Tracking your Gun

[JThompson]

I was thinking about putting one of these behind the foam in hard cases when on the road. If you have to leave one in the car or hotel somewhere, or even in the case of airports. It seems like a great way to find your gear should it become lost or stolen....

Thoughts?

http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/slimtrak...ar-locator.html

or maybe

http://www.globaltrackinggroup.com/?gclid=...CFR4sagodrh8bFQ

Still researching to find one where you don't have to pay a monthly fee.

Edited July 16, 2008 by JThompson

[Joe4d]

Seams a little steep, $200 plus $75 activation, plus $20 per month. Insurance rider is probably cheaper.

[JThompson]

Seams a little steep, $200 plus $75 activation, plus $20 per month. Insurance rider is probably cheaper.

Ya Joe... I'm still looking into the options without monthly plans. There are some out there I'm weeding through. One thing I Like about these is they can be set to call you on any motion. If someone grabs the thing from a hotel room or car it could call you before the thief can make off with anything.

I'll update the thread as I find new info. If I can find something for $200 or so and no monthly I think it would be better to be able to nab a thief or find your stuff without waiting for replacement and or missing a big match.

JT

[JThompson]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Real-Time-GSM-GPRS-GPS...5QQcmdZViewItem

Basically you can buy a cheap pay as you go phone and use the simm card in the GPS unit. Either that, or use one out of a cell phone if you have more than one.

Edited July 16, 2008 by JThompson

[benos]

Wow - that's pretty cool.

Thanks Jim.

be

[EricW]

I hate to dash your hopes, but unless that device is located out in the great wide open with a clear view of the sky (or has an external antenna with the same), you simply will not pick up a GPS signal to track your wares. Even if it comes out of the trunk to go somewhere else, it's unlikely that the GPS could lock in before it's back indoors.

(I spend a fair amount of time working with commercial GPS)

[JThompson]

I hate to dash your hopes, but unless that device is located out in the great wide open with a clear view of the sky (or has an external antenna with the same), you simply will not pick up a GPS signal to track your wares. Even if it comes out of the trunk to go somewhere else, it's unlikely that the GPS could lock in before it's back indoors.

(I spend a fair amount of time working with commercial GPS)

It uses cell towers too.

[EricW]

If it's reporting tower triangulation, it's non-obvious from the marketing info. All it's going to do is tell you that your gun is somewhere within a couple hundred yards if you're lucky. If that happens to be in the airport parking lot, I'm not sure how that helps you. Usually, you might be able to pick off one or two tower locations, which will tell you less. GPS works great through auto glass or stuck to the roof. It won't work for beans in the trunk or stuck underneath a vehicle.

[Skywalker]

GPS works great through auto glass or stuck to the roof. It won't work for beans in the trunk or stuck underneath a vehicle.

Eric,

I'm not sure it is still true.

Here you are my experience.

My first Garmin E-Trex legend GPS unit was not able to pick up GPS signals if I had it in my raincoat pocket; it had to be placed in the open, top side up (i.e. antenna facing the sky) to work, and I had to put it right below the windscreen on my car to receive any signal.

After that I upgraded to TomTom for Pocket PC with a BlueTooth GPS antenna (TomTom 5 package, about 3 years ago).

It works perfectly even if I place the antenna inside the small car drawer in front of the passenger seat.

I haven't tried to bury it in the trunk though.

My guess is that antennas effectiveness has been greatly improved over the last 5/6 years.

[JThompson]

There's also the cell call on movement and it's supposed to nail it down within 15 meters. One would have to carry it out of to somewhere to steal it. IDK I think it's worth looking into. If you get me that close I'm going to find it if I have to start breaking doors in.

Edited July 18, 2008 by JThompson

[EricW]

GPS works great through auto glass or stuck to the roof. It won't work for beans in the trunk or stuck underneath a vehicle.

Eric,

I'm not sure it is still true.

Here you are my experience.

My first Garmin E-Trex legend GPS unit was not able to pick up GPS signals if I had it in my raincoat pocket; it had to be placed in the open, top side up (i.e. antenna facing the sky) to work, and I had to put it right below the windscreen on my car to receive any signal.

After that I upgraded to TomTom for Pocket PC with a BlueTooth GPS antenna (TomTom 5 package, about 3 years ago).

It works perfectly even if I place the antenna inside the small car drawer in front of the passenger seat.

I haven't tried to bury it in the trunk though.

My guess is that antennas effectiveness has been greatly improved over the last 5/6 years.

Luca,

That's really fantastic performance.

The difference is whether or not you're going to be looking through a metal or concrete structure. Grounded metal roofs basically zap the GPS signal entirely. I just fail to see how it would work unless the bag was sitting in an open cart on the airport ramp.

