[Nat Sherman]

Hi all,

Finally found my first Benchmark today! FC1178. I also found one that seems to be called FC1178 AZ but I can't figure out where to log that find. Or because it's the same number does it simply count as one Benchmark? Also, since I can't find FC1178 AZ listed, how would I know what it was if I hadn't seen a photo someone posted?

Thanks for any help with this!
Nat Sherman

[msrubble]

Nat Sherman, on 16 May 2012 - 06:08 PM, said:

I also found one that seems to be called FC1178 AZ but I can't figure out where to log that find.

I don't think that is what you found. Where was the "other" mark in relation to the triangulation station you did find, CHATTANOOGA RESET 1946?

There was a CHATTANOOGA AZ MK set in 1934, but NGS couldn't find it in 1983. The original datasheet linked from the geocaching.com page says that the stamping on the azimuth mark should have been CHATTANOOGA AZI 1934.

CHATTANOOGA RM 1 says "NO. 1" on the disk.

OK, see here for what you found: The 1962 recovery note by CGS for CHATTANOOGA says that the azimuth mark was destroyed and reset at a new location, and that the new mark is stamped CHATTANOOGA 1934 RESET 1962.

I do not think that the new azimuth mark was added to the NGS database. I tried searching their datasheets for marks named CHATTANOOGA something in Tennessee, and this one does not come up. NGS doesn't know that the original azimuth mark was destroyed.

If the state of Tennessee has a datasheet listing the "new" (1962) azimuth mark separately, you could log it on Waymarking.com.

This post has been edited by msrubble: 16 May 2012 - 09:29 PM

[EdrickV]

Nat Sherman, on 16 May 2012 - 06:08 PM, said:

Hi all,

Finally found my first Benchmark today! FC1178. I also found one that seems to be called FC1178 AZ but I can't figure out where to log that find. Or because it's the same number does it simply count as one Benchmark? Also, since I can't find FC1178 AZ listed, how would I know what it was if I hadn't seen a photo someone posted?

Thanks for any help with this!
Nat Sherman

FC1178 AZ would be the Azmuth mark for FC1178, so it is part of the station. There should also be two Reference Mark discs in the area, which may or may not still exist. If you were to do an official recovery report, you could say "Station mark and Azmuth mark recovered in good condition." (Assuming they are in good condition.) You could try locating the reference marks first. Two are noted in the NGS version of the datasheet, along with a 2005 Geocaching recovery report.
http://www.ngs.noaa....l?PidBox=FC1178

Here is an example of an official recovery report on a triangulation station:

NE1531'RECOVERY NOTE BY MI DEPT OF HIGHWAYS 1980 (ELM)
NE1531'THE STATION, BOTH REFERENCE MARKS AND THE AZIMUTH MARK WERE ALL FOUND
NE1531'IN GOOD CONDITION. THE DIRECTIONS AND DISTANCES WERE NOT CHECKED. THE
NE1531'DESCRIPTION AND TO REACH ARE ADEQUATE.

A lot of triangulation stations will have more info then the one you found. Like the one that log is from:
http://www.ngs.noaa....l?PidBox=NE1531

Here are Geocaching.com logs of the station mark and reference marks for a triangulation station I found a while ago. (The Azimuth mark in this case was a lighthouse some distance away that I didn't have in the GPS I had with me, and is apparently out of service. Since I didn't know where to look for it, I didn't find it.) Most of the time reference marks don't get separate PIDs, but in this case they did.
http://www.geocachin...e2-35f19fbc8c3d
http://www.geocachin...81-9f3349cd5097
http://www.geocachin...24-a0ae14d0fe66

Edit: After looking more into the affected datasheets, what you found would seem to be a non-PID Azimuth mark disc set for use with FC1496/FC1178. Interestingly despite having the station mark reset, with a new PID, the old PID still got recovery reports. The reset PID also got an NGS recovery report. Since the older datasheet has more of the relevant data (the box score) I would think that's the one intended to be used, with the newer datasheet around to note that it was reset. This is a confusing station, since both the AZ disc and the station disc have been reset, and the reset AZ disc doesn't have a PID. (What I posted above about Reference Marks not getting PIDs may actually be a bit wrong, they just may not get full datasheets and thus may only show up in the non-publishable list.)
Whew, that was quite a bit of info to wade through.

