I am sure we have all been affectected by vehicle theft or know someone who has, and how frustating it is not to know where to start looking.We cant all afford Tracker systems to be fitted with on going charges etc.
After a friend had his bike stolen last month I got thinking about ways of tracking your bike by mobile phone, and came up with this concept, and wondered what you guys thought.
The idea is to get a pay- as- you -go mobile phone, hide it somwhere on your bike ie under the saddle or in the tail cowl.Then wire it into the battery via an in- car charger so it is permanently conncected and turned on.It can be left on silent mode and you will be the only one who knows the number.
Now the important bit… I have noticed that there are a few companies like followus.co.uk that have systems for tracking mobile phones so they can keep track of their kids without contacting them.
So I am thinking that it would be nice to be able to locate your mobile phone that is tucked away in your bike that has been stolen.You could then locate your beloved bike, and then notify the Law and then let justice take place, OR you could gather a few mates and go and ask for your “bike back please”
It needs a bit of tuning but I think it has possibilities
It’s an interesting idea… but this doesn’t sound too useful -
“We have seen mobile phone accuracy as precise as 100m in central London (where there are many cell masts) and as inaccurate as 10km in the Scottish Highlands(where there are few cell masts).”
Probably not accurate enough for you to actually find your bike in many cases
Actually that’s a very good idea - in fact it’s already been done, it’s a bit old hat and the problem is GSM tracking is very patchy at best - now with GPRS turned on you’re looking at a 10m square area in a good signal area, 5m if the signal is very good and you have more than 4 masts in range. BUT if you happen to have one of the new Virin Lobster phones that have a DAB receiver then you can get the location down to with 1.5m anywhere there is a DAB signal, no matter how low it may be.
The cool thing about the Datatool GSM solution is that if you subscribe (it’s pennies) then you can ‘turn on’ the GPRS remotely and get a much better fix - BUT if you use your own mobile there’s no way to activate GPRS and therefore no way to get a very good area location, plus of course if the bike is in a nice little lock up somewhere, there’s going to be no signal at all.
I didn’t know about the remote GPRS activation as a backup to gsm location that sounds like a good idea. Ideally Tracker but in the interim might be a half decent substitute.
Anyway you could trace a vhf transponder yourself like Tracker use?
You can afford a bike, gear to go with the bike, accessories for the bike, Insurance for your bike, go out on trips and fill up your bike - but you cant afford a tracker at £119 a year after initial cost???
Well I dont think I would use these mobile services to track kids(what they are meant for) as a 10mile accuracy is about as much use as a choclate teapot!
cheers for your views anyway
I thought to get a tracker fitted was around £400 plus yearly subscription of £125, this may not be much to some people but it sure is to me. Also the Tracker only notifies the police of the vehicles location which they dont disclose to the owner…, bringing me back to the choclate teapot!
Yeah the police track it so you don’t go and try and get it back yourself and jeopradise the thief getting convicted and you getting done for the assult! Its 259 (includes first year subscription) for retrive and 399 for monitor (includes first yrs sub) A alarm costs between 250-350 fitted???
Far to clever for me !! but will watch this thread with interest as have got spare phones due to upgrades and you can get new sims for peanuts or free from some companies.