Inside a metal-roofed building, or inside a trunk, I honestly believe that you're going to get zip for a signal. I think with the glovebox, you're really looking through a plastic "roof" so it's likely to see some signal. I'm using the latest and greatest GPS units with amplified antennas and I just can't get a signal indoors. Even next to a window takes up to 30 mins to acquire a lock.

Finally, the cellular signal you're receiving at the airport may *not* be from the physical tower. It's actually pretty likely that it's from a repeater, which is going to really compromise the location feature of the signal. The repeaters have an outside antenna that reads the cell signal then rebroadcast it inside the building. I'm fairly certain that there is no coordinate translation that takes place between the two devices.

Sorry to be the wet blanket, but these devices are probably great mounted on top of a car or stashed inside a teddy bear inside the rear window. Inside luggage on an airport conveyor belt, pretty dubious at best.

[Skywalker]

The difference is whether or not you're going to be looking through a metal or concrete structure.

I concur with you: within concrete walls/roof there's no way a GPS antenna will ever pick up a signal, at least the antennas I know of.

Inside a metal-roofed building, or inside a trunk, I honestly believe that you're going to get zip for a signal. I think with the glovebox, you're really looking through a plastic "roof" so it's likely to see some signal.

I'll run a few tests in the next days with my antenna buried into the car trunk and will report back.

This is the antenna I use at the moment:

[ChrisStock]

With my Garmin 60CSx, I get +/- 8' readings indoors in residential areas. This is exponentially better than my first Garmin Vista C. I have had it on inside of the mall and , and generally stay connected to within 30' accuracy. That's close enough to find things like the geocaches I hunt, much less a pistol case. OTOH, I have been places outdoors where accuracy was +/- 6 ' and a few steps away went up to +/- 20'. It all depends on time of day, cloud cover, and angle to the satellite I'm trying to get bearings off of.

Interesting stuff indeed.

[JThompson]

The difference is whether or not you're going to be looking through a metal or concrete structure.

I concur with you: within concrete walls/roof there's no way a GPS antenna will ever pick up a signal, at least the antennas I know of.

Inside a metal-roofed building, or inside a trunk, I honestly believe that you're going to get zip for a signal. I think with the glovebox, you're really looking through a plastic "roof" so it's likely to see some signal.

I'll run a few tests in the next days with my antenna buried into the car trunk and will report back.

This is the antenna I use at the moment:

I'll be interested to hear the results of your test... I don't know how that Tom Tom rates as far as signals go....

[JThompson]

With my Garmin 60CSx, I get +/- 8' readings indoors in residential areas. This is exponentially better than my first Garmin Vista C. I have had it on inside of the mall and , and generally stay connected to within 30' accuracy. That's close enough to find things like the geocaches I hunt, much less a pistol case. OTOH, I have been places outdoors where accuracy was +/- 6 ' and a few steps away went up to +/- 20'. It all depends on time of day, cloud cover, and angle to the satellite I'm trying to get bearings off of.

Interesting stuff indeed.

That's pretty damn good... if you get a chance, do some testing inside of the truck and other places to see how it works there. If you get the time and are inclined of course.

Best,

JT

[ChrisStock]

I'll actually test it on my drive home from work today, as it's 40 miles through 2 cities. I'll post up around 5:00 EST.

[JThompson]

I'll actually test it on my drive home from work today, as it's 40 miles through 2 cities. I'll post up around 5:00 EST.

Thanks Chris... I appreciate you helping us out.

[ChrisStock]

Hellacious lightning storm keeps knocking the power out, so I'm on my UPS now. I powered on my 60Csx, acquired signal, and tossed it in the trunk. When I got home, I had an uninterrupted track across 3 counties. On the down side, I was +/- 23' when I first took it out of the trunk, but after 10 seconds or so, I was down in the low teens. The SIRF III chipset in it is one nice piece of technology, and I have walked hundreds of miles with it on my harness through heavy swamp/jungle. Beautiful stuff. Hope that helps,

Chris

[JThompson]

Hellacious lightning storm keeps knocking the power out, so I'm on my UPS now. I powered on my 60Csx, acquired signal, and tossed it in the trunk. When I got home, I had an uninterrupted track across 3 counties. On the down side, I was +/- 23' when I first took it out of the trunk, but after 10 seconds or so, I was down in the low teens. The SIRF III chipset in it is one nice piece of technology, and I have walked hundreds of miles with it on my harness through heavy swamp/jungle. Beautiful stuff. Hope that helps,

Chris

It does and thanks.... 23 isn't bad.

Edited July 22, 2008 by JThompson

[EricW]

Well, I stand corrected. That is absolutely phenomenal performance to get rock solid signal in a trunk. I'm going to have to hassle Trimble over the junk they've been sending me.