Edit2: Oh, if you were to do an official recovery report on the FC1496 datasheet, I think you should refer to the AZ disc as Chattanooga 1934 Reset 1962, as listed in the 1962 recovery report, to avoid confusion. Handheld coordinates for the AZ disc might help get it added to the datasheet. (Though I don't know if it was bluebooked back in 1962.)

This post has been edited by EdrickV: 16 May 2012 - 11:16 PM

[Nat Sherman]

Okay, I added 6 log posts from what I found yesterday and hope I did it right. This is more involved/complicated than caching haha! Thanks for the help and the information!

[AZcachemeister]

Nat Sherman, on 17 May 2012 - 11:04 AM, said:

This is more involved/complicated than caching haha!

If you want to get it right, it certainly can be!
Thanks for wanting to get it right.

[EdrickV]

One thing to keep in mind, is that if a benchmark has a relatively recent recovery report, it may not really need another one. Many benchmarks I've found are new enough, (say 1990 or newer) and have relatively recent recovery reports, that I didn't think they needed another recovery report. In certain areas I'm now thinking of hunting specific benchmarks that don't have any recovery reports, or finding Scaled coordinate benchmarks for which I can submit handheld GPS coordinates. I do log any benchmarks I find on this site, if they are in the database here. (Which mainly means benchmarks I've found on vacation, since the local benchmarks that would be in the database here are likely almost all gone or inaccessible since they were placed along railroad tracks that have long since been removed. There are some that have since been found though.)

This post has been edited by EdrickV: 17 May 2012 - 11:51 PM

[Nat Sherman]

When you guys get tired of my questions about Benchmarking, just tell me to go back to grocaching I've found 7 benchmarks so far and logged them as found on geocaching.com. But when I run my GSAK stats they don't show as found, thus, BadgeGen doesn't recognize them towards the Benchmark Badge.

How do I get my benchmark finds into GSAK? I made a database called Benchmarks and downloaded something called a "loc" file which put about 130 benchmarks into the database. But none of them are showing as found by me and when I tried to manually change them to "found" in GSAK, it required information about the benchmark that I don't have.

So, just trying to get GSAK to recognize my benchmark finds so BadgeGen will recognize them as well.

Thanks for your help! Still in the hospital with my dad as he has more brain surgery this afternoon but have a list of 6-7 benchmarks within a mile or two of here that I might try to find once he's through surgery and in ICU.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Nat Sherman, on 18 May 2012 - 04:02 AM, said:

When you guys get tired of my questions about Benchmarking, just tell me to go back to grocaching I've found 7 benchmarks so far and logged them as found on geocaching.com. But when I run my GSAK stats they don't show as found, thus, BadgeGen doesn't recognize them towards the Benchmark Badge.

How do I get my benchmark finds into GSAK? I made a database called Benchmarks and downloaded something called a "loc" file which put about 130 benchmarks into the database. But none of them are showing as found by me and when I tried to manually change them to "found" in GSAK, it required information about the benchmark that I don't have.

So, just trying to get GSAK to recognize my benchmark finds so BadgeGen will recognize them as well.

Thanks for your help! Still in the hospital with my dad as he has more brain surgery this afternoon but have a list of 6-7 benchmarks within a mile or two of here that I might try to find once he's through surgery and in ICU.

If you already have a database for the benchmarks that you hunt, then all you need due is click the little box in the "found" column and it will show that mark as found. If the "Found" column is not showing in GSAK, then go to 'tools' - then 'options' - then 'display' and scroll down the list to "found status" and click on it.

You will need to edit the date you found the mark, since GSAK will set the date for the date you click the found box.

You might consider doing a county download from the NGS and loading that into GSAK to get full details of each mark in your database.


John

[EdrickV]

If you aren't worried about dates and stuff, you can just right click a mark in GSAK and choose Cache status|Set to Found and it'll show up as found. I highly recommend downloading NGS datasheets directly from the NGS and running them through NGS>GPX. Geocaching.com's loc files are a poor substitute for NGS>GPX produced gpx files.

I usually download the state wide monthly archive file and then a county file for specific areas and load them in that order. (I use separate databases for each state.) Lately I've also tried making separate databases for nonpub marks, which require manual editing to make a file that can be converted for import into GSAK. The nonpub marks do not have full descriptions.