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*** The Official SOLAR CACHE Contest ***


tabulator32

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Ok, right off the bat, let me advise you this contest is NOT being done in conjunction with Groundspeak or geocaching.com or anyone else with the obvious exception of Team Geoblast who threw in his own $50.00 and raised the jackpot from the original $50.00 up to $100.00

 

Having said that, Geocaching.com and Groundspeak should be thanked for allowing me have this little contest in their forums. (And a special thanks to Team Geoblast as well!)

 

Ok...on to the specifics.

 

The following are the prerequisites for submitting an entry for the Solar Cache contest.

 

1. Your solarcache creation must somehow utilize solar energy in order to function and/or be located by a fellow geocacher.

 

2. Your solarcache must be approved as a functional cache and on or before midnight, January 15, 2008.

 

3. Your solarcache entry must be listed here (in THIS thread) on or before midnight, January 15, 2008.

 

Judging:

 

Judging will be done by myself and voluntary members of a local alternative energy group in my local community.

 

Prize: There is one prize for this contest: $100.00 winner take all.

Edited by tabulator32
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O.K. Since the original thread is closed, this thread will serve as both "official entry" thread and "question and answer" thread for the Solarcache Contest.

 

61 days remaining to submit your entry!

 

I'm curious how many of you have considered entering. Any questions or comments concerning the contest?

 

:ph34r:

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I have had a cache hidden since 7/31/06 called "Is the Light ON?" GCXENQ It originally was powered by 2 watch batteries. The batteries only lasted for about 4 months so I attached a solar driveway light to the cache container. It's been awhile since I've checked to see if it still lights at night. If you find it during the day you can put your hand over the solar panel and see if the LED light comes on.

Would this cache be qualified or does it have to be a newly posted cache? Please post at least some of the rules for qualification.

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Would this cache be qualified or does it have to be a newly posted cache? Please post at least some of the rules for qualification.
The rules seem to be pretty simple & posted above. Your question was specifically addressed in this thread (closed when this one opened):
In order to win the prize money, it has to be YOUR own cache, not one you found online or heard about from a friend. It can be a new cache or a pre-existing one but it HAS to be solar powered in some way.
Good luck! :ph34r:
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Would this cache be qualified or does it have to be a newly posted cache? Please post at least some of the rules for qualification.
The rules seem to be pretty simple & posted above. Your question was specifically addressed in this thread (closed when this one opened):
In order to win the prize money, it has to be YOUR own cache, not one you found online or heard about from a friend. It can be a new cache or a pre-existing one but it HAS to be solar powered in some way.
Good luck! :ph34r:

 

Thanks for fielding the question, John. :ph34r:

 

That is correct: An already existing solarcache can certainly qualify to be in the contest.

 

I AM going to add (to the rules listed above) that a LINK to your approved solarcache should be included in your entry post in this thread.

 

Sorry for omitting that requirement earlier. I could have sworn I mentioned it somewhere.

 

Anyway, please provide a link to your cache page when listing it as an entry post.

 

Thanks!

Edited by tabulator32
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Hello fellow geocachers.

 

One of the dutch cachers who has visited my puzzle cache has put this thread to my attention. I have had a cache running on solar power since summer 2006 (listed 06/19/2007).

 

Although I can not tell much about this cache, since it is a puzzle cache, I can tell it runs a very small radio transmitter with tells cryptic information.

 

During night time, it runs on two large batteries and during day time it is powered by solar energy which also recharges the batteries for the next night.

The cache has been found successfully for 32 times now. The waypoint code is GCW6VA.

 

In the spring of 2007 the bird cabinet in which it is built has been completely rebuilt. The old one was not water proof. On the roof of the new cabinet two solar cells are mounted, compared to only one on top of the old cabinet. Double power, better resistance to bad and cloudy weater.

 

I bet it is the only solar powered bird cabinet in the Netherlands... :)

 

Regards,

Alex

PA1FOX (Ham radio call sign)

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Hello fellow geocachers.

 

One of the dutch cachers who has visited my puzzle cache has put this thread to my attention. I have had a cache running on solar power since summer 2006 (listed 06/19/2007).

 

Although I can not tell much about this cache, since it is a puzzle cache, I can tell it runs a very small radio transmitter with tells cryptic information.

