[Texascavers] UT Grotto Meeting – Wednesday April 29, 2009
Underground Texas Grotto meeting April 29, 2009 www.utgrotto.org The meeting is on Wednesday from 7:45 P.M. - 9:00 P.M. on the University of Texas Campus in 2.48 Painter Hall http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/pai.html The Presentation will be by Richard Garriott "Mission to the International Space Station" Richard will talk about his life's journey that includes being a past member of the UT grotto, the pathway that led him to the ISS, and will also talk of the training, flight, and impressions of the earth from that flight. For information on Underground Texas Grotto activities, please see the web site All of our information is available through our link including officer contact info. Check it out and surf around for information on trips reports, new caver training, calendar, and link to get included on mass postings for either beginner trips or vertical rope training. We are busy with all kinds of activities such as projects that we discuss after each of our meetings as well. Come out and hang out with us for burgers, beer, and tall tales at the after meeting at Posse East, 2900 Duval Rd www.posseeast.com The UT Grotto is always looking for someone like you that has great photos and a story to share about your caving adventures, or scientific research, or something else really cool. Contact Gary to get your place in the spotlight. v...@utgrotto.org - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
texascavers Digest 27 Apr 2009 00:17:04 -0000 Issue 748
texascavers Digest 27 Apr 2009 00:17:04 - Issue 748 Topics (messages 10575 through 10581): GPS Recomendation 10575 by: Thomas Sitch 10576 by: Don Arburn 10577 by: wesley s 10578 by: Alan Blevins 10579 by: Diana Tomchick 10581 by: Pete Lindsley Carlsbad for publication 10580 by: Karen Perry Administrivia: To subscribe to the digest, e-mail: To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail: To post to the list, e-mail: -- --- Begin Message --- Dear Friends, The time has come for me to ask for your help. The last time I was seriously doing any orienteering was in the military, and before that digging through USGS drawers at the local sporting goods store hoping to find the topo maps I wanted. I now find myself starting a business where I need a nice hand held GPS, and I obviously want it to do double duty on caving trips and karst walks. I'm looking to spend around $300, but can go higher if there's a really good model I should own. What do you recommend? Which models have served their owners well, and which ones have looked pretty and then broken down with the slightest abuse? My Best Regards, ~~Thomas --- End Message --- --- Begin Message --- I love my Garmin CSX 60 Sent from my iPhone On Apr 24, 2009, at 12:52 PM, Thomas Sitch wrote: Dear Friends, The time has come for me to ask for your help. The last time I was seriously doing any orienteering was in the military, and before that digging through USGS drawers at the local sporting goods store hoping to find the topo maps I wanted. I now find myself starting a business where I need a nice hand held GPS, and I obviously want it to do double duty on caving trips and karst walks. I'm looking to spend around $300, but can go higher if there's a really good model I should own. What do you recommend? Which models have served their owners well, and which ones have looked pretty and then broken down with the slightest abuse? My Best Regards, ~~Thomas --- End Message --- --- Begin Message --- Gotta agree with Don on this one. I've owned a few Garmin units from the el cheepo etrex to the Vista HCx but the best mid grade unit on the market now is probably the GPSMAP 60CSx. They have the new high sesitivity reciever for awesome accurcy even in valleys and under heavey foliage, more buttons and less digital menue navigation, color screen, and USB plus serial ports on the back. You dont get much better in the hobbyist consumer market that this. The next step up is the Trimble company products that start at arround $1200 and go up. Wes~ List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:52:55 -0700 From: dreadfl...@yahoo.com To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: [Texascavers] GPS Recomendation Dear Friends, The time has come for me to ask for your help. The last time I was seriously doing any orienteering was in the military, and before that digging through USGS drawers at the local sporting goods store hoping to find the topo maps I wanted. I now find myself starting a business where I need a nice hand held GPS, and I obviously want it to do double duty on caving trips and karst walks. I'm looking to spend around $300, but can go higher if there's a really good model I should own. What do you recommend? Which models have served their owners well, and which ones have looked pretty and then broken down with the slightest abuse? My Best Regards, ~~Thomas _ Rediscover Hotmail®: Get e-mail storage that grows with you. http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Rediscover_Storage2_042009--- End Message --- --- Begin Message --- I second the love for the 60 CSx. The downside: it doesn't come with any maps, aside from basic highways. The upside: you don't have to buy maps from Garmin. There's a