Geocaching/flying

[Henry Kisor]

Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a new
GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers' GPSes
can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument. (I
use an older Trimble for flying.)

Henry

[G. Burkhart]

"Henry Kisor" > wrote in message
...
> Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a
new
> GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers'
GPSes
> can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument.
(I
> use an older Trimble for flying.)
>
> Henry

I use a Magellan 330 Map gps for hiking (at OSH), driving and flying. Get
the mapping software and the PC connection cable to upload and download
waypoints, tracks and routes. It has airports in its database but I put the
local ones in by their identifiers. I also put in the tall antennas in the
area as obstructions. It works well for my use. (YMMV!)

I just bought a panel mount Trimble from eBay, should arrive today. I'm not
sure how soon I'll get that installed in my plane.

[John Bell]

Henry,

I am not into Geocaching. However, your could Geocache with an aviation GPS
or you could navigate your airplane with a non-aviation GPS. It all depends
on what compromises you want to make between size, price, and aviation
functions.

Especially for VFR use, a non-aviation GPS makes a great tool. For all
practical purposes, you will have to load aviation waypoints as user
waypoints. Many receivers will hold 1000 points, some will hold 500 and
some will hole more. You can upload get these coordinates from a source
such as www.navaid.com and use a free program such as G7toWin to load them.

I personally prefer Garmin receivers. I especially like the ability to edit
the route directly on the map by essentially dragging and dropping the route
line. I also think the best navigation interface is the map display for
situational awareness and the data fields for precision. The Magellan units
only offer two data fields.

Some of the units that you might start looking with are the Garmin GPSMap76,
60C, 76C, 176, or 276.

John Bell
www.cockpitgps.com

"Henry Kisor" > wrote in message
...
> Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a
new
> GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers'
GPSes
> can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument.
(I
> use an older Trimble for flying.)
>
> Henry
>
>
>
>

[Gene Seibel]

"Henry Kisor" > wrote in message >...
> Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a new
> GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers' GPSes
> can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument. (I
> use an older Trimble for flying.)
>
> Henry



I have a Magellan 315 with aviation database that I use for flying and
geocaching. Works well for both.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

[gatt]

"Henry Kisor" > wrote in message
...
> Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a
new
> GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers'
GPSes
> can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument.
(I
> use an older Trimble for flying.)

I use a mid-level Garmin. Haven't used it myself for air navigation yet,
but I've had my wife take it along and do things like turn it on to see if
it disrupts anything (nope) and see how well it works.

The short answer is, it works great except the altitude data can be pretty
erratic. Other models may have better alt determination, but I sure
wouldn't trust the altitude data on them.

Beyond that, it's great. We carry it and a digital camera everywhere we fly
now.

-c

[John Clonts]

"Henry Kisor" > wrote in message
...
> Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a
new
> GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers'
GPSes
> can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument.
(I
> use an older Trimble for flying.)
>
> Henry
>

I had an Airmap 100 I used in my airplane, but I bought a Garmin Geko 201
because it has much better track logging capability. Since I have an IFR
panel GPS (KLN-94), I don't use the Geko for navigation. But when I fly IFR
IMC I set it to nav to some airport anyway. The nav features are quite
rudimentary (e.g. just heading, bearing, speed, distance), but in a complete
electrical failure it might be helpful.

And the Geko works fine for geocaching. It doesn't have any basemap but
that's just not really needed for geocaching. I did learn pretty early on
that a good pocket compass is a very helpful supplement, though!

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

[John Clonts]

"gatt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Henry Kisor" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a
> new
> > GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers'
> GPSes
> > can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation
instrument.
> (I
> > use an older Trimble for flying.)
>
> I use a mid-level Garmin. Haven't used it myself for air navigation yet,
> but I've had my wife take it along and do things like turn it on to see if
> it disrupts anything (nope) and see how well it works.
>
> The short answer is, it works great except the altitude data can be pretty
> erratic. Other models may have better alt determination, but I sure
> wouldn't trust the altitude data on them.
>
> Beyond that, it's great. We carry it and a digital camera everywhere we
fly
> now.
>

Then you should know about oziphototool-- works with oziexplorer to
automatically mark on a map where your pictures were taken, by examining the
timestamps of your pictures and the track from your gps!

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

[Cub Driver]

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 14:36:01 GMT, "John Bell"
> wrote:

>Especially for VFR use, a non-aviation GPS makes a great tool. For all
>practical purposes, you will have to load aviation waypoints as user
>waypoints. Many receivers will hold 1000 points, some will hold 500 and
>some will hole more. You can upload get these coordinates from a source
>such as www.navaid.com and use a free program such as G7toWin to load them.

This is what I did, to save money by buying a Garmin III+ instead of
the pilot version. The "datachunk" cost me $4.

www.pipercubforum.com/garmin.htm

A while ago I was trying to find a waypoint in rough air, and I
decided that I just plain had too many waypoints for my own good. So I
downloaded them to my computer (I use EasyGPS software) and saved the
file as allwaypoints. Then I deleted those in Massachusetts and any
over 100 miles away, named the result localwaypoints, and uploaded the
shorter file to my Garmin. This has been a great improvement.

