Outdoor Pen - Extreme Conditions Writing Utensil

29 January, 2010 13:36

I previously wrote about the Ultimate Geocaching Writing Tool and I am going to revisit this category of hardware and introduce the extremely ultimate all conditions pen for backpacking, camping, Geocaching, and under sea adventures.  This all weather writing tool is called the Inka Pen Travel Pen.

The inka Write Anywhere kit is "The first pen designed to go and write anywhere".  This pen contains waterproof ink with the ability to write upside down, at any altitude, and in extreme conditions.

Multi-function pen design:

• Easy access quick-use pen
• Converts to a full-size pen
• Includes PDA stylus

Here are a few specifications of this pen:

• Materials - Carbon fiber and 304 stainless steel components are lightweight, strong and scratch and corrosion resistant.
• Engineering - Pen barrel is hardened, CNC machined, centerless ground, then laser engraved.
• Performance - Waterproof ink in pressurized cartridge writes in extreme temperatures, upside down and at any altitude.
• Design - Multi-function design, secure attachment and watertight case makes this the perfect pen on the go.

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Geocache Maintenance

17 January, 2010 03:24

Yesterday, January 16th, 2010, I performed maintenance on one of my Geocaching hides.  Here is the maintenance note I posted for GC1GJYH.

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The cache container has been replaced with a more appropriate container, of the same size, that will allow the placement to be permanent without destruction for many of days. Surprisingly the original container was in perfect shape, as was the log book. Here is a short summary of my trek to perform maintenance, after over a year, and why I decided to replace the container no matter what the shape the original was in.

Summer is not winter. A wise brain once said to me once after an Owner Maintenance. I decided to take the long route and found myself trudging through 1 1/2 to 3 foot snow drifts to get to the location. I expect for some occasions, or many occasions, this cache may provide the same effort or more on your part, Winter & Summer.

So, after about 45 minutes of hiking, I arrived at the location. I found the cache in perfect shape, and it was placed appropriately by the last person whom found it.

In order to get to the cache, I took off my shoes, socks, and upped my pants; remind you this was 25F degree weather in the dead of Winter. I knew after crossing I would have to dry myself and re-establish my gear no more than 15 to 20 seconds after crossing some, umm, so called wet forest land - happened to be over the waist deep in the shallowest part.

After such a superior sensation, I made darn sure I was going to replace the container no matter what. I quickly warmed up and retrieved the cache and its contents.

Coming back is a different story. I was not about to go through a polar plunge once again, so I thought hard about what might be stable crossing.

Yes, you may have different views of what is safe and appropriate, but mind you I came VERY prepared, else I would have used the GMRS radio for my buddy in the car to come rescue me (you don't want that embarrassment do you?), and here is why:

Deciding to take another route across the wet land I had originally passed in my first route, I found myself soaked well over my waist line.

I knew something like this might happen, and I hope all Geocachers may be prepared for the same. I knew I didn't have much time until hypothermia, and I did feel it come fast, so I unpacked my spare clothing: pants, socks, and shirt. The shoes were water proof and held very tight, but by the time I started heading back, the top water soaked part of the socks quickly ran into the boots. In such a case you want to wiggle and hike like their is no tomorrow to re-generate warmth in your body.

So the conclusion, this is NOT A WINTER FRIENDLY CACHE, though IT IS POSSIBLE IF YOU DARE! ...the story is a lot longer, but I will leave that to your imagination...

The old log will be scanned in a computer picture format and placed on a website. I will put the URL (link) in the description space when this is done. HAVE A BLAST, I did.. I would do it again any time!

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Earthmate GPS Blue Logger Brief Review

25 November, 2009 12:47

My Geo buddy gave me his Blue Logger GPS device along with his DeLorme Topo USA 6.0 license - thank you Brian!  The Earthmate Blue Logger is a bluetooth enabled portable GPS device.

My main objective for establishing a purchase, or being gifted with a bluetooth GPS device was for two reasons: portable street navigation and topology for hiking and camping for my netbook, and integration with CacheMate on my Windows smartphone.

DeLorme Topo works as it should in all aspects of a NMEA compliant serial GPS device.  The only quirk I have seen is the com port negotiation.  If the GPS unit is not started, paired, and connected when starting up the Topo USA application, your serial port is not visible under the selectable COM ports for communication.  This is not a bug, though a wish for a feature, which in all terms and respect to my version, it might have been changed in more recent distributions of DeLorme Topo USA.