software called Mapwel (free demo, full version for $45) that lets you make your own maps from any image: http://www.mapwel.biz/ On my last trip to Big Bend, I just pulled down a bunch of topos from the USGS seamless server (http://seamless.usgs.gov/index.php), poked around in Mapwel for about 5 minutes, and loaded them onto the GPS. It worked great. On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 12:54 PM, Don Arburn wrote: > I love my Garmin CSX 60 > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Apr 24, 2009, at 12:52 PM, Thomas Sitch wrote: > > Dear Friends, > > The time has come for me to ask for your help. > > The last time I was seriously doing any orienteering was in the military, > and before that digging through USGS drawers at the local sporting goods > store hoping to find the topo maps I wanted. > > I now find myself starting a business where I need a nice hand held GPS, > and I obviously want it to do double duty on caving trips and karst walks. > > I'm looking to spen
Re: [Texascavers] GPS Recomendation
I have been a long time user of Garmin GPS units, plus the software MacGPS Pro (Mac only) which allows me to do some neat mapping things on a Mac. The MacGPS site is [http://www.macgpspro.com/] and they also sell cables plus they are talking about a new iPhone app due out soon. Should be interesting. First of all I would strongly recommend the Garmin because of it's nice user interface, and because it can do 10,000 track log points and each track log record has the complete location information (not just a "delta" from a starting point). Plus if you use WALLS (PC only), you can just plug it in and download your track log and waypoints (specified as a radius from a central waypoint) and the result can be integrated with your cave mapping project. I have the 76CSx which, as I understand, is larger than the 60CSX and therefore it floats. (Good for river trips.) Otherwise, I think the two units are about the same. The "x" in the model name implies the higher sensitivity receiver which is good for caves in those deep, tree-lined canyons. There is a comparison of the 60 & 76 models at [http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=139022]. Although the 76CSx has the altimeter function which can be accurately calibrated, apparently this more precise elevation measurement does NOT go into the track log, which instead uses the GPS measurement of "z" or elevation. Alan Blevins just posted some good information on uploading maps using the PC only software Mapwel. Alan said: "The upside: you don't have to buy maps from Garmin. There's a software called Mapwel (free demo, full version for $45) that lets you make your own maps from any image: http://www.mapwel.biz/ On my last trip to Big Bend, I just pulled down a bunch of topos from the USGS seamless server (http://seamless.usgs.gov/index.php), poked around in Mapwel for about 5 minutes, and loaded them onto the GPS. It worked great. " - Pete On Apr 24, 2009, at 12:54 PM, Don Arburn wrote: I love my Garmin CSX 60 Sent from my iPhone On Apr 24, 2009, at 12:52 PM, Thomas Sitch wrote: Dear Friends, The time has come for me to ask for your help. The last time I was seriously doing any orienteering was in the military, and before that digging through USGS drawers at the local sporting goods store hoping to find the topo maps I wanted. I now find myself starting a business where I need a nice hand held GPS, and I obviously want it to do double duty on caving trips and karst walks. I'm looking to spend around $300, but can go higher if there's a really good model I should own. What do you recommend? Which models have served their owners well, and which ones have looked pretty and then broken down with the slightest abuse? My Best Regards, ~~Thomas
[Texascavers] Carlsbad for publication
It's no secret that my favorite caves are southeastern New Mexico. So it may not be any great surprise, but on Thursday I will be moving to Carlsbad. My new address is 925 N. Guadalupe Street Carlsbad, NM 88220. Will send phone # as soon as I get a confirmation of the right #. Any Texas caver is welcome to come crash, visit and cave. Jim Goodbar is giving me special permits to go out and continue work in McKittrick thru May, but come the first of June, no one will get a permit til mid October. I still have stuff at CACA NP that's fun and there is always the High Guads. And, as soon as we finish with the McKittrick Hill resto & get those caves reopened, Jim is closing Wind AKA Hicks & I will start work in there. First resto project for me will be Blood River. If interested let me know. We need help cleaning up these caves Resto work is fun and rewarding. Think of being in the world's biggest sand box with guaranteed buried treasure. Cool in summer, warm in winter... Keep in mind, resto means getting to go cave in that cave! I am currently working on the Green Lake Room in Endless, but will not be able to get back there till mid Oct. because of bats. Help get these great caves open again and become a part of fantastic project. I hope most all will get to go to ICS. It is shaping up super cool and they really have some fantastic trips planned. Maybe I will get to see some of y'all there (if I get to go). Please pass this information on to any one interested Karen
