[Team Deejay]

Great job, Dan!

[Team Deejay]

Great job, Ralph! Now you can start on the Minnesota and Illinois challenges! 😆

[Team Deejay]

Had me scratching my head for a second there…..

[Team Deejay]

@PCFrog wrote:

@Digital_Dan wrote:

No matter where you have the cut-off it will be the same issue you mentioned. If you have it open for only the first 3 weeks of the month, then someone who nominates a cache in the last few days of the open period, will likely not win either for the same reasons you mentioned. I know there have been a number of discussions around the COTM, but to me, the voting should be open ONLY for “NEW” Caches in the previous month. For example, the caches that were activated in the Month of September, would be eligible for Voting in the Month of October. At the end of October, you would announce the September Cache Of The Month. This method would eliminate the issues with late enteries and would more accurately reflect the name “Cache Of The Month”

That would unfortunately completely alienate caches in remote areas which already see very few of COM voters.

PCFrog is right, Dan, although I understand your point. Maybe if we restricted it to caches placed in the last six months or one year, we could meet both goals.

Also, there was a cache nominated in the third week last month which was in the lead until very near the end (Feed the Geese). I am not trying to stop these caches from being nominated, just place them in a poll where they will have a fair chance.

I was really pleased to see so many votes placed in the September poll. I don’t know if it was a record or not, but it is the most votes cast that I have noticed.

[Team Deejay]

The easiest way to get started is just to do it. I would recommend that you start off by buying a Garmin Etrex (you can get one for around $80 on sale) which will serve you will until you decide you want something more elaborate. (This unit is waterproof, durable, and as accurate as any GPS.) Then, log on to geocaching.com, search on your zip code, and go find some caches. (Oh, and you should probably read the GPS instructions to learn how to use it!) When I did a search on Norwalk, there were 80 caches within a 25 mile radius.

[Team Deejay]

Uh Marc, I think you misread the post. I think he is literally asking “what is a travel bug?”. Here is a link with more info.

http://www.geocaching.com/track/faq.aspx

Coins are just like travel bugs except the tracking number is engraved on a coin. In both cases, when you find one, you can take it from a cache, log on GC.com that you found it, and then put it into another cache.

[Team Deejay]

Hey, wait a minute here, he still hasn’t logged the final! Natloh or Jeremy might still cache up!

Seriously, this is pretty impressive. Nice job, Ralph!

[Team Deejay]

These are all great points, folks. Regarding opening up space for new hides, it is fascinating how quickly new caches are placed when a long disabled cache is finally archived. The place I am thinking of Bluhm Farm Park in Waukesha county. Bluhm Park had a disabled cache occupying the space until about 4 months ago. Today there are now two active caches in that same park. “If you make space, they will put a cache in it!”

And, of course, cache owners have the right to archive any cache they own. I will say, however, that seeking out the COTM winners and nominees is a very good way for new people to understand “what a good cache looks like”. I personally have learned by doing this, so I am a little sad to see some of the better hides disappear before the newer people (I think I’m still one) can find them.

Thanks for keeping the discussion civil.

[Team Deejay]

Well, since you didn’t bother to mention which of your 12 caches had the notification, I had to look at each one, one by one. Much to my surprise, none of them contained any DNR information, including the link. I think you erased the code for the DNR link when you put in the logo. If you can give me a cache where you think it should appear, I will look at your code.

Also, you probably should post stuff like this in the Help forum. (Hint to Jeremy….)

[Team Deejay]

Is there anyway we can mark a thread as ignore, so the new messages don’t show up as unread?

[Team Deejay]

Good work! Hope to meet you on the trails someday.

[Team Deejay]

I have started to use them as much as possible, most specifically on my Burlington Liar’s Club caches, which required the seekers to visit 14 different virtual locations (along with three traditional hides). I did not have these waypoints in place when I first launched the cache, but as I read through the logs, I realized that this is a nice courtesy for those finders that choose to get the child waypoints in their pocket queries. Manually entering that many waypoints is something that I personally would like to avoid. Hopefully my finders feel the same way.

Other ones I have used recently include the alternate trail coordinates on Hairway to Steven (giving me an epic adventure hiking in the KM), the Parking coordinates on Round and Round (there are two possible lots) and the trailhead coordinates on Henry Aaron Trail #1 (allowing me to avoid some urban river bank bushwacking). My current setup puts these into the GPS automatically, and I have the different types of child waypoints assigned to different icons, so I will see them on the GPS map, even when I don’t go looking for them. I guess my point is that if you have a reason to put these on your cache, there are seekers out there who will use them. I think that usage will grow as people learn their value.

[Team Deejay]

I think there is some confusion here regarding how the prefix, lookup, and description. This is not surprising, as the GC.com documentation is rather poor. Having set up 18 of these recently, here is how it works.

PREFIX – This two letter code is used with the GCXXXX(X) number to generate the waypoint number of the location for those who get gpx files of the cache, using a “prefix plus last 4 digits” algorithm. So, if you are setting up a child waypoint for cache GC1111 for parking, using the prefix PK, the waypoint will be named PK1111. As far as I know, the only banned combination of letters/numbers for a prefix is GC, for obvious reasons. Its possible that WM (waymark) is also not allowed, but I have not tested this.

LOOKUP – GC.Com promises that this Lookup value will eventually replace the “prefix + last four digits” described above in GPX files. I am not quite sure if they can do it, however, because you run the risk of having two or more child waypoints with the same coding. For my caches, I have chosen to copy the prefix plus 4 method for my lookup values, so that these waypoints will not change at all when they get around to “fixing” it. To do this, you have to type the prefix and the last four digits in the lookup field. So I have to type PK1111, TH1111, etc. Just understand that for today, this field is not actually part of the GPX file. Also, note that for non-public waypoints (like finals), it doesn’t really matter what you put in this field, as nobody will see it but you and the approvers.

NAME – You have 50 characters to work with here. This field will show up as a waypoint name in the GPX. If you are using GSAK, or some other program using GPS Babel, to send the child waypoints to the GPS, this field will be sent to the GPS in the Note field (just like the cache name on normal GC waypoints). It is probably a good idea to put something more than “Parking” or “Trailhead” in this field, such as “My Favorite Cache Parking”, so that the waypoint is distinguishable from all the other “Parking” waypoints without having to look at the code to determine which it is tied to.

And, I think these are getting more usage. In my latest PQ for the 500 caches closest to my house, 27 had child waypoints, but there could be a lot more where the waypoints are not public. I believe the approvers have started requiring use of these for new multis and mystery caches.

[Team Deejay]

@Cheesehead Dave wrote:

@tyedyeskyguy wrote:

Ooooooooh, then I’m in trouble! I still have the dealer plate holder on my wifes car that was installed by the dealer when we bought the car new. And, we don’t have a front plate on the car at all. It just doesn’t look good. We’ve gotten several warings on both, but the city has yet to follow up on any. Sure, one time I had to bring the car down and show them the plate on the front, but as soon as I got home, ooops, the plate fell off the front again. 8)

I honestly don’t see the point of a front plate. Have you ever been pulled over by a cop thats in front of you???

Huh. There isn’t even a mount for a front plate on our van…

You’re in trouble, Dave. Maybe you should tape the plate in the middle of the windshield.

[Team Deejay]

Alright, Dave and DJ! Did you have Little Rover along for event?

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