just wondering has any one had anything to do with gps trackers? a good few on the market some to hide in your car/van and some personal ones for when you go walking in remote areas , they all look good on the computer, just interested if any one has used one? appears they will still ping when your mobile phone has no coverage
Electrical gps trackers
- Thread starter poor but proud
- Start date
For reliable location then one that pings a satellite as no mobile signal is just that, no signal............ looked at some ages ago but thought they were a bit expensive with ongoing fees and all ............................... Often an old phone is used, hard wired to stay charged and just uses the find my phone thing for location which from reports seems to work while in coverage area .......
expandasdownunder.com
expandasdownunder.com
17' Series - GPS Tracker Device & Mods
Hi all, Newbie here, just did our first trip with our brand new 17.56-2-MY-EX. Managed to pick one up a few days ago and chilling in Woodside beach at the moment. Sitting inside and wondering what internal/external mods to do. Quite a few 3M hooks already placed in a few spots. I did purchase a...
expandasdownunder.com
Trackers.................
How many have trackers in their vans using the phone network ???? I have fitted Big Mal with a simple tracker, it uses 3G tech, Telstra is shutting down 3G as of June 2024 so I will have to aquire a 4G phone before that date or it won't work, I suppose other carriers that piggy back on the...
expandasdownunder.com
interesting ,some of the newer smart phones SEEM to say they are now picking up gps from the satallite not the phone towers , which could make sense as the technology has got smaller since the days of the old brick phones,but whether they can ping out is another question , the emergancy portable gps SOS alarms are now very small ,and you are correct the unit price is now cheaper but the ongoing monthly fees soon add up, in my van i carry an apple i pad that is secreted in the van and has 'the find a phone app connected'For reliable location then one that pings a satellite as no mobile signal is just that, no signal............ looked at some ages ago but thought they were a bit expensive with ongoing fees and all ............................... Often an old phone is used, hard wired to stay charged and just uses the find my phone thing for location which from reports seems to work while in coverage area .......
17' Series - GPS Tracker Device & Mods
Hi all, Newbie here, just did our first trip with our brand new 17.56-2-MY-EX. Managed to pick one up a few days ago and chilling in Woodside beach at the moment. Sitting inside and wondering what internal/external mods to do. Quite a few 3M hooks already placed in a few spots. I did purchase a...
Trackers.................
How many have trackers in their vans using the phone network ???? I have fitted Big Mal with a simple tracker, it uses 3G tech, Telstra is shutting down 3G as of June 2024 so I will have to aquire a 4G phone before that date or it won't work, I suppose other carriers that piggy back on the...
Most phones are just dumb GPS, receiver only not a transmit unit like an Epirb ............... but saying that some don't have GPS or compass capability and rely on a roughy location from a tower ........ I was thinking of using my old Nokia as a locator but the stupid thing can't find itself so its only good for a hotspot....... previous old samsung thing that I used died and haven't bothered replacing it, an older phone I have which has an aerial socket is 3G so no good at all .......
Contacted an old mate to see what he has in his van and he uses a Solid GPS, says its set and forget, Telstra sim and cost him $70 a yr......... now he will hound me about getting one...........
Contacted an old mate to see what he has in his van and he uses a Solid GPS, says its set and forget, Telstra sim and cost him $70 a yr......... now he will hound me about getting one...........
the can of worms has been opened, she who must be obeyed has been listening to son who knows all ,about carrying a sos locator when we go walking,i am sure that it has nothing to do with things like losing our car keys , forgetting pin numbers and finding the tv remote in the washing basket
I have a CCTR-805G 3G Car GPS Tracker that I bought for less than $100 on ebay a few years ago. Uses a $5 aldi sim card that lasts me a year (or $5 worth of text messages because it alerts me by text) and has features like where-am-I and movement alert and geo fence/ boundaries. For example I text it 'status' and it sends me it's settings and current location.
It's connected to 12v and hidden in the CV where it still gets good signal. I don't expect someone to steal it and not stay in the bush out of phone signal for ever so a satellite link is not worth the cost for me. Telstra are closing 3G so it needs to be replaced soon.
For bush walking I carry a GME plb that is registered with amsa. It's a bit more expensive than some but has no yearly fee (and no middle person in emergancy) and lasts 10 years
It's connected to 12v and hidden in the CV where it still gets good signal. I don't expect someone to steal it and not stay in the bush out of phone signal for ever so a satellite link is not worth the cost for me. Telstra are closing 3G so it needs to be replaced soon.
For bush walking I carry a GME plb that is registered with amsa. It's a bit more expensive than some but has no yearly fee (and no middle person in emergancy) and lasts 10 years
info so far cost of all units and service vary greatly
1 mobile phones and computers.
real time location if near tower ,normal phone charges must have a sim card installed will not locate if out of range or battery flat
2 gps trackers
a pre determined satallite ping is sent to record location ,battery will drain if left on , a fee is charged to use network , big difference in fees
3 sos gps trackers.
activated from satallite when alarm is pressed can not be used for marine use ,some trackers have ongoing fees , limited battery life ,shape of cigarette packet and pocket friendly
4 epirb.
