[OSM-talk] mapping while hiking

[Karl Newman]

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 7:13 PM, Charles Basenga Kiyanda <kiyanda2 at uiuc.edu>
wrote:

> This is slightly off-topic, but does anyone have a trick to deal with
> the gps when tagging while hiking trails? I carry a garmin etrex legend
> Cx (unfortunately not the H version) and I find that it has to be
> "looking" directly up and flat to get best reception. Especially around
> here with often good tree cover and canyons. I'm just wondering if other
> hikers have found something to remedy that problem. I'm always using
> hiking poles when on the trail, so I was thinking about something that
> would look like an arm-band mounted pouch that I could strap to one of
> my forearm, since they stay pretty level constantly during the hike.
> Maybe a backpack mounted option? I'm fishing for ideas here. I've tried
> every possible permutation of having the gps stick out of one of my
> pockets on pants(trousers)/coat/etc to no avail. Just for reference, I'm
> in the southwest USA and my main source of hiking gear is REI and Amazon.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Charles
>

I've heard that setting the GPS on a large flat piece of metal can improve
reception. That's obviously not practical for hiking. Without an external
antenna (which the eTrex series doesn't support) and/or a high-sensitivity
receiver (i.e., a new device), the best you can probably do is to put it up
on a shoulder strap, facing the sky.

Karl
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