 Sandhills FM
A cache by mos6510 Hidden: 9/16/2006
Size:  (Small) Difficulty:  Terrain:  (1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)
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Easy to find once you have the coordinates! All you need is your FM
radio.
Tune to 107.4 on your FM dial for some Geocaching fun!
"Sandhills FM" is the official broadcast station for one very
lonely container hiding out along Sandhills Road.
Our DJ is devoted to telling the world about this cache and will
keep doing so for as long as the sun shines...
To find this cache you need to be within the footprint of the
micro-transmitter where you will be able to hear a series of
"beeps".
By counting each group of beeps you will be given the full LAT/LONG
in South DD MM.MMM and East DDD MM.MMM format. It may sound like
Morse Code, but it's not. Count each group and write it down. Then
listen to the whole sequence again to make sure you are correct.
The stop and start of the sequence is signaled by a long beep. You
will end up with a series of 15 numbers and it should be obvious
where the degrees end, where the minutes start, and where the
decimal point goes if you know what a lat/long for this part of the
world looks like.
If at first you don't hear anything, try scanning between 106.000
and 108.000 MHz on your radio for the signal. As mentioned above,
it should be around 107.4 MHz.
On a good day, you will start hearing the "beeps" at S35 10.761
E149 34.781 and it will be strongest at around S35 11.013 E149
35.104.
I will be checking the micro-transmitter every week but please
log if you didn't hear it for some reason.
The system does have batteries, but is basically solar powered.
It's best to tackle this during a nice sunny day.
For the technical types :- The FM transmitter is based on common
wireless microphone/bug type designs and is very low in power
output (the ACMA states that 10uW is all that is allowed in the FM
broadcast band for LIPD applications - this transmitter meets those
requirements). The oscillator is a simple L-C circuit and so drifts
around a bit with temperature. The whole thing is powered by 100mW
of solar cells. A PICAXE08 is used to generate tones and
control.
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10 user(s) watching this cache.
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Additional Hints (Decrypt)
Jura lbh nqq nyy 15 vaqvivqhny ahzoref gbtrgure, lbh trg 64.(Decrypted Hints)
Find...
58 
8 
10 
1 
1
Warning. Spoilers may be included in the descriptions or links.
Cache find counts are based on the last time the page generated.
 January 10 by Mystery_Inc (94 found)
Wow...that has got to be one of the coolest clue idea ever  Today was a 107.0 day (with a little country music static mixed in the background for good measure) so after triple checking it was off to find the loot. Grabbed the Geocoin as it has been a little while since the last visit thus it was time for a change of scenery. TFTC... [This entry was edited by Mystery_Inc on Friday, January 15, 2010 at 6:06:41 AM.]
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September 20, 2009 by grandtippler (48 found)
This was the coolest cache, and only 10ks from my house.Found a good strong signal at the wp, decoded the beeps and drove off to GZ. Very happy Kids found the cache(first for the family), all good. Muggle factor low on this Sunday arvo. Such a great idea for a cache, and with the PicAxe being one of my fav micros the geek in me was happy too.
TNLN, TFTC.
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September 11, 2009 by Gigglygecko Clan (817 found)
After visiting a nearby cache, decided to pop in here and give it another go. The sun was shining, wind intermittent and I had Jim's car which has a better radio than mine. This was a winning combination and it didn't take long to get the cache in hand - this is just brilliant and a lovely area to explore too. Took Sam Walkers scrimshaw tag which is really impressive and well done, and left a geocoin that I've held onto for far too long. Thanks for a great concept and enjoyable cache, glad to have finally found success with it  . An afternoon well spent, just a pity that I had to go back to work as it is one of those days where the GPS is spot on, weather good - just perfect for caching! TFTC :)
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August 16, 2009 by SamWalkers (338 found)
:: 200 ::
This was our chosen cache to celebrate our 200th cache.
On the strong recommendation of Growingupisoptional we ventured here for something unusual. To make sure we stood the best chance of a find we brought three radios with us and the one in the car.
The car radio didn't do the job (could be something to do with some rat-bags down at the lake breaking the antenna off while I was fishing).
We started getting beeps but had trouble maintaining the signal. The wind was really cracking through, the sun was not really beating down, the batteries could be a little low and it is only a little hand held receiver. All these things could contribute to a variable signal.
By keeping a grid of several sequences we were able to narrow it down to choice A or B.
A quick look on the Oregon showed us that B would be in a very bad place to go so A it is. Thanks MOS6510 for the cache, thanks GUIO for the recommendation. T: nothing
L: Samwalker scrimshaw swaggie tag.
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August 2, 2009 by mr_roo (1164 found)
Brilliant!
Got to the waypoint of this one, and so so happy I took my mum. We scanned the dial on the radio and after a few minutes a low strength signal of beeps beeps beeps started to come. I couldnt work it out as I couldnt hear it tho mum concentrated and got a pattern. We went off to gz and on the way I checked the clue. Mum did some calculations and saw we were right. Made a easy find at gz and managed to FIND this the first try! What a great cache TFTC
One to remember!
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Current Time: 2/10/2010 1:52:43 AM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) (9:52 AM GMT)
Last Updated: 1/15/2010 6:06:43 AM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) (2:06 PM GMT)
Rendered: From Database
Coordinates are in the WGS84 datum
