Epiphany? You decide

[WDaniels]

The post "Theft Prevention" on this thread everyone is trying to figure how not to get their rig stolen or recover it if it is. I came up with an idea today and you guys that know more about this, lets figure it out.



Cell phones that use the GSM network have a GPS chip in it so when someone calls 911, they can find it almost immediately. What if someone got an additional phone on their plan, an old phone but a phone none the less and wired it in so it had permanent power. Then they hid it real, real good in the dash, like in the heater core or some such so when someone stole the truck, you could tap into the GPS chip and find it. Possible???? Might be a cheap tracking device.

WD

 

[Bachant]

I heard of someone trying to do something like this for his motorcycle. Never found out how it ended. I sounded like is should work.

 

[icman95]

A homemade Lojack!

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Perhaps as long as it's in cell phone tower range (many of those in Mexico?), and the phone antenna isn't so hidden and shielded as to prevent it working...

 

[opjohnny]

You would have to get the phone in the truck to dial 911 when it was stolen. The phone co's don't like to give out the location info. They are starting to or will soon sell phones you can give to the kids and then track yourself. You could probably hack the phone to get it to do what you want.

 

[JFlagg]

They do sell systems you can mount in your car already that you can track on your computer to keep dibs on your kids. Not sure if its got an antenna that would be easy to disable, that might work too. There are alot if you Google search for them, I think the main thing is how conspicuous the antenna is...

 

[CRuth]

Only some gsm phones have gps. Plus the battery would more than likely be dead unless you wired it into the truck.

 

[PToombs]

We have been putting Qualcoms in some heavy equipment at work. You can track it where ever you want by satellite. You can set a box around it, if it moves out of the box, it pings the satellite. Easy way to tell if it's been stolen. You can set the size of the box, 500 ft, 1000 ft. 1 mile, what ever. Tells you when it needs a PM, and other stuff. You just set it up on the 'net. I don't know it all, this is the tip of the iceberg on what these things can do, just what my boss told me. The only drawback I see on this is the antenna, about 5" square, 3/4 " thick. It has to have access to the satellite, can't put it inside.

 

[WDaniels]

I would think that the nice thing about a cell phone antenna is that they are short, if you get the half or quarter wave antenna. Wire it to the battery so it is charged all the time and then when you don't see your truck, contact the gps chip and it will tell you where its at. There is software out there that will let you access the chip. I thought that there might have been someone out there in the lower 48 that would have done it.

WD

 

[surfbeetle]

GuidePoint Systems - Track your vehicle - Get: directions, road information, Emergency help, Restaurant or hotel reservations, Your cars GPS location is satellite based. If you go with lojack, the police in the area must have the lojack tracking devices or your out of luck. My co worker put this on his new Charger. He can track the car online. Also he can set a perimeter. It's pretty cool but about $1200. 00

 

[WDaniels]

What does this system look like? Where would they install it so that thieves couldn't rip it out before they stole the car? They are pretty secretive about their services. Cannot find a price per year, what the unit looks like or any worth while information. I do not like dealing with businesses that are not all up front.

WD

 

[surfbeetle]

Last year when my co worker installed it to his charger, it was $1200. 00. He went to their website and found a local reseller who actually does the install. I seem to remember him saying it was $100 per year for the service. The system is buried deep into the dash. It does not prevent the theft, it allows for tracking and recovery, hopefully sooner than later.

 

[PToombs]

WD, if they posted on their site where they put it and what it looks like, wouldn't theives know where to look?

 

[WDaniels]

PT,

Even tho I did say that, I didn't really want to know where they put it or so much even what it looks like, just more information than what they give. What I really wanted to know is the purchase price and the subscription price. And from what Surfbeetle says, a deeply buried cell phone in the dash could do what that system does for a lot less.

WD

 

[surfbeetle]

PT,

Even tho I did say that, I didn't really want to know where they put it or so much even what it looks like, just more information than what they give. What I really wanted to know is the purchase price and the subscription price. And from what Surfbeetle says, a deeply buried cell phone in the dash could do what that system does for a lot less.

WD

I suppose your are correct with one exception, this system is satelite based, not cell tower based. So as long as there is cell coverage, I assume you would be okay with a cell phone.

 

[WDaniels]

I suppose your are correct with one exception, this system is satelite based, not cell tower based. So as long as there is cell coverage, I assume you would be okay with a cell phone.

Alot of what I am saying is drawing on a bunch of assumptions. You don't say in your sig where you are at but I assume that your cell phone coverage is what I would call flawless. I can't even go from work to town, a distance of about 28 miles without dropping a call at least 3 times. I live on a 300 foot hill in town and can see almost all of the cell towers in Fairbanks, ours and theirs and I still drop calls and have lousy reception where I live. So of course I assume that a cell phone would work really, really good in most of the lower 48. But thats what what I get for working on assumptions. They make an a** of yourself. (that would be me of course)

WD

 

[tgordon]

Looking at and reading the owners manual the guide pont system is limited to where they have cell coverage only also. All one has to do is get the car into a tin barn, or one of those old style concrete factories and they are home free, very little cell or satilite signal will be available.

 

[icman95]

tgordon:



Actually, you're right on the money. I have a Freightliner that at one time had a Qualcomm communications system in it so that the office could dispatch the truck via computer messages. The people that installed it said that it first tried to communicate on cell towers because it's cheaper. If it couldn't locate a signal then it would go to a satellite link automatically. In either case, they said that if the truck was sitting under a tin roof of a building or another weird place that the signal could very well be blocked. I don't think it was a problem too many times, but I guess it can happen.