 

During night time, it runs on two large batteries and during day time it is powered by solar energy which also recharges the batteries for the next night.

The cache has been found successfully for 32 times now. The waypoint code is GCW6VA.

 

In the spring of 2007 the bird cabinet in which it is built has been completely rebuilt. The old one was not water proof. On the roof of the new cabinet two solar cells are mounted, compared to only one on top of the old cabinet. Double power, better resistance to bad and cloudy weater.

 

I bet it is the only solar powered bird cabinet in the Netherlands... :)

 

Regards,

Alex

PA1FOX (Ham radio call sign)

 

It's been done!!!

That's exactly what I've been working on!!! NUTS!

 

Oh well... I'm glad to hear that it works.

 

KC7BNY (Ham radio call sign) :)

Edited by geoSpartan
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Hello fellow geocachers.

 

One of the dutch cachers who has visited my puzzle cache has put this thread to my attention. I have had a cache running on solar power since summer 2006 (listed 06/19/2007).

 

Although I can not tell much about this cache, since it is a puzzle cache, I can tell it runs a very small radio transmitter with tells cryptic information.

 

During night time, it runs on two large batteries and during day time it is powered by solar energy which also recharges the batteries for the next night.

The cache has been found successfully for 32 times now. The waypoint code is GCW6VA.

 

In the spring of 2007 the bird cabinet in which it is built has been completely rebuilt. The old one was not water proof. On the roof of the new cabinet two solar cells are mounted, compared to only one on top of the old cabinet. Double power, better resistance to bad and cloudy weater.

 

I bet it is the only solar powered bird cabinet in the Netherlands... :)

 

Regards,

Alex

PA1FOX (Ham radio call sign)

 

That's pretty clever! A Cryptic Clue broadcast to the cacher. After a few minutes with babelfish, I was able to get a lot more out of the cache page and finder posts! Thanks for your entry!

 

Kurt

KE4SST (at one time)

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Hello fellow geocachers.

 

One of the dutch cachers who has visited my puzzle cache has put this thread to my attention. I have had a cache running on solar power since summer 2006 (listed 06/19/2007).

 

Although I can not tell much about this cache, since it is a puzzle cache, I can tell it runs a very small radio transmitter with tells cryptic information.

 

During night time, it runs on two large batteries and during day time it is powered by solar energy which also recharges the batteries for the next night.

The cache has been found successfully for 32 times now. The waypoint code is GCW6VA.

 

In the spring of 2007 the bird cabinet in which it is built has been completely rebuilt. The old one was not water proof. On the roof of the new cabinet two solar cells are mounted, compared to only one on top of the old cabinet. Double power, better resistance to bad and cloudy weater.

 

I bet it is the only solar powered bird cabinet in the Netherlands... :)

 

Regards,

Alex

PA1FOX (Ham radio call sign)

Well, since it isn't an official entry without a link, here's the link:

 

GCW6VA

 

:)

 

Sounds really cool, BTW

Edited by Too Tall John
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Hello fellow geocachers.

 

One of the dutch cachers who has visited my puzzle cache has put this thread to my attention. I have had a cache running on solar power since summer 2006 (listed 06/19/2007).

 

<edit>

 

I bet it is the only solar powered bird cabinet in the Netherlands... :laughing:

 

Regards,

Alex

PA1FOX (Ham radio call sign)

Well, since it isn't an official entry without a link, here's the link:

 

GCW6VA

 

:(

 

Sounds really cool, BTW

 

Yes! Thanks for the link! When anyone is submitting an entry for this contest, please use a link to the cache page in your post!

 

I tried to include this in my original post above but I can no longer edit the post.

 

Always include a link to your solar cache.

 

Thanks!

 

(And thanks for adding a link for PA1FOX, 2TJohn!)

 

:laughing:

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I'm no expert at links, but I'll try. If it does not work somebody PM me and tell me how.

My solar cache is called Is The Light ON? My Webpage

 

That sounds neat. Do you have any pictures of how it is rigged up? Can you show the solar panel and how it is set up in the field? Can you you show the switch and the light working?

 

The more information you can provide, the more it means to the judges. You can provide images while trying to avoid giving out spoilers, but some images would help.

 

Thanks for participating! I enjoyed checking out your entry!

