GPS Theft Protection

[NHSleddog]

Probably do..my home has better coverage that my office. But in all seriousness have you ever seen a 'home grade' mesh system travel almost 200 yards.

I had a T line at my house in the 90's. I was the neighborhood ISP for about 5 years. We used yagi antennas between houses and line of sight well over 1500ft - that was before google to give you an idea.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I can get 8KM ( about 5 miles) using some wireless 'modules'...originally bought for a proof of concept RR project. They were about $50 each . One of those pay what you get... The mor eyou pay, the more data over greater distances you can get.

 

[Old_Paint]

I understand the op's issue but why not just take reasonable measures to deter theft and also make sure you have good insurance. It's just 'stuff'. It might be stuff you use to make a living but a good insurance policy should give you peace of mind there.
It's been my experience that when a vehicle is stolen you might be better off NOT getting it back. You just never know what was done to it while it was gone.

Gonna have to agree with ctfjr about getting it back, however, if you can detect it while it's still moving, that means it's entirely possible to catch the thief. Tell the cops you're going after your stuff, and they better go shoot the thief before you do.

 

[Springer]

I don't have a tracker on my tractor but I do track anyone that comes on my property. And I do it well.
I live atop a steep hill with only one long driveway. The beginning of the drive is actually in a deep ravine so there is no way onto my property without coming up the hill that way. I have it gated and I don't allow anyone to come here uninvited. At the entrance is a game camera. I use Spartan. It is on a cell service and I am notified within 4 secs when the camera is triggered. The camera has internal batteries and is also connected to an external battery and a 12 v solar panel. Everything is cabled to a large tree.
About 50 feet away is a camera (non-cellular) watching this camera.
I have 4 more camera around my property, more to track deer and bear but if anyone were to come on foot, say, to case my place out, I would definitely pick them up.
We no longer allow deliveries to the house. We have a large trunk at the drive entrance for deliveries and it triggers my cell camera and another.

It is hardly Ft. Knox but we are not farmers. We are preppers who have moved into the mountains to get away from what we see happening in the world.

Yesterday, I had my first "intruder'. My wife would open the gate in the morning and leave it open through the day. The entrance is still well posted. I met him and stopped him about half way down the drive, armed, of course. It was a realtor asking me if I wanted to sub-divide property. I made him back down the hill rather than come in view of the house after asking him why he drove past at least 4 no- trespassing signs. We have changed our protocol and the gate stays closed 24x7.

But our focus is as much personal security as physical security.

 

[Freeheeler]

Tell the cops you're going after your stuff, and they better go shoot the thief before you do.

That makes it premeditated. Much better to tell the cops you had to shoot them to defend yourself after the fact

 

[Old_Paint]

That makes it premeditated. Much better to tell the cops you had to shoot them to defend yourself after the fact

Yeah, but I think "He needed killin anyway" is still a valid defense in some places. It should be, anyway.

 

[Springer]

Yeah, but I think "He needed killin anyway" is still a valid defense in some places. It should be, anyway.

passes my muster

 

[GreensvilleJay]

make sure you have a 2nd gun with you.,to leave near him....'his'.....

 

[aaluck]

We have changed our protocol and the gate stays closed 24x7.

Invest about $500 and make it automatic. "Cow" gate, mighty mule opener (not the best but serviceable) and a car battery. Saves you having to get out, unlock and lock everything back up.

 

[Springer]

Invest about $500 and make it automatic. "Cow" gate, mighty mule opener (not the best but serviceable) and a car battery. Saves you having to get out, unlock and lock everything back up.

That's on our short list.

 

[nbryan]

I just got a puppy Pyrenean mountain dog in March, outfitted her with a Tractive gps tracker, ~$70 for the unit shipped, ~$150 for 2 year wireless network subscription. If the tracker is anywhere in (long) range of an LTE cell tower you can track her on your phone, live to within 3 seconds delay.

The rechargeable non-replaceable LiPo battery lasts over 2 days in full use, longer if power saving mode is on. The USB charger cable, tracker end clips on magnetically to the unit and charges while the unit is on and operational. That means if there's a 5V usb charger available to wire to it, it would always have power for days after charger disconnected.

