LenPalmer

All:

I noticed the email thread relative to a kill switch to prevent starting by a thief so am passing along the following:

I use a $39.00 cell phone as a GPS theft protection device on my 64 roadster.

My cell phone carrier is Verizon and they offer a child locator program on the cell phone that allows you to set boundaries for a child. If the child (my case - car) goes outside the boundary, I get a text message on my cell phone.

I would expect other cell phone service providors provide something similar to the Child locator program service.

It costs $10.00 a month for the locator service from Verizon.

I wired my cell phone into a regular car phone charger which is plugged into an extra cigarette lighter holder which connects to a 12 volt source buried near the top of the back of the instrument panel on my 64. This keeps the cell phone charged.

You can set boundaries from a PC so if the car leaves my garage or a show, etc., I get a text message notification on my regular cell phone which triggers an alert tone.

I discussed this on another Internet Corvette forum and a police officer offered the fact that he was involved in a Vette theft a while back. They found the frame of the Vette with Lojac still working. Urgh.

Hope the above helps.

Len Palmer

KyleDallas

Nice application Len... good thinking...

robmiester

Doesn't sound like Theft Protection....... more like Theft Notification.

(I was hoping that the phone boundary would have at least activated sometype of kill-switch (that would be cool)).

BTW - LoJack does have an early warning system (like what your doing) except if *anyone* moves the car it notifies up to 5 different numbers(locations)

Check it out:
http://www.lojack.com/products-servi...s-recovery.cfm

adrenaline-guy

That's a GREAT idea. I used a low-cost GPS locator a few years ago that cost me $500 plus $39/month monitoring. I was able to locate the car and track its speed for quite a while, but it stopped working. They told me that the carriers stopped transmitting analog signals, so the $400 transmitter and antenna no longer would work, and I needed to upgrade to a digital model at $400...it peeved me to say the least. Thanks for the info.

Nowhere Man

Im sure if a theif wanted your car, nothing will stop him and teliing how to stop one a public forum is not going to help you, only help the theif. and backyard mechaninc can hot wire any pre 67 GM car. its very easy.

Frankie the Fink

If I had a later model vette that blends in more I'd be more paranoid. I have to believe stealing my C1 and driving it off would take some big stones as its so easy to spot. Even putting it on a rollback would have to get noticed. When its in my garage, I disconnect the automatic opener and have a throw bolt on the overhead door so it can't be opened from the outside and stick the steering wheel lock on. At some point you can't be so nervous that you no longer enjoy driving the car or what's the point?

tentuna

In 1970, just before I was discharged from the service I have a 67 Coupe at my mothers house in a detached garage, with an alarm and a battery disconnect. Thieves broke the side door lock and took the car, the moral is, if someone want your car bad enough it's going to be stolen. By the way when I came home found the car gone I reported it the the police and the detective said forget about finding it, it's either on it's way to South America or in to many small pieces to recognize.

I'm Batman

Cell phone locations can be triangulated by the authorities. It sounds like a pretty good way to track down a car if it gets stolen, especially if the system is buried where it's difficult to disable.

robmiester

lol....... I think your watching too much CSI. Can you imagine calling the police to triangulate a cell phone for a stolen car?


Police: Hello
you: My car has been stolen. Please triangulate to my cell phone
Police: What?
you: Triangulate to this cell phone number 555-1234 and find my stolen car.
Police: What?

Crazyhorse

You can track the location, heading and speed of your vehicle with this setup

http://www.accutracking.com/

philip964

I was burglerized one time and I told the police I was sure the criminal left his finger prints right here on this glass getting in. He laughed and said I watched too much TV, he then handed me the report, so I would have something to give my insurance adjuster.

So I guess I am agreeing the police aren't going to help with triangulation of a cell phone. edit: but the guys at accutracking above look like they have the issue well in hand.

A friends Mercedes was stolen out of his driveway at night. He had lojack and it was recovered the next day near the port of Houston waiting to go onto a container.

adrenaline-guy

That's because the car was still in Houston. If the thieves took the car outside the city limits, the LoJack would no longer work because the smaller police departments don't have the capability to track it. GPS works pretty much everywhere.

