one cache and move it to another one, posting and tracking its movements online.
Some go hundreds of miles and Country to Country even..

My Daughter is excited about joining me on my next outing..

 

[WODIN]

Ever found a Finger? That'd be freaky.

 

[TC2]

What's a good GPS receiver that doesn't cost $50,000??

 

[Y_lifter]

What's a good GPS receiver that doesn't cost $50,000??

Garmin and Magellan both make several that start just over $100 basic and go to around $300 max for a full featured hand held with driving directions..


I have a Magellan Meridian Gold
Amazon.com Price: $224.25

Maps, connects to a PC to download etc..

 

[BrandonXJ]

Yeah, I do this often in the spring.. I've hidden a few myself. it gets a little messy in the winter here, but definitely a good way to get outside and get some fresh air. Just remember to mark where you parked your car on the GPS first, before you get lost!

 

[Y_lifter]

I think the coolest geek thing I've seen for us that like to put down the PS2 game controllers and go outdoors is a 12 mile GMRS handheld Radio with built in GPS receiver..

If you get a pair of them, you can use the radio as normal and the GPS receiver.

But the coolest thing is you can actually send your GPS Long/Lat coordinates via
the radio to the other person that has one, so they know where exactly you are if you get seperated or need to hook back up..

 

[Testosterone boy]

My expensive GPS is no more accurate than my basic one was.

 

[Y_lifter]

Even the low end ones today are as accurate as the $500 ones
as long as they have a quadrifilar antenna and WAAS.

Very few of the mid range cheap($130) entry ones today don't have WAAS ..


The low end receivers without WAAS and a Patch antenna vs: WAAS and a quadrifilar antenna will make a huge difference in accuracy..


Just having WAAS access can give accuracy 95% of the time as good as within 3 meters. Worst accuracy with WAAS according to the feds would be 7-10 Meters.

Not having WAAS drops the accuracy up to 5 times as bad

 

[PoyeBoy]

Geocaching is pretty okay, I urban explore so it goes kinda hand in hand, I know people that have found over 1,000 caches

 

[Y_lifter]

I'm at a screamin total of 3

LOL


What is this Urban Explore ?
Bar Hopping ?

 

[BrandonXJ]

I hear ya, WAAS makes a big difference.. but as far as geocaching goes, your accuracy is only as good as the coordinates given by the person hiding the cache. and from personal experience, quite often the given coordinates can be pretty bad.

Even the low end ones today are as accurate as the $500 ones
as long as they have a quadrifilar antenna and WAAS.

Very few of the mid range cheap($130) entry ones today don't have WAAS ..


The low end receivers without WAAS and a Patch antenna vs: WAAS and a quadrifilar antenna will make a huge difference in accuracy..


Just having WAAS access can give accuracy 95% of the time as good as within 3 meters. Worst accuracy with WAAS according to the feds would be 7-10 Meters.

Not having WAAS drops the accuracy up to 5 times as bad

 

[Y_lifter]

True..

I saw a GPS book chart that showed a diagram of a 3 meter diam circle inside a 7 meter circle, being the average min max limits of how accurate WAAS is.

It said that if you stood in the center and "did not move at all for hours"
and took waypoints ever few minutes, what they would look like..

There were waypoints all over the place all the way from the center to the 10 meters..
95% of them were inside the 3 meters but they were still spread way out..

Lesson is that you walk in a circle and take several coords and give the average..

 

[jestros]

I'm all about a compass+map

 

[Y_lifter]

I'm all about a compass+map

Problem with using them down here is that there are very few landmarks
that can be seen and used with a lensatic compass..
Fla is pretty flat, unremarkable and thick with cover for the most part..

Down here all you can do is log your course bearings, trail marks and times on paper as you go, and then reverse them to get back.

I carry one as a backup to the electronics and practice my skills when I can out west..

 

[Lestat]

this looks cool... so what can I use the GPS thingy for besides this?

 

[BileStew]

Ever found a Finger? That'd be freaky.

lol, you're sick.

See the deer thread for your prize.

 

[jestros]

Problem with using them down here is that there are very few landmarks
that can be seen and used with a lensatic compass..
Fla is pretty flat, unremarkable and thick with cover for the most part..

Down here all you can do is log your course bearings, trail marks and times on paper as you go, and then reverse them to get back.

I carry one as a backup to the electronics and practice my skills when I can out west..

I'd love to check out florida, I bet you've got some good hikins.

One time I was backpacking in northern New Mexico. Pretty far up in elevation, between 9000 and 12000 feet. Anyway I had set up camp at around 6pm. It was cold wet and crappy. So I said fuck it, I'm heading back to my jeep. I had already hiked 12 miles that day, and it was about 8 more back to the trail head. So I busted some serious ass trying to get back before dark. This place was pretty remote, and somehow I lost the trail and ended up on a game trail. Using map and compass I found my way back to the trail but I was a little panicked for a while there.
That was the only time I've ever actually had to use a compass.

 

[Y_lifter]

this looks cool... so what can I use the GPS thingy for besides this?

In the car or in roadtrips they can tell you all the info that those fancy trip computers in cars can except MPG.
Speed, ETA, North South East West etc..

You can download Streetlevel maps for the US and others and enter an address. It will show you where it is and the high end ones will give you a turn by turn route as you drive.

Mine has a Hunting/Fishing moon phase feature that tells me best times
for where I am at at any time..

Sunrise/Sunset times anywhere you are

On business trips I have used it when in a city to get me back onto the interstate using the built in major road Map mine comes with. Basically on one of the screens, you see a street map and an arrow representing you and it is pointing in the direction you are heading.. So you just zoom out on the map, find the road your want and head that general direction.

Many Internet Map(Mapquest.com) sites allow you to enter an address, and it will show it to you on the map along with its Long/Lat coordinates that you can enter into your GPS and use to get you there..

If you have it turned on while moving(hiking, driving, boating), it will leave a detailed dotted trail on the map as you travel that you can use when you turn around to follow it back

 

[Lestat]

In the car or in roadtrips they can tell you all the info that those fancy trip computers in cars can except MPG.
Speed, ETA, North South East West etc..

You can download Streetlevel maps for the US and others and enter an address. It will show you where it is and the high end ones will give you a turn by turn route as you drive.

Mine has a Hunting/Fishing moon phase feature that tells me best times
for where I am at at any time..

Sunrise/Sunset times anywhere you are

On business trips I have used it when in a city to get me back onto the interstate using the built in major road Map mine comes with. Basically on one of the screens, you see a street map and an arrow representing you and it is pointing in the direction you are heading.. So you just zoom out on the map, find the road your want and head that general direction.

Many Internet Map(Mapquest.com) sites allow you to enter an address, and it will show it to you in the map along with its Long/Lat coordinates that you can use to get you there..

If you have it turned on while moving(hiking, driving, boating), it will leave a detailed dotted trail on the map as you travel that you can use when you turn around to follow it back

i could use one of those in the car.. i use mapquest and stuff all the time and wish I had it mobile.

 

[Y_lifter]

For about $300 or so you could get a decent GPS receiver and detailed
maps CD of the US that you download..

I have a Magellan Meridian Gold GPS and Mapsend software


Garmin also makes a similar setup for about the same $..


They do have dedicated driving GPS receivers but they are about $500
Magellan and Garmin are like Canon vs Nikon

If I had $500 to blow I would get one of these...
http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap60c/

 

[Lestat]

thanks for the info man.


I wonder if geoboy is into this type of thing.

 

[Y_lifter]

I wonder if geoboy is into this type of thing.

I asked him what his login name meant if anything.

He said it was just a nickname his old boyfriend used to call him or something