I don't find the Garmin very intuitive. It's a great help to be able
to massage the data on the computer.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

[Gene Seibel]

"gatt" > wrote in message >...
> "Henry Kisor" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a
> new
> > GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers'
> GPSes
> > can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument.
> (I
> > use an older Trimble for flying.)
>
> I use a mid-level Garmin. Haven't used it myself for air navigation yet,
> but I've had my wife take it along and do things like turn it on to see if
> it disrupts anything (nope) and see how well it works.
>
> The short answer is, it works great except the altitude data can be pretty
> erratic. Other models may have better alt determination, but I sure
> wouldn't trust the altitude data on them.
>
> Beyond that, it's great. We carry it and a digital camera everywhere we fly
> now.

We do too. Have a camera case that the camera and GPS both fit in
nicely. Our camera has a 10x optical zoom which will take some decent
pics from the air. http://pad39a.com/gene/house.html
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

[Ron Hammer]

"Henry Kisor" > wrote in message >...
> Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a new
> GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers' GPSes
> can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument. (I
> use an older Trimble for flying.)
>
> Henry

I do both with my Garmin Pilot III. My friend has a Garmin GPS 72 or
76 not really sure.
I find his moving compass works better than mine when walking. I
really like the aviation database built into mine. It is nice to be
able to find the nearest airport in case of an emergency.
You should pick a GPS that will do what you want for either Flying or
Geocaching. This will then work fine for the other one.
Ron

[gatt]

"John Clonts" > wrote in message news:MWayc.4350

> Then you should know about oziphototool-- works with oziexplorer to
> automatically mark on a map where your pictures were taken, by examining
the
> timestamps of your pictures and the track from your gps!

That's very interesting! Thanks.

-c

[Cub Driver]

On 11 Jun 2004 09:42:34 -0700, (Ron Hammer) wrote:

>really like the aviation database built into mine. It is nice to be
>able to find the nearest airport in case of an emergency.

Are the waypoints in the Pilot separate from the database, or must you
scroll through thousands of entries to find the one you want?

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

[Ron Hammer]

Cub Driver > wrote in message >...
> On 11 Jun 2004 09:42:34 -0700, (Ron Hammer) wrote:
>
> >really like the aviation database built into mine. It is nice to be
> >able to find the nearest airport in case of an emergency.
>
> Are the waypoints in the Pilot separate from the database, or must you
> scroll through thousands of entries to find the one you want?
>
They are separate. There is a different page for user waypoints,
airports, and navigation aids.
Ron

[Cub Driver]

On 14 Jun 2004 06:28:30 -0700, (Ron Hammer) wrote:

>> Are the waypoints in the Pilot separate from the database, or must you
>> scroll through thousands of entries to find the one you want?
>>
>They are separate. There is a different page for user waypoints,
>airports, and navigation aids.

Ah well. I didn't know that when I bought the surface version.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd want yet more pages. I find the
Garmin III+ very difficult to use. It seems to respond to identical
commands in different ways, which is why I was recently having a quiet
session at the picnic table.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! weblog www.vivabush.org

[[email protected]]

I have done a few Geocaches (www.geocaching.com). I used my Lowrance
Airmap 100 for those, but now I have a new toy that is far preferable -
the Garmin Foretrex 201. http://www.garmin.com/products/foretrex201/

I paid around $160 including shipping for it from www.gpscity.com. It
is incredibly portable, and I bought the bicycle handlebar mount for it
- it works well as a cyclometer. The user interface is *very* well done
considering the small number of buttons. It includes a charger for the
built-in battery (around 10-12 hours of life per charge) and a serial
interface cable.

It doesn't really have a usable moving map, other than a screen that
shows your track and nearby waypoints - but it could still be used as a
basic, backup GPS for track, course, speed, etc. (It has WAAS, for
whatever that's worth.)

I bought www.expertgps.com to use with it. Amongst other things, you can
import a scanned sectional map into ExpertGPS, create waypoints at VORs,
airports, etc. and then upload them into the Foretrex. I did this with
an SFO sectional that I downloaded from www.avsim.com; the accuracy is
not perfect but certainly adequate for VFR navigation in a pinch.

The Foretrex can also be used as a basic GPS receiver for syncing up
with Jepp's FliteMap or other moving map software. My boss bought one to
use with Delorme Street Atlas for navigating his truck/trailer/family
around the country, and he's tickled with it too.

Dave Blevins



On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 07:05:43 -0500, "Henry Kisor"
> wrote:

>Any pilot who's also into ground geocaching? I'm thinking about buying a new
>GPS receiver to use for that purpose, but also wonder if these hikers' GPSes
>can also be used for aviation, perhaps as a backup navigation instrument. (I
>use an older Trimble for flying.)
>
>Henry
>
>