Re: [Philmont] - GPS

All great information and advice. It took me about 3 days to develop a
routine of when to turn off and on. You are right on about the switchbacks
and I think if you knew you were headed to a part of the trail with lots of
switchbacks, you could increase the interval of the tracking feature. Then,
after your days hike you could go back and put in waypoints at the
switchbacks and obtain more accurate data. I did not try that.

Another thing you should check into is whether "saving" your days track
reduces the number of points stored. My recollection is that it does. It
reduces the track to a preset number of points that IT feels are the most
useful. What this means to me is that it would tend to straighten things
out. So David is right. Knowing your GPS before you go is a great idea to
maximize its benefits.

Alan Hamm
Bethesda, MD

----- Original Message -----
From: "David E. DeLano" <david.delano@cox.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list philmont" <philmont@troop47.com>
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 12:31 AM
Subject: RE: [Philmont] - GPS

> > If you are marking waypoints yourself, and "stringing" them together,
you
> > are basically cutting corners and will end up with a significantly lower
> > total distance that what was actually traveled.
> > content deleted <
>
> Sorry that it has taken me a bit of time to respond to this post. I was
> hoping the discussion would have continued a bit more. I find this year's
> GPS discussion to be an interesting turn from past years. The discussion
> has been less of "is it worth taking a GPS?" and more of "how do I make
this
> thing useful". I'll try not to be too long winded, but here are a few
> comments to chew on.
>
> First and foremost, as several people have mentioned, it is important that
> you get to know your GPS. I find that when I pick it up after a few month
> of non-use, that there are several thing I need to re-learn. The more you
> use it, the more useful it will become to you.
>
> Develop a routine if you want to be successful. Learn when to turn it on
> and when to turn it off. Learn when and how to do the various maintenance
> tasks such as clearing data, resetting max values, etc. The better and
more
> routine your habits, the better your data, and the longer your batteries
> will last. Some examples....I can store 10 tracks. Thus, every evening I
> saved the track and cleared the current track (or else the data
accumulates
> and eventually writes over itself). I reset the max speed, etc.,
settings.
> I set up the next days route based on the waypoints I had pre-stored.
> Another example. When we got into a camp, I saved a waypoint. I tried to
> follow a consistent set of rules. If the camp was staffed, I marked the
> trail in front of the staff cabin. On trail camps, I marked the center
site
> that had camp site maps. I also marked camps that we traveled through.
As
> far as when to turn it on and off....turn it on BEFORE you are ready to
> start hiking: otherwise, you lose data as it's trying to capture
satellites.
> Turn it OFF when you aren't hiking. My GPS, at least, has a habit of
making
> star patterns when it is still, as the various satellite signal strengths
> come and go. Turn it ON if you need to get data.
>
> How good is the data......I consider the data I get from my GPS as raw
data.
> It might give some accurate info on the microcosm, but it's difficult to
> tell when the data is good, and when it needs to be worked. I find the
data
> is not that useful without dumping it to a computer and using some other
> program to work on it. As I've posted before, my preference is TopoUSA.
I
> can take the tracks along with the waypoints I marked (which I assume to
be
> more accurate) and try to make sense of the data. I take out the above
> mentioned stars. I fill in the missing data that Jeff mentioned. I try
to
> fill in switchbacks from the map -- BTW, I've found that switchbacks are
one
> of the worst areas of accuracy. Unless you pause at every corner and mark
a
> waypoint, the sampling will cut all of the corners and may miss some
> switchbacks all together.
>
> Batteries....if your device uses AA batteries, I highly suggest that you
try
> out Lithium batteries. They cost more, but....they are lighter (half),
last
> about twice as long, and work in cold temperatures. One warning, though.
> Most battery meters don't handle lithium batteries. Lithiums hold their
> power output much longer, but drop off very rapidly at the end. When your
> device starts to taper on the power meter, time to consider a new set of
> batteries. I made it almost the entire trip on one set of batteries. I
> think I had to put in new ones for the last day and a half.
>
> Well, enough for now. If there is any interest in continuing this thread,
I
> can probably come up with more to write.
>
> David DeLano
> Phoenix, AZ
> Crew 124
> Troop 5
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-------------------------------------------------------
As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Fri Mar 14 06:29:20 2003