And to think I was taught by Richard Atkinson of Stonehenge fame and I think
the first person to use resistivity survey in archaeology to plan using a
cocoa tin with slits and knotted string and how to test for ditches with a
sledge hammer and stop watch.


paul courtney
Leicester

----- Original Message -----
From: "Iain Stuart" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 10:13 AM
Subject: Going digital


I must admit to a fondness for the old technology - its easier to get lead
in my pencil than fixing a GPS! It also comes with a rubber (eraser) which
prevents mistakes. Consider the amount of batteries you have to carry these
days. As for those aerials for the Trimble GPS's, not wonder they don't work
in wooded areas - the aerials must get stuck in the trees!

Sadly, the old dumpy levels and plane tables (alidades) are now antique
tools available at premium prices. No doubt the luggable computers (Kaypros
and the like) are about to become antiques as well.

On the positive side I was hoping I could go fairly paperless, has anyone
else tried to juggle cameras, maps and recording sheets in high wind and had
to go chasing site records down a hill? If I could only tick a few boxes,
get a grid ref and a digital photo I could go back to the office and
download everything into a report and not even think about it.

HLA uses a spiffy Garmin etrex which seems to work as well as a Trimble
(especially now that SA is turned off). The positive side is that you can
use it to track your route, which if you are geographically embarrassed as I
was on Thursday pm, you can plot where you have been. In my case turns out
to be where I wanted to be (which begs the question of where the route
markers were). This is very helpful when the map is out of date.

You should also check that the GPS supports the national mapping grids which
some don't.

yours

Iain Stuart

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