Cache Mania

Well here is a little feature I just learned about today.  Google has made it so that you can send a location that you find on a map directly to your GPSr.  It’s a two step process.  I think I’ll be using this in the future.

Here’s a video from Garmin that explains how it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_p1x-fL2zc

Tags: Garmin, Google Maps, Transfer
Posted in GPS Hardware, help | No Comments »

Chances are you post pictures to flickr because you want other people to see them.   In some cases you only want friends or family to see them, in other cases you want to reach a larger audience.  Here are five things you should be doing to maximize or minimize the number of people that see your pictures:

1. Set the permissions on every picture.   There are four levels of permission available on your pictures – everyone, friends, family and just you.  If you set the picture to everyone then anyone that finds your profile will be able to see those pictures.  Friends and family are allow people that you have assigned to one of those groups to see your photos.  This is something you have to to do in advance and it requires that those people have a flickr account.  An lastly you can keep your pictures private.  There is one CAVEAT to these permissions.  Adding pictures to a group or sharing the private URL bypasses the permission settings you have created.
2. Set the licensing for your photos.  Photos that have a creative commons license will be viewed more often and may even be used on other websites.
3. Add meaningful titles, descriptions and tags to your photos.  At this time the only way to find a photos is to use a text based search.  In order for a text based search to work there must be some text to search.   You can make it easier for people to find photos from a particular cache if you include the GC number as a tag or in the title.  Keep in mind that people can search for a GC number to find the cache so if you photo includes spoilers you might want to leave the GC number off.  Alternatively you can tag the photo as a spoiler that way people can avoid those photos.  I sometimes add “spoiler” to the title of the image.  In this way people know to avoid the picture if they don’t want to spoil the surprise.   There is even a little script that will add links from the cache page directly to any flickr images that include the GC number.  Here is a link for more information – geocache2flickr
4. Add your pictures to relevant geocaching groups.  You have to join the group before you add your pictures to that group.   Keep in mind that you group permissions will override the permissions you have set for an image. Even if you have an image set to friends or family other members of the group will see it if you chose to share that image.  This is almost like a fifth permission level.
   Here are some groups I belong to:
   • Creative Cache Containers
   • Geocaching in Ontario
   • Geocaching
   • Geocoins
5. Add links to your flickr photostream from your other website profiles such as Facebook or your blog.  There are even widgets that will show some of your pictures on other websites if you chose to set one of  those up.    I actually have my Facebook account hooked up to one of my Flickr accounts so that pictures I post on flickr are automatically posted on my Facebook wall.

The steps I mention above will help you introduce your photos to more people.  Keep that in mind.  In some cases you won’t want to distribute your photos to a large audience .  Remember to “reverse” the steps outlined above if you want to keep an image private.

For the curious here is a link to my flickr photostream – cachemania.

This post covers posting pictures to flickr but the concepts apply  equally to other photo hosting services such as picasa.

Tags: descriptions, flickr, GC codes, photos, picasa, posting, tagging
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I was fortunate to receive a few geocaching related gifts at Christmas.  Once I had them all together in one place I realized they made a nice list of geocaching gift suggestions.   See below for a list of items.

A gift suggestion for every geocacher.

1. GPS Receiver $100+
2.Reusable Hand Warmers $5ea
3. Yaktrax, “snow chains” for your shoes. $25+
4. Vehicle Travel Bug $10+
5. Geocoin $10+

Tags: geocoin, gifts, hand warmers, trackable, traction, travel bug, vehicle, yaktrax
Posted in help | 1 Comment »

I recently discovered that the strain relief on my Garmin external power cable had failed.   The wire was still okay but it wouldn’t be for long if I didn’t do something about it.  While thinking about how to fix this problem I realized that the underlying issue was there there isn’t enough of the connector to allow me to grasp the solid part in order to remove the connector from my GPS60CSx.  Instead I’ve been pulling on the wire which has caused it to fail.  What I needed to do was add a pull-tab to the connector so that I wouldn’t be pulling on the wire.   The following is a description of how I went about doing that.

Completed Pull-Tab for Garmin GPS 60CSx external power cable

To begin you will need something to act as the pull-tab.  I used part of a weather cover for a CATV connector.  You could also use the washer from a garden hose.  I choose a rubber fitting so that there was some give in the event the pull-tab hit something hard.

Roughen surface of connector to create a better bonding surface for the adhesive.

Rough up the top of the connector.  The adhesive will bond better if the surface a bit rough.  You don’t have to be too aggressive at this stage.

Tape bottom of connector to prevent glue from leaking onto bottom of connector

I was solving two problems when I did this project.  First I was trying to fix the crack in the strain relief and second I was adding the pull-tab.  The elastic in the picture above was used to keep pressure on the strain relief once the glue was applied.  I used Loctite Sumo Glue which expands when it cures.

Clamp connector and pull tab as this glue will expand when cured.

I needed to clamp the connector and pull-tab so that I could maintain the correct alignment.  The adhesive I used will expand when it cures and this can cause a few problems.

The Sumo adhesive expands. Make sure you tape off any exposed surfaces.

You can see in this (slightly out of focus) image that the glue expanded considerably where I tried to fix the strain relief.  Luckily I had taped off the bottom of the connector.  That is the part that inserts into the GPS 60Csx.  Any glue on that part would have made inserting the connector into my unit difficult.  I trimmed off the excess adhesive using a sharp knife.  You have to be very careful if you are going to use a knife as a slip could slice the cable and that would ruin the whole project.

The adhesive dries white so I used a marker to color it black. This gives it a little better finish.

I finished things off by colouring over the white adhesive with a black marker.  Coloring the adhesive really helps to give a clean finished appearance even when there is a little glue seepage.

Finished connector inserted into GPS 60CSx

Finished pull-tab on the connector inserted into the GPS unit. piece inserted.  Now if only Garmin had thought of this!

Here is what the bottle looks like if you are looking for Loctite Sumo Adhesive.

You can find higher resolution images in my Flickr photostream – mycachemania

Tags: 60CSx, Garmin, GPS Hardware, GPSr, power cable
Posted in GPS Hardware, help | 2 Comments »

I made some changes to the Ontario Geocaching Association website today.  The biggest change is the I highlighted the fact that there is a free membership to the association.   All you need to do is sign up. That’s it.  No strings attached.  If you want to go further you can buy the paid membership but that’s up to you.

So if you are not already a member and you live in Ontario why not click on over and complete the
Free Membership Application.

Tags: OGA
Posted in Associations, help | No Comments »