nekom

That's a very good idea as well. There is at least one cacher around here who has a lot of cemetery hides, I'd suspect most any area has at least one person who does the same.

This must be a regional thing. I see SQ all the time in cache titles over in Ohio but don't recall ever seeing it in PA.

I'm not one to knock the way other people play the game, but I think there can be a point at which something is simply absurd and I think that point has been reached.

I need to get myself a nice bicycle because there are tons of rails to trails in these parts, and plenty of caches hidden along them.

I'm with the "This will be a maintenance nightmare" crowd. Not that it's a bad idea, just be prepared to replace that CD regularly. It could break, be driven off with, etc.

The MP3 player in a stage isn't a bad idea at all actually. I know they make those small FM transmitters for MP3 players to pump out to your car stereo but those are VERY low power and probably only have a few hundred feet of range. Anything more powerful on the commercial FM band is probably in violation of FCC regulations. The only other option I could think would be the CB band, as no license is required and any noncommercial use is allowed. I believe CB can legally be broadcast at 4 or 5 watts which would be PLENTY. The cache site I have in mind is literally across the river from my home so it wouldn't take much to get a signal there, only problem is I'm not sure if say regular broadcasts (say at the top and bottom of each hour) would violate some FCC regulation. I guess that's a topic for another forum though. I realize that it would never be enforced, and nobody would notice (as long as I didn't use CB channel 19 (truckers) or 9 (emergency) but still I don't want to run afoul of the feds.

Well I hope it can be worked out. The cache idea has to do with what they call `numbers stations', which are shortwave raido broadcasts long thought to be sanctioned by government intelligence agencies to communicate with spies worldwide with what to the average person intercepting the signal are nothing but strings of seemingly random numbers being read off. Actually if I COULD I'd get a low power AM transmitter to broadcast the signal for cachers to pick up, but I'm fairly certain that would violate the FCC guidelines, which would result in far greater woes than having a cache go unpublished

Interesting. I would have no problem with such a disclaimer, though it may make the cache page I had in mind a bit difficult. I understand that Groundspeak wants to 1. Protect their users from malicious code of any sort, and 2. Absolve themselves of any liability. Both make perfect sense and I don't blame them one bit. It looks like this may be harder than I had thought, but still potentially possible.

A very sensible and understandable rule for sure. I would like to either host the raw MP3 or WAV file, or some similar format to be opened by the finder's audio player of choice (winamp, vlc, itunes, windows media player, etc) OR to host it on youtube or a similiar web site that can play user generated audio content (in the case of youtube, i realize it's video but a dummy still image can be used with an audio stream to make that work) By the way the content would be entirely generated by me, though it may use a tune (generated by me) from the public domain, so copyright issues would not apply, if that is a concern.

I've got what I think is a great idea for a mystery cache, but it will require an audio file. This will be in either .WAV or .MP3 format, something anyone should be able to easily open. I've never seen a mystery cache involving an audio file (have seen some requiring examining pictures though) so my first question is this: Would requiring listening to an audio clip be acceptable? My second question only applies if the answer the first question is yes, and that is: Where is it acceptable or not acceptable to host such an audio file linked to (though possibly hidden somehow) on the cache page? My three thoughts were my personal web space, youtube (preferred because I have the best idea on hiding it here) or imageshack (if memory serves me, they allow audio hosting as well). Would any, all or none of these be acceptable? Any input would be appreciated.

If you chase challenge caches, like the delorme and all counties challenge caches many states have, bookmark lists become quite useful in tracking your status.

Yes I can see the whole `monkey see monkey do' angle there. I happen to have a cache on property I own, but it is not buried. Years ago though, long before I was a geocacher, I buried a cooler on my property. To be quite frank I used it to store beer before I was of legal drinking age, we had a little camp site back there when at the time my uncle owned the land (I own it now). It's buried up to the lid with leaves and such on top of it. I always though it wouldn't be a bad geocache (it's still there), but I wound up placing a cache in the corner of my property near a somewhat more interesting old foundation because the guidelines pretty much state no digging.

PQ's hands down. That and the fact that the cost is next to nothing.

The only advantage I see is this: NO TICKS. Ticks are the bane of my existence. On the other hand though, I just don't like the cold.

Something I've always wondered about is this: Would such a cache be allowed if it was on your own property? I understand that burying anything in a park or elsewhere is a rather invasive thing that could cause damage to property, which I would assume is the reason for that guideline, but what about on land that you personally own?

