Well folks, it isn’t a perfect solution, but check this out.
When I go caching, I used to carry around a Palm PDA which I stored all of my hints and information about a cache in. That way when I was trying to find a cache, all I had to do was dig out the PDA, punch in the cache code, and I had all of the information. It was very nice.
Now with having the iPhone, I’ve been able to get rid of the PDA but the phone itself has some limitations. It doesn’t store things locally on the phone so if I’m in an area with no cell service, I’ve got no hints or help. So, I started thinking about how I could get more out of the GPS I already have. Came up with a pretty cool method to help.
When you download your caches to the GPS, it always has the name of the cache, and a short description. The description field is always about 20-30 characters long. The name of the cache can be 14 characters. Generally speaking, if you use the GC code from the caching wesbite as the cache name, it never takes more than say 8 characters. That leaves 6 characters left.
Using a program called GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife), I changed the way it sends cache information to my GPS. What it does now is it names the cache “%code-%typ1%con1%dif1a%ter1a”. Let me break that down for you:
- %code = GC code from the website. Gives me a direct search item to find the cache and log it later
- %typ1 = The “type” of cache shown with a single letter. Is it a multi (M), puzzle (U), traditional(T), letterbox(L), etc. I could probably remove this since I typically only look for trads but I kept it anyway for the odd virtual and other type.
- %con1 = The “container” of the cache shown with a single letter. Micro(M), Small(S),Regular(R), etc.
- %dif1a = The difficulty of the cache represented by 1 character
- %ter1a = The terrain of the cache represented by 1 character.
So, what used to be displayed on my GPS as GC1JOHE is now displayed as GC1JOHE-TSAA. The new “name” tells me that it’s a traditional cache, small container, with a 1.5 difficulty, and a 1.5 terrain. (A=1.5, B=2.5, etc).
Lastly, instead of having info about the owner and name of the cache in the “Note” field, I had GSAK send the decrypted hint. So for the cache listed above, it reads “about 4 feet up in a clump of”. Now mind you, that’s not the WHOLE hint, but it is better than having nothing at all. For short hints, this works perfectly.
I think it’s a great way to use Gsak to get more info about the caches you are hunting onto a non-paperless GPS. I’m using a Garmin Legend HCx and am hoping this will work good.
I’m gonna use this new method this weekend while looking for caches in Halifax. Should be interesting to see how well it works.
