Who says handling formal traffic always must be serious business? Our esteemed Chief Executive Officer David Minster, NA2AA, who was once an active traffic handler, had suggested a fun exercise for the NTS community which would also generate message traffic for the network: “Let’s hold a treasure hunt!”
A “Treasure Hunt” consists of a series of questions to which contestants are to respond via radiogram with their answers to a specified “judge” who will, in turn, respond whether the answer is correct or incorrect. A correct response will also contain the next question and judge. An incorrect answer will request the contestant to try again. And so, the hunt continues until the final round of questions, generally four to six rounds. A new hunt begins every other month and continues for two months. The first question for each hunt is posted in The NTS Letter along with the name and location of the judge to whom the answer is to be sent.
While we can’t promise that the winner will receive a chest full of pieces of eight* or a multi-kilobuck, state-of-the-art HF transceiver, a nice certificate will be awarded at the end of the competition to each participant who successfully completed all rounds of the “hunt”. In addition, their names and call signs will be noted in the next issue of The NTS Letter. A random drawing from among those who successfully completed the hunt is then held and that winner will receive an attractive custom-designed mug as shown here.
* Pieces of eight are historical Spanish dollar coins minted in the Americas from the late 15th century through the 19th century. Made of silver, they were in nearly worldwide circulation by the late 19th century and were legal currency in the United States until 1857.