Please forgive me if this is the wrong place for this thread. I did a search and could not find a thread directly related to this. In reading the story about the 70 year old gentleman who had his car stolen, I would like to share what I was recently taught. There are now battery operated GPS tracking systems that you can hide in your car in case your car is stolen. A friend of mine introduced me to the system he bought for his race car. It costs him about $150 for the device and about $10 per month. If the car is moved it begins sending signals to him either through his phone or email, different systems do different things. The GPS device its self is small enough to put in your pocket but can be hiden in a car so it can't easily be found. You can track the car to its location and some allow you to see the route it is taking or has taken. You can find these systems through a web search for "GPS tracking". I checked just before I wrote this thread. Also, these devices could be buried in your tool boxes so you could potentially find the tool boxes if they are stolen. Once suggested use is to put them in a kids back pack to track them. I would hate to see another person lose the ride they have put so much heart, soul, time, and money into.
I had always thought this would be a good idea.. kinda like the black box. my other idea was some C4 under the drivers seat, with a remote detonater,however I deemed that unsafe.
I don't have a link, but I've seen GPS jammers for sale on eBay. Basically they are very short range. You put one on the car being stolen and it doesn't know where it is anymore. So, who sells a GPS alarm system that let's you know it's being jammed? A popular tracking program for Ham Radio people is APRS. You hook a little tracker to your VHF Ham Radio and it broadcasts your position every minute if you're moving, and less if you're stopped. Not exactly cheap, but less than Lojack I suppose.
APRS has to be attached to a HAM radio, and is always on so as to be ready to transmit. So it's bulky and a constant drain on battery power. I reckon a battery-powered alarm to sense the storage unit door opening is a good cheap first step. Start at Radio Shack. You can put it in a box on the ceiling so it would take a while to quiet it.
Great ideas, but they require satellite access- they won't work if the stolen car is in a trailer, inside a building, or under dense trees (i.e. heavy canopy).
GPS only works with line of site... You could hide the unit, but the antenna will have to be somewhere that it can see the sky. The better the line of site, the more accurate the location data will be. To get a 2D lock, which only calucates your horizontal position, you need to lock down 3 satillites. The problem with a 2D fix is that your horizontal positon is based on the AMSL of the reciever, which is just estimated for a 2D. Since your horizontal position is based on your altitude, if your reciever guesses wrong, your horizontal position will be off (usally by not a small amount, either).. To get the most accurate readings, you need to have LOS to at least 4 satillites, this allows for the altitude measurement and is MUCH more accurate, a 3D fix. What I'm tryin' to say, if you want GPS and high accuracy, the antenna has to have a nice open view. <i>EDIT: If you need an extension cable to relocate your antenna, if you can ID the ends I can make 'em, assuming I have the right set of tools for your connectors. Also, anything that runs on battery power can usually be modified to run on a car's 12V (or even 6V). Save the battery money at least</i>
Lojack works. I have towed several cars back to their owners recovered this way. http://www.lojack.com/
One of the cheapest ways to get GPS tracking for your car is to hide a cell phone under the carpet. Just about any phone can be used, and some companies offer specific GPS features (like parents use to spy on thier kids). All you need is a cheap phone, basic service, and a car power adapter. Step one: Strip down power adapter so it can be wired directly to the 12V Step two: Turn on cell phone and put it on silent. Paint screen black if you want to Step three: Hide phone wired to charger under the carpet/dash/whatever All done.
........But lojack isn't available in 90% of the USA........... It is if you have it on your laptop you can find the car yourself.
My buddies just had a car stolen..police and detectives at the Port Authority told him GPS is very hard to locate once inside a container, trailer, etc...similar to what Just Gary is stating. Signal is very faint...and need to be right next to enclosed item to maybe hear it...Lojack is not available everywhere and isn't a recognized everywhere...another problem. There is another system being analyzed but to patch the two problems together but, as i understand has not become available yet...
It's not hard... Its simply impossible. Sounds like the cops fed him a line so they wouldn't look bad. No way, no how, can a GPS function without clear line of site to the sky (so maybe in the DOORWAY of a container). Put one in on the floor of your car, it'll lose it's tracking after a few seconds and have to reacquire the signal.
Not a bad idea, that shouldn't be all that expensive and it shouldn't be hard to setup. On the GPS systems, I think that they would work against 70% or more of the thefts but may not be that effective against pro theives who would stash the car in a container or building for a period of time. Against most joy riders or theives who might steal your car to strip it I think they would work if they had auxilary power to keep them running. The average thief who wants your wheels, sound system, engine or body parts isn't usually too good at hiding the car.
The phone thing would work, but it really ISN'T GPS unless the phone is visible. In the case of CDMA, at least, it uses the network to triangulate your position based what what site and sectors your call is registered to. It functions similar, in priciple at least, as sonar or radar but WAY more sophisticated (I'll spare the gory details). I am big brother... You can't hide. IIRC it's accurate to 50 meters.
