By Steve Allen aka MO PIRATE
By now, I believe most folks know about the worldwide treasure hunting game called geocaching.
Using a GPS receiver and the satellites that transmit the signals to them, geocachers can get a “fix” on the location of over 1.3 million hidden containers around the world.
I’m an “honorary” member of about a dozen geocaching groups and organizations across the country. One of the most active groups is Central Florida Area Geocachers (CFLAG) on Facebook.
This week, one of their wonderful members, trippy1976, posted a compiliation of the group’s recommended containers for Florida. But, this is a FANTASTIC list and I wanted to share it with all my geocaching friends. It’s a good guideline for containers no matter where you live!
A few weeks ago, I was asking my Facebook friends for some help coming up with ideas for the FindYourGeocache.com blog. GEO*Trailblazer 1 said that I should be stopped and questioned by the Secret Service and then write about it. But, since HE’S had that experience, I thought it would just be easier to ask him to share his story with us.
Here’s the story of meeting the Secret Service while out geocaching. Now THAT’S hard-core!
Let’s turn on the Way Back Machine, which by the way you Ole Time Cachers will remember. Back to a time when Geocaching did not exist and SA did, that’s “Selective Availability” for those of you who do not know.
In this day and age of technology, it is hard to persuade kids to get outside. I know this for a fact! We have 5 kids in our family ages 11, 8, 6, 4 and 2 who love playing on their computers, wii and gameboys. (My husband is a Network Administrator and I am a digital graphic and web designer, so computers are our life.)
Guest Author: Intro to GPS
This is a guest article about how a GPS works. It was written by RJ Stapell, of High Trail Expeditions, who I met at the Overland Expo 2012.
The GPS System
In General
The GPS navigation system currently maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense consists of:
The GPS system is based on line of site transmission from the satellite to the GPS receiver. A GPS handheld or vehicle-mounted receiver requires a strong signal from a minimum of 4 satellites in order to accurately report the receiver’s position, speed and direction of travel. The GPS signal from the satellite can be adversely affected by:
Keep Reading!
11 years ago • Guest Author, Terms • Tags: GPSr, guest author