TWNMM: The Canned Ham Geocache

The Canned Ham Geocache Combining GPS and RDF: Now, you can get lost two ways
Last Modified: Thursday, 18-Apr-2002 16:51:28 PDT

This webpage was created to provide a little bit of background on the "Canned Ham" Geocache, a geocache container that will combine the best elements of fiddling with a GPS reciever AND the fun of radio direction-finding.

The "prototype" (more on that in a minute) is a BASIC Stamp PIC. They cost around $40. That provides the "intelligence" behind it. The RF part is a crystal oscillator (cost: $4) and a small signal transistor and a couple of chokes/caps to act as a filter to keep the signal clean (think Chebyshev). The solar cells and the AA batteries were both "surplus junk" I had lying around. I suspect that one could probably put the whole thing together for around $60, even buying parts new.

I've decided going to make a new one for the final cache. Rather than use a whole BASIC Stamp, I plan on just burning a PIC-16 chip and wirewrapping it up on a small breadboard. I may (if I can ever get this stupid photoetch stuff working right) etch a real PC board and make it all neat. Because I'll be using a simple PIC-16, that will bring the cost down quite a bit. I suspect that it won't cost more than $20.

I'm still working on some of the logistics on the cache canister itself. I may upgrade to a gallon can, and mount the solar panels on the lid. The prototype can has the transmitter mounted to the bottom of the can and the wire antenna leading out of the bottom, with the solar panels kinda half-assed attached on the side.

I can't find my digital camera, so I'm having to take "normal" pictures and get them developed. When I get those back, I'll have a web page up on the "Canned Ham" Geocache.

I'm considering offering this as a kit, with a preprogrammed PIC-16 chip and a professionally manufactured circuit board, if there's enough interest. At minimum, this webpage will have enough info that it could be duplicated easily by somebody with entry-level electronics skills as soon as I get around to finishing everything up.

i like honey

[Creative Commons License] [No-Spam Notice] [Legal Stuff]
cannedham.shtml, Updated: Thursday, 18-Apr-2002 16:51:28 PDT .