It communicates that it's out of a user-configurable size and shape "virtual yard" by messaging your cell phone. You can immediately find where it is and live track it. Can even make it send a high pitched and noticeable whistle/squeal noise, and flash a bright white LED to help find your dog (tractor) up close.

It is fully waterproof and shockproof. Dog proof.

About 2" long, 1" wide, and 3/4" deep.

I'd hide it and a usb charging cable in the roof of a vehicle or tractor.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

any, every , GPS tracker using Cell tech, is easily defeated using a cheap 'cell phone jammer'. Any semi knowledgable crook will have a couple and install during the heist.
Once at the 'chopshop' ,they'll quicky find/disable you antitheft devices. Can be as simple as driving into a 'faraday cage' in their chopshop.

 

[nbryan]

any, every , GPS tracker using Cell tech, is easily defeated using a cheap 'cell phone jammer'. Any semi knowledgable crook will have a couple and install during the heist.
Once at the 'chopshop' ,they'll quicky find/disable you antitheft devices. Can be as simple as driving into a 'faraday cage' in their chopshop.

Yes, but at least an off-device record of its status and movements if any up to when the device got disabled is available, stored in the cloud. There is also an alert sent to my cell phone when it goes offline. Still valuable and relatively cheap info, covers a few angles anyway.
- alerts if it won't connect to cell or gps for more than a few minutes, or battery low
- if connected, alerts you if outside its "yard"
- maintains an activity record on google maps, distance travelled

 

[GreensvilleJay]

sorry but no..data does NOT go to the cloud... jammer defeats ALL communication to ALL outside receivers.
yes, you 'should' get an alrert, due to 'loss of communication', but depending on who setup the system , that could be 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or more before you get the 'loss of communication' report.
'few minutes'....the thief could easily be 5-20 miles away before you know it 'might' be stolen.BTW the smart crooks use an enclosed van or tarp their targets,so NOBODY can SEE it's YOUR pride and joy going down the road.
won't be connected, so the 'outside the yard' won't be sent....
ZERO reporting to GoogleMaps and others..... as the transmitter has been jammed.

The ONLY thing you will know is when 'loss of communication' has occoured. you do not know WHY though. Could be low battery(not enough to trip 'lowbat' bit'),damaged antenna,tincan covering antenna(yes, it's THAT simple...),total power failure(poof,black smoke),cell tower down, cell service server failures,your cell phone losing the ap setup.someone hacks your phone ap.
I started designing securtiy systems in the '70s, ULC AA listed, that's one below requiring an armed guard outside of the central monitoring station( think BIG banks as clients). yes, since then , the tecjh has gotten better..but so have the crooks. They can use Google, just like us 'regular folks' and it amazes me how much of the 'details' of security systems is available online.

 

[nbryan]

sorry but no..data does NOT go to the cloud... jammer defeats ALL communication to ALL outside receivers.
yes, you 'should' get an alrert, due to 'loss of communication', but depending on who setup the system , that could be 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or more before you get the 'loss of communication' report.
'few minutes'....the thief could easily be 5-20 miles away before you know it 'might' be stolen.BTW the smart crooks use an enclosed van or tarp their targets,so NOBODY can SEE it's YOUR pride and joy going down the road.
won't be connected, so the 'outside the yard' won't be sent....
ZERO reporting to GoogleMaps and others..... as the transmitter has been jammed.

The ONLY thing you will know is when 'loss of communication' has occoured. you do not know WHY though. Could be low battery(not enough to trip 'lowbat' bit'),damaged antenna,tincan covering antenna(yes, it's THAT simple...),total power failure(poof,black smoke),cell tower down, cell service server failures,your cell phone losing the ap setup.someone hacks your phone ap.
I started designing securtiy systems in the '70s, ULC AA listed, that's one below requiring an armed guard outside of the central monitoring station( think BIG banks as clients). yes, since then , the tecjh has gotten better..but so have the crooks. They can use Google, just like us 'regular folks' and it amazes me how much of the 'details' of security systems is available online.