I haven't tried this myself, but it was popular in the import scene a few years back when thefts were reaching epic proportions. Boost mobile was popular because they touted their tracking feature on TV back then. I'm not clear on how the phone being visible would affect being able to locate it, fitting it under the dash or carpet shouldn't have that much effect. Unless I'm missing something of course. That does happen Even if the accuracy is only 50 meters, I would think any HAMB issue car would be unique enough to be spotted in a radius that small. Here's the original instructions from back in the day: link: warning, REALLY non HAMB approved car site
There was a post on www.instructables.com not too long ago showing how to modify a phone so you could actually control stuff in the car like the power locks and shutting down the engine.
Search "Lojack" and there are lots of threads related to this. Here is one: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47944&highlight=lojack
If you want to deter most auto thefts, just drive manual transmission cars. That old third pedal sure does stump the shit out of most dumbass thieves. No need for a fancy GPS, LoJack or remote cell phone. A manual transmission will befuddle 90% of all drivers no matter what their intentions.
The phone being visible is an absolute, 100%, unarguable fact to get GPS to work, but the wireless network, is a different bowl of beans. Each is given a certain frequency band to use. Frequencys, (I was on a permanent bender in college, so bear with me), are inversely proportional to it's wavelength. High freqency, short wavelength, and vice versa. Longer wavelength/low frequency (think FM radio station) pass through solid objects and airspace better than higher frequency/shorter wavelengths (think a wireless router, typically around 2.4GHz). That, and raw power, is the reason radio stations can be heard so far away compared to a cell tower, which is higher frequency/shorter wavelength (thats why you see so many damn towers in this area, and in cities, if you look at roofs, you'll see lots too). If you look at the FCC's frequency allocation graph (which you may want to, it really is sorta neat, no bullshit, I printed it out on a 4' plotter to hang on my wall... My boss calls it wall candy), things that refer to GPS's are higher frequency, really short wavelength, and short wavelengths don't like things in their way. Wow. That was rough. I just got back from the bar. So, if I made sense, the GPS system, with it's very high frequency, short wavelength, doesn't pass through air and solids as well lower frequency, long wavelengths, like cell phones. Sprint owns Boost Mobile. Sprint and/or E911 find you. E911 Phase II (which is the highest phase, some bumfuck Egypt places aren't that sophisticated yet) can ALWAYS find you, no matter what your phone may say. SOOOO... What you're thing said about "what to do when your car is stolen" is totally true. We (I mean they) don't even need you ESN honestly (and the guys that do it, I heard, don't even give a rat's ass what your name is). Fugitive Finder is a scam. I bet you have to give them permission or a warrant or something to track it. They just do the same thing you can do, but polish it up (and lie, can the militaries shit even bust out 1cm? I ain't in the army, but I doubt it, and they're the front line on shit like that) and charge you a couple hundred bucks. I don't particulary care for police in my shit, but if a cop gets involved, your cell phone company can get involved. Don't pay for it. Your phone being tracked can pass through solids. GPS signals can't. If you're phone is on, we (I mean they) can find it. This is the WHOLE reason for this digital TV shit? Know why they canceled analog wireless phone and analog televison signals? Because digital a more efficent use of spectrum. The government, with all sorts of abbreviations that I don't wanna say 'cause I don't want to be on a "list", is gettin' whats left out for Homeland Security. And that's why digital TV doesn't broadcast as far as analog, 'cause its higher frequency. And the same reason people got pissed when analog phone service shut down completely, cause it was way low frequency that could broadcast for friggin' lightyears. Now its all "Homeland Security"... SHHH! Damn. I'm goin' to bed. That took a long time and I am drunker than I thought.
I can toss mine in the glove box and she's still telling me to turn left. So I'm not so sure about what you say.
OK, thats cool . Mine track in real time, you lose a signal alot more than she tells ya, it's pre-programmed.
Just a few weeks ago a bloke in Brisbane had his work ute stolen with all his tools in the back and his personal cell phone in the glovebox. The phone had a location device which 'pipped' his business cell phone every 20 minutes with the ute's exact location. The police followed it at a distance until it stopped, went and knocked on the front door of the house where it had been stashed in the garage... "Excuse me sir, you're busted, now may we have the ute back please." No car chase, no hassles, stolen vehcle recovered without a problem. Cheers, Glen.
Takes all kinds and the car thief is no different that the petty thief. The way I see it there may be a few professionals stealing cars but the majority is just a bunch of dumb asses looking for a free ride, They tear up and damage more of the car just to get a $200.00 radio and then there are the ones who take it across the border to sell. I believe the GPS is about the best one out there and well worth the investment and you can track it your self and they say revenge is sweet.
Sounds like it could be one more useful measure to have ontop of others. Sad that we have to go through all of this.
Ita a very good idead because no body can see it and I have also heard (someone please correct me if im wrong) that if your car is stolen it automatically send a signal to the task force so that they know its stolen, so you moght not even know you car is stolen and the cops will be tracking it down within minutes. Its a very good investment considering how much money blood sweat and tears people put into their hor rods.
Just as an FYI, I install GPS tracking systems covert all the time. We hide the antenna up under the dash, with no metal or electrical wiring above it. Two or three wires, depending if you want to know about when ignition is on or off, and you are done. There are also systems that use dual tracking technology in which if no satallite is found, it will trianglate from cell phone towers. Lyle
yea, and then your wife gets ahold of the remote... I think the GPS tracking is an absolute must, my car will be getting one before it ever leaves the garage.
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