RE: [Philmont] - GPS

> 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.

This is true for my GPS as well. However, the current version of the
software does a good job of removing points that are in a relatively
straight line anyway. My GPS stores 1000 points for the active track, then
it starts to overwrite the oldest data. If I don't save at the end of the
day, I'm going to lose the data anyway, so I'd rather have it saved slightly
inaccurate than to not have it at all (I guess I could consider hauling a
laptop around to upload the active track at the end of the day ;-).

There are a couple more points that I thought of after I sent off my last
email. Visit the website for the manufacturer of your GPS. There is
invaluable information there, including software updates for most devices.
Take a look at the issues that have been fixed, and if any of them look like
something you need, update. Also, complain about problems you have. You
never know - your complaint may turn into a fix (mine have!). A couple of
examples.....at one point, in order to be more accurate, the accumulating of
the 1000 track points was very inefficient. It would start wrapping around
after about 4 hours of hiking. The next update included a fix to process
the data a bit as it was saved. Now, 1000 track points is approximately a
day of use. Also, the compression algorithm used when saving a track was
originally very aggressive. Everything was "smoothed" to the extent that
the data was pretty much useless. Now the saving algorithm is pretty much
limited to minimizing data for straight lines.

Another useful piece of info I was able to get from emailing the
manufacturer was how to best orient the device to get a good signal. I had
been wearing it hanging from a 'biner on my shoulder strap. I was missing
all sorts of data due to lack of signal, but every time I'd look at it, it
would appear to be okay. Turns out that holding the device horizontally
gives the best signal reception. When I'd be looking at it, it was in this
position and everything was fine. I'd let go of it, it would go vertical,
and the signal would sometimes be lost. So, now I have it in a case that
has a clip on it. I clip it to the top of my shoulder strap, essentially
wearing it on top of my shoulder, keeping it horizontal. I now get much
better data than before. NOTE that your device might be different, so DON'T
follow this advice without getting the information you need and trying it
out for yourself. I would say, though, that if you are going to carry and
use a GPS, it should not be buried in your pack. It should be available for
easy access.

I also want to reiterate what John said in another post. USE the device,
it's the only way you are going to learn how to use it and be successful in
making it more than added weight in your pack.

David DeLano
Phoenix, AZ
Crew 124
Troop 5

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Received on Sun Mar 16 01:09:16 2003