Fine. If there's no way to detect and respond to pro tractor thieves without hiring 24/7 armed guards then just make sure your insurance is covering it.
Way cheaper.
But they're not all black-op pros grabbing pricey tractors, right? So if I can make the attempt very risky, hopefully costly in some way for the say, what, 50%? 25% of the rippers that aren't so well equipped and savvy?
Whatever. The OP wants some reasonably affordable piece of mind and a sense of some kind of control. The tracker I have does that for me big time, but for my dog. Yet I've long since realized the utility and power this little device could wield. It's a really cool tool.

 

[NHSleddog]

sorry but no..data does NOT go to the cloud... jammer defeats ALL communication to ALL outside receivers.
yes, you 'should' get an alrert, due to 'loss of communication', but depending on who setup the system , that could be 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or more before you get the 'loss of communication' report.
'few minutes'....the thief could easily be 5-20 miles away before you know it 'might' be stolen.BTW the smart crooks use an enclosed van or tarp their targets,so NOBODY can SEE it's YOUR pride and joy going down the road.
won't be connected, so the 'outside the yard' won't be sent....
ZERO reporting to GoogleMaps and others..... as the transmitter has been jammed.

The ONLY thing you will know is when 'loss of communication' has occoured. you do not know WHY though. Could be low battery(not enough to trip 'lowbat' bit'),damaged antenna,tincan covering antenna(yes, it's THAT simple...),total power failure(poof,black smoke),cell tower down, cell service server failures,your cell phone losing the ap setup.someone hacks your phone ap.
I started designing securtiy systems in the '70s, ULC AA listed, that's one below requiring an armed guard outside of the central monitoring station( think BIG banks as clients). yes, since then , the tecjh has gotten better..but so have the crooks. They can use Google, just like us 'regular folks' and it amazes me how much of the 'details' of security systems is available online.

This is more the average thief and the GPS would be just fine.

I suppose there are well heeled thiefs out there with faraday cage shops (ROFLMAO) willing to spend thousands of dollars to steal my tractor. He could just come in and air lift it with a helicopter though, I have no defense against that - SMH.

The thousands of vehicles and equipment recovered due to trackers would argue heavily against your points.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: The thousands of vehicles and equipment recovered due to trackers would argue heavily against your points.

and it proves there's a LOT of stupid crooks, though 'recovered ' doesn't meant the crooks were caught, may just means the abandoned vehicle( or what's left) has been found.

as for laughing about the cage shops, any steel building can be turned into one with very,very simple 'upgrades' and will not allow any 'GPS device' to communicate

as for the OP.. install one of the 'car insurance save you 15%' OBD-II devices..be sure to read the 'Terms of Use' aggrement the Insurance company has you sign off on though...

 

[NHSleddog]

re: The thousands of vehicles and equipment recovered due to trackers would argue heavily against your points.

and it proves there's a LOT of stupid crooks, though 'recovered ' doesn't meant the crooks were caught, may just means the abandoned vehicle( or what's left) has been found.

as for laughing about the cage shops, any steel building can be turned into one with very,very simple 'upgrades' and will not allow any 'GPS device' to communicate

as for the OP.. install one of the 'car insurance save you 15%' OBD-II devices..be sure to read the 'Terms of Use' aggrement the Insurance company has you sign off on though...

So are there or are there not thousands of vehicles and equipment that have been recovered due to GPS trackers. According to the industry there has been.

Are you saying there have not been thousands of vehicles recovered and the GPS didn't work? You are hard to read sometimes.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I don't have access to the real numbers of thefts vs recoveries..
What I am saying is that a determined thief can easily defeat any GPS tracking device.

 

[NHSleddog]

I don't have access to the real numbers of thefts vs recoveries..
What I am saying is that a determined thief can easily defeat any GPS tracking device.

Of coarse, and all I am saying is thousands of vehicles and equipment have been recovered due to GPS trackers.

Just one of thousands of examples,

Police: GPS tracker on stolen car leads to others on car hauler

Investigators first thought the car was being driven along a highway, but then realized it was on board a tractor trailer with other stolen cars

www.police1.com

Weird that they could afford a semi and car carrier and determined enough to steal several cars, but still be too stupid to defeat the GPS.

There is actually statistical evidence in several states that the increase of GPS tracking has led to a decrease in vehicle theft as a whole. That doesn't seem possible if they didn't work.