Help With Cache Idea!

[+Kealia]

Ok,

 

So I'm thinking about buying a lot of laser pointers and leaving them in caches and the idea of using one for a hide came to mind. Not that I'm the first to think of this, as I've read about some REALLY cool things in here....

 

I was thinking about a type of offset cache (or multi) where I gave coords to a micro that had a laser pointer in it. Once found you've have to point with the laser in a certain direction, etc. to find the location of the final cache (next leg, etc.).

The quick problem I see is that you wouldn't HAVE to use the laser pointer......you could just walk in the direction indicated to find it.

 

So, I'm soliciting ideas for a way to make something like this do-able.

 

Be the first to tell me where to put my laser pointer!

[+bons]

It would be interesting to put a special tip on it and have instructions like "point the laser at the object matching the tip. That's the direction of the cache." There are tons of different tipped lasers out there. Batteries might be a problem though.

[+cachew nut]

I had an idea for a cache that I will probably never do.

 

You can go to Radio Shack and find the engineering notebook on opto-electronic circuits and actuate a relay with laser pointer.

 

My idea was that I would have the circuit indoors and you would hit a target with the laser pointer.

 

That would trigger an old palm pilot to beam the coordinates to your palm pilot which you would need to hold next to the window.

 

I haven't the ambition to build it or the place to put it, so feel free to run with it.

[lowracer]

I've been working on the same idea. Have a cache that can only be found via laser. Some ideas I come up with:

 

1) Order of the Holographic Tips. Have a board or other surface with 5 of the holographic tips placed in drilled, numbered holes. You have to match the pattern of tips (usually a dollar sign, heart, alien space ship, smiley face, etc) to the numbers to form the next coords. You can only do this with a laser as a regular flashlight won't work with the tips.

 

2) How high is that tower? Using altimetry, measure the height of a tall electrical tower or other tall object. You could probably do this without the laser, but if you used the laser you could make use of the extra precision in the result to form the coords for the next stage. You'd need a protractor for this step as well, but a regular laser pointer should do the trick, nothing fancy. To set it up, you measure from a known landmark to the base of the unknown tower. You provide that distance in the cache instructions out in the field. Then the angle of the laser to the top of the tower lets you solve for the height using simple trigonometry.

 

3) Mirrors. Lots of 'em. Need i say more? If you have enough mirrors strategically placed in a forest (on fenceposts or whatever) you can use a laser pointer to bounce a beam off a lot of mirrors before it impinges on a target which is near the cache site. If you make the path length long enough, a regular flashlight won't have the oomph to go the distance with enough intensity to illuminate your target.

 

There are about a million ways to make a laser-only cache. Google for 'Laser Experiments' to learn more.

[Pto]

Heres one in MN that is a night only- Very interesting!

Not quite the same as your looking for, but ideas?

Havent gotten to try it yet, but plan to.

 

Check this out

Edited April 20, 2004 by Pto

[+Renegade Knight]

Find a way to fix the location it points. When fixed it hits a specially positioned mirror and points another way entirely. Night only cache so you can see the beam due to natural dust in the air.

 

Hard to set up but man would it be cool.

[+Kealia]

RK,

 

Good idea (I need to follow a few links to read the others).

 

Any others have ideas??

[lowracer]

I just deployed a private laser-only multicache. It's not posted on this or any other site. I'm testing it with a friend first to see if she can find it. I used a short section of PVC pipe with one of those laser holographic tips stuck in a PVC end cap. The other end is open. (It's painted to resemble an automatic pop-up lawn sprinkler) There's a card inside the pipe that shows how to hold the laser up to the pipe to project the unknown symbol. You project the symbol onto the ground at your feet. You have on the sheet a list of symbols to pick from. You plug the correct symbol number into the coordinates to find the final cache. Quite a simple concept. I'm sure it's just the beginning of many fine laser caches. It can be found in the day too.