CacheMate is also a seamless user experience.  Make sure the device is paired, use the Windows Mobile bluetooth stack, choose your GPS connection method in CacheMate, and success.  You are now able to find nearby caches and also navigate to the Geocaches if you so wish to do so.  I would rather not ruff up my smartphone, so I use my old reliable GPS device for the actual Geocache find.  However, a belt clip bag is available for the unit from http://shop.delorme.com/.  A multitude of accessories such as AC chargers, and base chargers are also available.

Here are the Blue Logger specifications:

• NMEA 2.0-compliant 12-channel receiver
• WAAS-enabled
• SiRF starIIe/LP low-power GPS chip set
• Cold Start: < 45 seconds; warm start: < 38 seconds
• Hot Start: < 8 seconds
• Power, Logging GPS only: ~90mA at 3.7V
• Power, Logging GPS with a Bluetooth connection: ~118mA at 3.7V
• Maximum Velocity: 1000 knots
• Maximum Altitude: 60,000 feet
• Battery Life: 8 hours (charge up to 500 times)
• Operating Temperature Range: –20° Celsius to + 60° Celsius
• Supports SBAS (WAAS / EGNOS / MTSAT.)
• Blue Logger weight (without battery): 1.7 ounces (47 grams)

Here is what is in the box with a retail purchase:

• Earthmate Blue Logger GPS with 3.7V Li-ion battery
• DeLorme Blue Logger Manager software
• Mobile charger
• A/C charger
• Charging cradle
• Carrying case 

In conclusion: I am happy with its startup time and position acquisition time.  It has a battery life of 8 hours, has a 12 channel receiver, and is NMEA compliant.  It does the job and works as a receiver from this brand type should function.

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Geotagging Made Easy: PhotoTrackr Mini Integrated GPS Solution

28 October, 2009 15:08

GiSTEQ has released the PhotoTrackr DPL900, a Geotagging device that syncs to any model camera simplifying the process of adding location aware EXIF data to your pictures, including Mac and RAW file formats.  PhotoTrackr also includes the ability to record routes.

Photo tagging is automatic using its included software.  The software has integrated Google Maps for the visual location interface.  Along with the ability to view the location of each picture you have taken, the device is able to export NMEA and GPX logs for your photos and bread crumb tracks.  You also have the capability of exporting and using the GPX logs in Google Earth.

The Geotagging software integrates with Flickr, locr, Picasa Web Albums, and other 3rd party Geo-Photo sharing websites.  EXIF data is automatically inserted into your trip photos and allows you to view a slide show of your photographic albums in the internal software, the mentioned integrated platforms, or your alternative photo organization software.

Here are the GPS device specifications:

• Battery Life: Operation Time: 17 hours in continuous mode
• 65 channels satellite tracking
• Cold/Warm/Hot start time: 29/10/1 seconds (on average)
• GPS Chipset: Skytraq
• DATUM: WGS84 (user definable)
• SBAS (WAAS, EGNOS) support
• Superior sensitivity: -160dBm tracking
• Update Rate: 1 Hz
• Support standard NMEA-0183 at 38400 bps baud rate
• 2MB flash memory for data logging, with 16 bytes binary data per record that stores up to 250K
• Logging data interval programmable: by time (1 second ~ 30 mins) or distance (2 ~ 65535 meters)
• Data tag (start, stop) can be set by user, maximum 250 sections
• Support G-mouse function via USB
• Dimension: 3.05 (L) x 1.10 (W) x 0.70 (H) inch
• Weight: 0.53oz including battery
• Accuracy:
  • Position: <3m 2d-RMS; DGPS: 2.5m
  • Velocity: 0.1m/sec
  • Acceleration: 0.1m/s2; DGPS: 0.05m/s2
• Frequency: L1, 1575.42MHz
• C/A Code: 1.023MHz chip rate
• Antenna (internal): Built-in low noise patch antenna
• Input Current < 26mA

Pre-orders are available for the cost of $69.00 and are set to be available sometime in November.

[GiSTEQ Corp. PhotoTrackr]

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Geo Join

26 October, 2009 17:08

cross-posted from http://myspew.com/projects/geo-join

Geo Join is a collaborative project to slice location resources into similar objects based on referenced similarities and then provide object orientated location aware meta data to be used to separate, expand, differentiate, or join these objects for any location based service output purposes.

The project website is located at:

http://trac.extracted.org/trac/wiki

Our first milestone is aimed at creating this project's operational and development structure.  If this project is of any interest to yourself, contact trac@trac.extracted.org for access to our Wiki and Ticket Systems contribution areas.

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