Keep in mind that the linked example was published prior to the adoption of the current guideline text. You should not rely upon it as precedent. Your bingo squares must be "geocaching-related" and they must be "reasonable." Posting a photo where you are dressed up in a halloween costume is not "geocaching related." "Find 10,000 caches" might not be a "reasonable" challenge in West Virginia, but it might be in California. You will need to demonstrate for your reviewer (me) that you or a substantial number of other geocachers would be able to complete the challenge. If you are restricting the challenge to one particular county I will want to know how many cemetery caches, waterfall caches and tree climb caches there are, if those are some of the bingo squares. The "completeable" test is always more difficult when prior finds are excluded. If the active veteran geocachers have already found all five "waterfall" caches in your county, they are effectively excluded from your challenge unless someone hides a new waterfall cache. I would encourage you to allow prior finds if the geographic scope is limited to one county. Alternatively, the bingo squares would need to be really, really easy and common cache characteristics. We can presume that a new ammo box cache will be hidden within the county at some point in the future, for example. Thanks for clearing that up, and that's a very good point that I hadn't considered. In Fayette County, PA for instance, it's easy for a new cacher to find a cache by a waterfall, cemetery, iron furnace, etc, however I can see how somebody who has been caching for years may have already found every single one of each already. Perhaps excluding finds prior to 2010 is a bad idea for that reason. I did notice that the `Heart of Steeler Nation ABC Challenge' excludes older finds, but that's over a much wider area and with tons of potential caches to fit each letter, so I guess that's entirely a different animal.

I saw such a thing mentioned in another thread, and I'm not sure how it may have been done before but here's my idea: A typical 5 x 5 card with a `free space' in the middle and the other squares being things like Waterfall, Cemetery, Glacial Rocks, etc. The idea would be that you would need to have logged a cache in a particular county in 2010 or later in order to claim the square (i.e. you found a cache where you saw a waterfall, cemetery, rocks, etc). A full card bingo wouldn't be required, so you'd be able to complete it by completing as few as 5 caches (the free space would still require a cache to be logged, but any cache would do). Assuming the location of the final has no issues, would I have any problem getting such a cache published? I know there are much larger challenges out there, like the delorme and all counties challenges many states have, so it seems to me that it shouldn't be a problem, but I'm wondering if there is anything I'm missing.

I found an Autism Awareness geocoin in a cache (really neat coin BTW) and it had a rather particular final goal, so I contacted the owner as I was able to get this coin to its final goal. That goal was to be delivered to the mailbox of a relative of the coin's owner. I did that, double checked with the owner and it got there just great. Question is now, how do I get this out of my inventory? I don't believe the coin owner's relative has a GC account, so they never logged the coin. So the coin is where it belongs, but I no longer have it, how would I get this out of my inventory list? Any advice is appreciated.

The google earth KML seems to be working for me still. In addition to that, they also have a USGS topo map KML. Live maps (or Bing now I guess they're calling it) is no replacement for google earth in any way shape or form, BUT it is a very useful tool in its own right.

I find that the birds eye view has pretty good coverage here, even in outlying areas. Also even their satellite images appear far more recent and crisper than Google's, at least in my area. Very useful seeing the lay of the land before setting out. I'll stick with Google Earth and it's geocaching KML (greatest thing since sliced bread) for my cache planning though.

Pretty much nobody cares what DJ's on wacky morning zoo programs say.

The town of Witbank in South Africa has a similar situation of burning coal beds underground since the late 1940's at least. Hey SA cachers - here's a great opportunity for you! Oh underground coal seam fires are FAR from rare, there's the burning mountain in Australia which is believed to have been started by wildfires, there's even a natural gas well fire somewhere in Turkmenistan. Centralia is only the most well known in the states, certainly far from the only one. There are also a number of tailings piles slowly smoldering as well. It's an interesting phenomena, and apparently difficult to impossible to combat.

Thanks, at least I can track progress with GSAK. I'd still really like to find or make a google earth KML, I like to track my progress and plan my trips that way, works like a charm with the PA and OH ones I've found.

I wonder what's more dangerous: Finding a hidden meth lab, or wandering near one when the criminal making it is around.

I really never got into the trading thing myself, I'm more of a TNLN man myself, though I do enjoy moving coins and bugs. I do always carry some nice mechanical pencils though, they are the perfect writing implements, not subject to freezing or rupturing from the heat. If I see a cache that lacks one, I leave one in there. The phrase "Trade even, trade up or don't trade" is the criteria we should all strive for, it's a shame not everybody does. For me, if it's an interesting location it's a good cache, even if it's full of golf balls and broken mctoys.