Matt Gruber

yep, phone rings, i look out the window, there goes my car
now with a silent alarm, as soon as they open the car door i'm notified. then i have time to get my gun.

a560156

And who are the "authorities"? For a minute there I thought I was in the USSR during the Cold War.

I'm Batman

Whatever. I can list several missing persons cases that were solved via cell phone tracking. It would at least give them a relatively small area to check.

One thing I've noticed in this thread - a lot of cops apparently aren't able or willing to actually do their jobs.

Vogie

I'm under the impression that what I would call "mid-level crime" is being ignored and has become an insurance issue. You will get a ticket for a moving violation (minor) or the police will expend resources if someone is injured, large quantity of drugs are to be found, or a significant felony is involved (major), but a simple break-in or car theft with no physical harm or threat (mid-level) gets only a report that helps justify more resources so more traffic tickets can be written and satisfies the insurance company.

magicv8

$8/mo for tracking + $10/mo to Nextel + Nextel account for 1 (no family plans) national service phones $50/mo + $40 phone activation

$800 to $900 per year to track a phone on a PC after software is installed.

I was hoping the GPS phones would have a better rate/plan.

My current cellalarm is getting old but still works. It calls me when the car alarm goes off. The modified Nokia phone cost me $100 about 5 years ago and my extra National Plan phone costs $10/mo to $15/mo from At&T.

PS Australian and European alarm companies make alarms with GPS cell phone tracking built in. Why don't the USA alarm companies make a comparable product that uses USA cell phone frequencies?

LenPalmer

All:

Clarification to some of the replies to this email thread that I started:

The cost I discussed is about $10.00 per month for me because Verizon is my present cell phone provider. The location software is an add-on application to my other cell phone applications e.g. email, driving directions, etc. I use my present phone as a parent to find the child (my car) and bought the cheap cell phone (child) for the car with a car charger.

There is no need for the police to figure out where the cell phone in the stolen car is located. The software that Verizon provides allows you to know the location of the car on a continuous basis either on my normal cell phone as a parent or any available PC/notebook. Remember the application is meant for a parent to be able to find a child. I tested the software originally by putting the phone in my wife's purse and watched where she went....

I have a promity theft protection system in my car. If someone approaches the car, the horns go off for a bit. If someone gets in the car, the system kills the ability to start the car. I think this system is very easy to defeat as others have pointed out. It is also a system that the thief has a higher chance of being aware of.

I see the GPS location as an aid to busy police with maybe no priority for my irreplaceable car (my view). If my car was stolen, I could call the police and tell them its location exactly within 7 feet, rate of travel, etc. The aid should help no matter the juridiction e.g highway patrol, county sheriff, big city, small town.

Car alarm companies such as Lo Jac do provide GPS capability here in the states as part of their alarm systems. It is just my view that my Child locator kludge is a lot less expensive and not something a thief is going to expect. Obviously the thiefs know every detail of things like Lo Jac. A buried cell phone my catch someone off guard and I can be proactive in the recovery because I can tell the cops where the car is.

I agree if a thief wants the car, virtually nothing you can do.

Hope the above helps.

Len Palmer

magicv8

Len: I noticed that the software requires a perimeter fence. Can it be set to includeall of North America?

The last time I talked to LOjack they needed me to move to Chicago or StLouis to get coverage. They only do big cities.

LenPalmer

I think you are referring to a boundary. The boundary is meant to set off an alarm if the cell phone (car) goes outside the boundary. So I have a boundary set for my home. I also add boundaries where I expect to be for a while such as over night or a meeting in a not too safe are.

You can track the car whenever you want irrespective of where the boundaries are.

Rather than the fence being set to define the coverage area, the fence is set to note car movement from a point. In the child locator scenario, you would set a boundary at a grade school, pre-school, etc. If the child left school, you would be notified.

However there may be a concern relative to U.S. coverage, I live in California and the application seems to work where I have been. Big cities, smaller towns, driving toward more remote areas.

I have noticed though in my driving directions application on my cell phone that the driving application does not work in places near Lake Tahoe. Really rural, remote areas. GPS signal is available but the driving direction application does not work.

Perhaps the child locator application would also not work in these really remote areas where cell phone coverage is a problem - not a concern for me as I am seldom in these areas but it would be interesting to know if someone has tried the application from these areas.

Len