 

:(

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I found a cache in Hawaii that had one of these on the top of the container.

310721.jpg

It was a night cache you parked on the road and reflectors walked you through the black lava rock. Very dark and very nicely done.

 

Can I find the GC# and nominate the person? It is really only a cache you can do at night. That is what made it better then others I have done at night.

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I found a cache in Hawaii that had one of these on the top of the container.

310721.jpg

It was a night cache you parked on the road and reflectors walked you through the black lava rock. Very dark and very nicely done.

 

Can I find the GC# and nominate the person? It is really only a cache you can do at night. That is what made it better then others I have done at night.

 

You can certainly contact the cacher who placed it and tell them about the contest.

 

That would be nice if you wanted to let them know.

 

:grin:

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I found a cache in Hawaii that had one of these on the top of the container.

310721.jpg

It was a night cache you parked on the road and reflectors walked you through the black lava rock. Very dark and very nicely done.

 

Can I find the GC# and nominate the person? It is really only a cache you can do at night. That is what made it better then others I have done at night.

 

Hi, thanks for going to look for The Black Hole (GCYGN0) and I am really glad that you had fun doing it.... oh wait a minute, wasn't I was with you? LOL. How ya doing?

 

However, I don't think this would qualify for this contest for a few reasons, mostly because I didn't make anything. I bought the solar marker and just afixed it to the container. Nothing terribly innovative there. Plus, I wouldn't blame folks for crying foul if I took home the prize.

Edited by Team GeoBlast
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Hi, thanks for going to look for The Black Hole (GCYGN0) and I am really glad that you had fun doing it.... oh wait a minute, wasn't I was with you? LOL. How ya doing?

 

However, I don't think this would qualify for this contest for a few reasons, mostly because I didn't make anything. I bought the solar marker and just afixed it to the container. Nothing terribly innovative there. Plus, I wouldn't blame folks for crying foul if I took home the prize.

 

You have an approved cache that involves photovoltaic solar power. And its posted here in this thread. I'd be glad to consider your cache entered into the contest unless you specifically do not want it to be involved. It DOES meet the criteria.

 

:blink:

 

Either way, thanks for making a cache for people to find!

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Well. how lucky can one be sometimes....??

 

Let me tell you folks what has happened this evening:

 

One of the latest cachers told me that the second coordinate of my solar powered transmitter cache was not very good to understand anymore. I thought it might be a battery problem. Days are short at the moment, nights are long. Maybe the batteries had drained due to lack of sufficient sunlight.

 

Secondly, I planned to take some photographs of the cache, just for you to see how it looks like.

 

So... I went to the bird cage location by car this evening around 19:30 (it is very rainy these days). The distance from my home is just over 1 km. Arriving there it was very dark, but the bird cage sits on top of a branch in a small tree, where an even smaller tree stands very close to it. I am able to climb in the smallest tree and then reach for the cage to collect it. But then.. Things had changed and looked different, looking up.. I noticed the bird cage had gone!

 

In the neighbourhood a lot of branches and wood was piled up. It seems that the local green maintenance company has maintained the trees and clipped lots of the branches.

Maybe they found the bird cabinet, noticed the strange black squares on top (solar cells) and thought it to be dangerous or suspectable. Since I was just prepared to collect the cage (I did not even pulled my coat on) I had not torch or something for light. I jumped in the car, turned it around so the headlight pointed at the foot of the trees and started a search, for my own cache...

 

After a few minutes I gave up, the lights of my car were too much horizontally pointed so I could not search in the pile of branches. I drove home, pissed of.

At home, during my first cup of coffee I started to search the internet for local green maintenance companies, police contact numbers etc. and thought of a plan how to contact the finder, whoever it may be. My wive came up with a fabulous idea: "Why don't you take a radio and see if you can here anything around the pile of wood?"

Clever... I collected my 10 year old son from scouting and together with two torches and a small radio we went to the spot. Listening.. tuning... nothing... bleh...

 

We searched the area with our torches and thought it would be better to come back tomorrow during daylight time. Suddenly I heared some enthousiastic sounds behind me.