[+SBPhishy]

Is it just me? Or did Merkong not actually find that cache...

[uperdooper]

Is it just me? Or did Merkong not actually find that cache...

looks like that to me too.

[+Stunod]

Is it just me? Or did Merkong not actually find that cache...

It's OK...they said they would be back.

[+fizzymagic]

Kealia, there is one pretty near you, in Ripon. Based on my idea, I must add, though the hiders did a much better job than I would. Works just like you described. It's kind of a secret which one it is, though, so email me for the cache name.

[+GSVNoFixedAbode]

Nice to see others thinking along the same lines: I've also been pondering a laser cache, but primarily as a cache that could only be done in bad weather: fog/mist/drizzle. My biggest challenge is trying to find some mechanism, NOT obvious to muggles, that allows the cacher to point the laser over a distance of 50 - 500 (?) feet accurately to either a mirror or a cache hide and able to see the beam and/or destination.

 

So far I've thought of plane tables or statues/monuments. Problems: avoid firing the laser where it could sweep at eye level; locating it where there is a predominance of cloud/mist/fog (tops of hills?); able to give clear-enough instructions that still maintain a challenge.

 

Then again. any ideas on a cache that can *only* be done in bad weather?

 

This empty cranium now open for filling!

[+bigredmed]

We have a night cache and I was going to try it in the day with laser. I brought several that I own of varying legal wattages. On a bright day in Omaha, these little beasts that can shoot a beam across a 100 meter lecture hall, look like tiny faint red dots and are VERY hard to see at any distance. If you make your targets, be sure they are shaded heavily and not too far apart. The distances I failed at were under 25 meters.

[+The Cheeseheads]

I've thought of doing the multi with a laser bouncing off mirrors. The hangups I see are:

 

1) The pointer needs to be in a fixed position, otherwise over a long distance the light path will change and you'll wind up missing a mirror. Perhaps it could be mounted permanently inside a hollow tree or something where the cacher doesn't have to worry about aiming it; just turn it on.

 

2) Power. If the laser is only on while someone is pressing a button, you wouldn't be able to find it unless you come with a friend. If the laser has a switch that stays on, you'd have to trust that the finders would return to the laser to shut it off when they leave. I guess if you're technically inclined, you could wire up a timer to keep the laser on for 10-15 minutes, then shut off.

[+Rainwater]

been thinking of this one the last couple of days...It could be a night only cache. It would require someone (like me) that understands/tinkers in electronics but it could be done...you can use a 635nm laser. Thats the strongest legal red laser you can get...(yeah I know the green ones are better at 535 nm but they are still too expensive at 80 bucks to buy just for a cache) I have one and it can be seen for a good 2000 feet at night...supposed to be able to shoot 400o feet but have not tested this...

 

anyhow...you could set it up so that it fits in a groove in like a post or a pipe or even have the pointer mounted in a contraption where all they would have to do is place it upon a post or a pipe with notches and then have the finder press the button to turn it on...then it could shoot different mirrors at different angles until the beam hit a light sensitive detector that would have a filter for the 635 nm wavelength of the laser...then a circuit connected to the detector would go off with either flashing lights or sounds or both for like 2 mins or how ever long you think the finder would need to find it in the dark....then it would reset itself. The only draw backs I can see at the moment is that you would have to go out and realign the reciver end of the cache with the laser after every find unless the reciever was mounted permanently and had like another compartment with the cach goodies in it. The other draw back is that you would have to keep batteries in both units fresh. and still another drawback if you designed it for just the 635 nm type lasers the others would not work....

 

Another variation is to have the cacher bring thier own laser pointer and have multiple recivers they would have to find before finding the final one...but you would have to make it where the weaker lasers (the 670 nm type) would be able to hit the targets and be detected.

 

Another variation is to have the laser as the Key to the cache container...it could be like an electronic lock and when the laser is shined on the correct spot then it would unlock

Edited April 30, 2004 by Rainwater