Tracker is a VHF radio wave-based stolen vehicle recovery system. It works by having a very small radio transmitter fitted inside your car. Should your car be stolen one day, you ring the Tracker people and they "activate" your tracker, essentially instructing it to start transmitting a homing signal. This homing signal is then tracked down by the nearest police force who go and take a look for you.
All well and good, but it's not until you look at the costs that it becomes clear it's not actually that great...
Tracker costs £449 (USD $700) to buy, which includes installation, but then you have to pay an annual subscription of £135 ($210).
Not that cheap really, so time for an alternative!
Get yourself over to eBay and do a search for "GPS Tracker". Buried in the no-doubt hundreds of results will be something that looks like this (click on any photo to enlarge it) and it'll be priced at around £70 ($109):
What we have here is exactly what it says on the tin, a GSM/GPRS/GPS Tracker, but for a fraction of the cost of the official Tracker!
This incredible box of tricks does more things than you can shake a satellite signal at. This little black box is about 60mm in size (about half the size of a packet of fags) and weighs next to nothing. What you essentially have here is a mobile phone and a GPS satellite receiver, but without the actual phone part.
Inside the box you get the main unit itself, a spare battery, a mains charger and a replacement battery cover which is magnetic (so you can stick the tracker on to something metal):
Close up:
Inside, you can see the magnets and the SIM card in place:
On a full charge, the battery lasts approximately eight days, which it pretty good in itself, but for use in your car I'd recommend buying the 12v "hard wired" charger. This isn't included by most sellers on eBay, but I found an eBay seller based in China who sells them for £6, delivered. Bargain!
You'll also get a pay-as-you-go SIM Card. Not over-keen on the O2 supplied SIM, I went to Carphone Warehouse and bought a pay-as-you-go SIM card on the Orange network instead (you can use ANY SIM card). It cost £10 and of course has £10 of credit on it. The text messages (I'll come to these later) are charged at 10p each.
To get things up and running, simply charge the battery, put the SIM card in and away you go.
You "communicate" with the GPS Tracker by sending it text messages (SMS) from your existing mobile phone. You can send it all manner of commands to turn various features on and off, more on these later.
Want to know where your car is? Simply call your GPS Tracker!
It will ring two or three times, then it will hang up on you (so the call hasn't even cost you anything). Then as if by magic, thirty seconds later you'll recieve a text message from your GPS Tracker. The text message looks like this (obviously I've blanked out some details) and has just cost you 10p on your pay-as-you-go SIM card:
------ SMS ------From: 07890xxxxxx
Sent: 6 Feb 2010 5:32 PM
lat:53.5xxxxx long:-002.6xxxxx
speed:000.0
T:06/02/10 17:31 Bat:80%
What it's telling you there is the exact latitude and longitude coordinates of your car, the current speed it's travelling at, the time and date from the satellite itself, plus the current battery level of the GPS Tracker.
All useful information, most of all of course is the lat/long co-ords. Armed with these co-ordinates, simply go to http://maps.google.com or http://maps.bing.com and type in your coordinates. You'll then be presented with a map (or satellite photograph) with a nice big green arrow on it, showing you the exact location of your car.
The accuracy is frightening...
Here is a photo of a friends house I was parked at, ignoring the old and out of date Google photo (wrong cars pictured etc), the green arrow is quite literally pointing EXACTLY where the car was parked when I rang it to demonstrate:
Similarly, here's another test I did with the car in a public car park. I rang it again and sure enough, thirty seconds later, the coordinates came back and the arrow is pointing at the third parking bay from the right, which again is EXACTLY where the car was parked:
To gain this level of accuracy took a bit of trial and error. When you install your GPS Tracker in your car, you want it hidden. You don't want any wires on view or even any possible clue that could tell people you even have one of these fitted. There are all manner of places you can hide this device at it's so small. Possibilities include anywhere (safe) in the engine bay, under a wheel arch, under the trim of your dashboard, in the roof linining, under a seat, in the boot, in the glove box, etc, etc. As every car is built differently, try a few places until you get the best GPS signal and when you're happy, then you can wire it in permanently.
I mentioned earlier this device comes with a handful of features that you can turn on and off. They include:
GeoFence: Send two sets of co-ordinates to the device. These essentially provide a ring or "fence" around your car. They can be any distance apart from 10 meters to 10,000 miles. If your car drives outside of the GeoFence it will send you a text message with it's current co-ordinates.
Movement Alert: When your car stays in the same place for more than ten minutes, the unit automatically arms. If the car moves at all, you'll get a text message instantly.
Over Speed Alert: You tell the GPS Tracker the maximum speed your car should ever travel at (ideally the national speed limit!), if your car exceeds the speed limit you set, once again you'll get a text message telling you the current location of the car, plus the speed it's travelling at.
Audio Monitoring: You can ring your GPS Tracker and simply "listen" to whatever it can hear. The tracker has a built in microphone. Listen to your car thieves?
GPRS: Rather than using text messages to track your car, you can enable a GPRS mode that will allow you to track your car in real time. GPRS updates are sent every ten seconds so you can literally see your car driving across a map. As GPRS costs more than a text message, this could get expensive if used a lot.
All of these features can be turned on and off by simply sending various text messages to the GPS Tracker. I guess some of these features would also be of use to fleet cars.
Another really handy feature of this unit is that if for whatever reason it can't get a satellite signal at the exact moment you call it, it will send you the last known coordinates instead. This could be of use if your car was in a container ready to be shipped abroad!
Also, you can track the movements of your GPS Tracker using the GSM network. This works by triangulating the mobile phone signal to the nearest transmitter masts. Again, a handy backup if it can't contact a satellite. Not as accurate by any means, but it'll give you a rough idea at least.
So there you have it, a full on GSM and GPS Tracker for your car at an absolute bargain price.
Now I just need to fit one of these to the motorbike!
Modifications to date: Parrot CK3100 Bluetooth Hands Free Phone Kit, Debadged Tailgate, 'Semi-Stealth TomTom' Satellite Navigation, Chrome Wheels, Chrome Belt Line, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Front), Chrome Fuel Door, Clear Side Repeaters, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Sides), Altezza Rear Lights, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Rear), Chrome Door Handle Recess Trims, Stealth iPod FM Transmitter, Mopar Front Fog Lights, 8 Ball Gear Knob, Port Holes, 8 Ball Door Lock Pins, 8 Ball Cigarette Lighter, 3rd Brake Light Decal, Sony Xplod Subwoofer, Altezza Fog Lights, Twin Fog & Reversing Lights, LED Fog Light Bulbs, Chrome Tailpipe Trim, Parking Sensors, ScanGauge II, Headrest Springs, Billet Steering Wheel Spoke Covers.
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