My son looked into the big litter box and saw some green painted pieces, which could be the cage. I had a look and indeed it was the cage, even quite intact. Only the lid was gone, but when I pulled some papers out of the litter box I found the lid, intact as well, in the bottom. It seems that the litter box had been cleaned very recently, it was not dirty.

 

Very happy, we put the cage in the car, and I tuned up my radio again. The cage was still operating!! The main reason that I had not heared it during my search was that the litter box was made of metal and the signal was too weak to come out.

 

I gave my son a big hug and lots of compliments and we drove home. The cage in good condition. It needs some cleaning and maybe new batteries.

There is a second thing I learned today: Mark your devices with telephone numbers, email addresses and a not that it is part of a game!!

 

After cleaning I will take some photo's and post the somewhere.

 

Regards, from a happy family in the east of Holland.

 

Alex, and Lesley, my 10 year old son who rescued my cache.

PA1FOX

 

P.S. The cache is under maintenance at the moment so it is disabled. I need to review if I can put the cage back at the same tree as before.

Edited by PA1FOX
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Your friendly reminder...

 

34 days left!

 

:)

 

Remember, it has to be submitted and approved by midnight, January 15th, 2008.

 

Good luck!

 

After watching the news last night, I thought some of you might like to borrow some sunshine for your solar cache projects. :)

 

Honolulu Extended Forecast

7-day Forecast Summaries

 

High | Low

 

81°F | 69°F Thursday

 

81°F | 69°F Friday

 

82°F | 69°F Saturday

 

81°F | 70°F Sunday

 

81°F | 70°F Monday

 

81°F | 69° Tuesday

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1. Your solarcache creation must somehow utilize solar energy in order to function and/or be located by a fellow geocacher.

 

Painted my ammo box flat black. Without daylight, you'll never find it! Does that count?

 

I'm surprised nobody has hit me with the "All of our food and our very existence is all powered by the sun, therfore, ALL caches are solar powered" argument.

 

:)

 

:)

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My "A Night in Paradise" cache has a solar powered first stage so that people don't have a way of finding the firetack trail in daylight. The listed coordinates are over 150 feet away (and across a lake) from the start of the tack-trail and the light is only visable if you are in a straight line between the lake and the edge of the woods about 15 feet away.

 

It uses a basic solar powered sidewalk light taken from it's plastic casing and embeded in a 2x4 that hangs under the edge of a fishing pier. From the pier you can just make out the solar panel and only if you lean out over the edge pretty far.

 

AK

 

PS Can I have two entries? I'm working on another with an even hard to fool first stage.

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Can I have two entries? I'm working on another with an even hard to fool first stage.

 

There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit. Keep in mind, they must be your own caches...they must be solar powered with either photovoltaic or solar thermal power...they must be approved and activated by a Groundspeak volunteer reviewer.

 

Thanks for your entry!

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Can I have two entries? I'm working on another with an even hard to fool first stage.

 

There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit. Keep in mind, they must be your own caches...they must be solar powered with either photovoltaic or solar thermal power...they must be approved and activated by a Groundspeak volunteer reviewer.

 

Thanks for your entry!

 

GC180GA

 

Do I qualify? The cache just got published.

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Can I have two entries? I'm working on another with an even hard to fool first stage.

 

There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit. Keep in mind, they must be your own caches...they must be solar powered with either photovoltaic or solar thermal power...they must be approved and activated by a Groundspeak volunteer reviewer.

 

Thanks for your entry!

 

GC180GA

 

Do I qualify? The cache just got published.

 

That is an awfully cute theme cache and I love the decorated ammo box and the wrapped presents for the first few to find. I am curious...

 

Please forgive the question, but...Is this a solar-powered cache? The video you provided was a great way to demonstrate your cache but, try as I might, I did not see a solar panel in the video.

 

Could you provide a little more detail and/or possibly show how the panel is connected to the shovel...perhaps tell us what type of battery it is using?

 

Thanks, again, for your entry!

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Can I have two entries? I'm working on another with an even hard to fool first stage.

 

There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit. Keep in mind, they must be your own caches...they must be solar powered with either photovoltaic or solar thermal power...they must be approved and activated by a Groundspeak volunteer reviewer.

 

Thanks for your entry!

 

GC180GA

 

Do I qualify? The cache just got published.

 

That is an awfully cute theme cache and I love the decorated ammo box and the wrapped presents for the first few to find. I am curious...

 

Please forgive the question, but...Is this a solar-powered cache? The video you provided was a great way to demonstrate your cache but, try as I might, I did not see a solar panel in the video.

 

Could you provide a little more detail and/or possibly show how the panel is connected to the shovel...perhaps tell us what type of battery it is using?

 

Thanks, again, for your entry!

 

When I have some time, I will go to the cache to get better pictures. The cache uses a solar panel which is located in a tree (that I got poison ivy from). The solar panel isn't connected to a battery source to charge for the night. I don't know if it works since when I placed the cache it was raining and barely any sun out. I think if I were to re-do it, I would use more durable materials and a better solar panel since it is VERY fragile now.

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Just posted B)

 

It's funny, I had this thing all built and ready to go when I was directed to this post. Count me in and come check it out!

 

GC1563W

 

It is good to note that this was a home brew design. B)

 

Further, for those interested, the chip can be programmed to do all sorts of cool things, and when I have time, we might just get to see what it can do. I realized not too long ago that very similar things have been done before. What would make this one stand out? I hope to add some type of user input; just think. It could ask questions and only give you the coordinates if they are answered correctly. But for the competition, it does not do this yet, but it can with simple programming.

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Cool! A 200-foot range definitely makes the first stage easy to find!

 

:unsure:

 

Decoding it may be anther matter. Just out of curiosity...what is the CPS of the morse code?

 

Sounds like a fun cache!

 

We are looking at about 5 words-per-second or less. It is very slow.

That may be a good thing for me to add in the description.

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Cool! A 200-foot range definitely makes the first stage easy to find!

 

:laughing:

 

Decoding it may be anther matter. Just out of curiosity...what is the CPS of the morse code?

 

Sounds like a fun cache!

 

We are looking at about 5 words-per-second or less. It is very slow.

That may be a good thing for me to add in the description.

Did you perhaps really intend to write "5 words per minute (WPM)" instead of "5 words-per-second"? 5 WPS would translate to about 300 WPM; at that rate Morse Code cannot be copied by any living human being and would need to be machine-detected and machine-rendered/translated using some fairly sophisticated processing equipment.

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Cool! A 200-foot range definitely makes the first stage easy to find!

 

:laughing:

 

Decoding it may be anther matter. Just out of curiosity...what is the CPS of the morse code?

 

Sounds like a fun cache!

 

We are looking at about 5 words-per-second or less. It is very slow.

That may be a good thing for me to add in the description.

Did you perhaps really intend to write "5 words per minute (WPM)" instead of "5 words-per-second"? 5 WPS would translate to about 300 WPM; at that rate Morse Code cannot be copied by any living human being and would need to be machine-detected and machine-rendered/translated using some fairly sophisticated processing equipment.

 

But see, you have already described how it could be possible, so maybe... Or make them record it and slow it down. :antenna:

 

No, you are correct in your correction. WPM. It was the CPM (characters PM?) that made me stumble.

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Cool! A 200-foot range definitely makes the first stage easy to find!

 

:huh:

 

Decoding it may be anther matter. Just out of curiosity...what is the CPS of the morse code?

 

Sounds like a fun cache!

 

We are looking at about 5 words-per-second or less. It is very slow.

That may be a good thing for me to add in the description.

Did you perhaps really intend to write "5 words per minute (WPM)" instead of "5 words-per-second"? 5 WPS would translate to about 300 WPM; at that rate Morse Code cannot be copied by any living human being and would need to be machine-detected and machine-rendered/translated using some fairly sophisticated processing equipment.

 

But see, you have already described how it could be possible, so maybe... Or make them record it and slow it down. :ph34r:

 

No, you are correct in your correction. WPM. It was the CPM (characters PM?) that made me stumble.

 

I had originally asked for CPS (characters per second) but, thinking about it, I should have said characters per MINUTE, really. I have always heard morse code measured in characters per minute while typing (as on a keyboard) was in WORDS per minute. I am not sure why and I may be wrong, its just the way I was familiar with it.

 

ANYWAY, thanks for the response! Sounds like a cool cache! I used to be a amateur radio operator and learned morse code well enough to squeak by on the exams.

 

;)

 

I would definitely try that cache if it were in my neck of the woods.

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