activated from satallite when alarm activated can be used land air sea no ongoing fees best warrenty and battery life ,each unit is regristed to a specific owner who provides person details ,units are bigger than sos trackers as they must be waterproof and float but still only around 450gms units are also round and are not pocket friendly
so our plan is to keep i pad in van , use' find a phone' when in the car , get a current epirb for bushwalks and boating, the only thing that this does not cover is if someone steals our car while we are bushwalking or boating
i was writing my reply got called away so did not see your response until i posted. thanks for the info
Well you got me motivated @poor but proud , went over things, recalled that I didn't like a lithium battery device plugged in all the time, they tend to get hot sometimes, thats why I use a Nighthawk as my Mobile Broadband as it will operate plugged into 12v with battery removed, unlike my 4GX unit which would just gets bluddy hot and the battery even expanded once, so when I had the old phone as a locator I only used it when I needed to and never left it plugged in all the time, more worried to come back to a pile of ash than an empty spot ........... though my laptop and stuff can be tracked so that will do for now ....... one look at my set up and I think they would move on to easier pickings, I do have certain things I do at set up which would make a snatch and grab difficult... at home not an easy task either .............. I have been toying with the Sec Cam idea, they are a good visible deterent, early alert and you can even tell them to eff off if they come too close as well as turn on a light and /or siren ...... My bush stomping days are well gone the by so no need for a Epirb ...
Last edited:
Thinking the same thing...I don't have any tracking device in my van either. I have considered the possibility of theft, but have always been a bit complacent I guess. I haven't yet left the van unattended outside of a caravan park so a tracking device hasn't been on the radar.
I always considered that winding up the stabilizer legs, dropping the roof, as well as pulling ropes then winding in the awning would be enough of a deterrent against a quick a snatch and go...probably not if no body is around.
Though the case I read a few months ago where a couple had the 4wd stolen...while they were asleep in the roof top tent...shows thieves won't miss an opportunity...the fellow foolishly left the keys in the ignition thinking his 4wd would be safe as they were on top of it...nope!
An extremely harrowing ride for them both as the 4wd rocketed down the road with them clinging on for dear life!
I always considered that winding up the stabilizer legs, dropping the roof, as well as pulling ropes then winding in the awning would be enough of a deterrent against a quick a snatch and go...probably not if no body is around.
Though the case I read a few months ago where a couple had the 4wd stolen...while they were asleep in the roof top tent...shows thieves won't miss an opportunity...the fellow foolishly left the keys in the ignition thinking his 4wd would be safe as they were on top of it...nope!
An extremely harrowing ride for them both as the 4wd rocketed down the road with them clinging on for dear life!
Seems to me that a couple of these or similar https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/145206715382 are pretty cheap options to keeping an eye on you van and tug. I even use one in my house where the push button is wired to the siren and sends a 'help!' text if triggered
Many years ago I posted about just fitting a padlock thru the holes in the awning arms, take a bit of stuffing a round to cut the locks or drive off with awning extended, I think I showed a design for drop down leg locks as well, sometimes lo tech is better than Hi Tech..... in a majority of thieving its the easy target thats gets done......
A simple fridge switch in vehicle can be set up to get the horn going...
My favourite is a personal alarm fitted on van door/boot at night, once the pin gets pulled the dead will wake up ............ not for the faint hearted thats for sure.....
In the Tardis Days my engel had a window alarm fitted, lift the lid and it would scream the house down................
Here's another simple one, if your rear cam has infra red then wire it to van supply, it will glow red at night a sign that someone is watching .... Had some one ask about my Sec Cam on back of van once as he could see the glow at night and wanted similar, it was just my rear view cam, it drew power from van supply but wasn't a recorder....... I think I might look at a 2 cam set up with 2 fakes, unless we go ahead with getting another dog and we don't do Yippy Yappers proper Woofer here.... that way the camp is covered for sneaky approaches 24/7.
A simple fridge switch in vehicle can be set up to get the horn going...
My favourite is a personal alarm fitted on van door/boot at night, once the pin gets pulled the dead will wake up ............ not for the faint hearted thats for sure.....
In the Tardis Days my engel had a window alarm fitted, lift the lid and it would scream the house down................
Here's another simple one, if your rear cam has infra red then wire it to van supply, it will glow red at night a sign that someone is watching .... Had some one ask about my Sec Cam on back of van once as he could see the glow at night and wanted similar, it was just my rear view cam, it drew power from van supply but wasn't a recorder....... I think I might look at a 2 cam set up with 2 fakes, unless we go ahead with getting another dog and we don't do Yippy Yappers proper Woofer here.... that way the camp is covered for sneaky approaches 24/7.
The freq used by the unit, only B1, B3 and B40 are used in Australia and are found mostly in cities and large country towns.... the band most needed and why many phones even on Telstra won't work in some areas is they are missing Band 28, this band is found on all towers, it is also the best for out bush as it has greater range ... the other stuff is higher freq and as such short range..... I wonder what some of the other ones use.....
A Telstra sim/phone/hot spot with band 28 capability will give the best coverage around, not saying Telstra is wonderfull, they just have the most towers outside the cities ....
My thoughts were while doing the lap, if I did have to leave the van somewhere unattended, then I'd leave the stabiliser legs down and remove the jockey wheel, along with putting the lock on the tow hitch. It would then be very difficult attempting to lift or lower the van on to a tow ball in a hurry while grinding the tow hitch lock off...that would have to deter 99% of opportunists.
The stabilisers on my Jayco are directly under the chassis itself, not on outriggers so no issue to leave the van resting on them.
That said, I will definitely look at a tracking system, it just takes that one time when simple precautions are overlooked or the "she'll be right" attitude prevails that disaster will strike...
The stabilisers on my Jayco are directly under the chassis itself, not on outriggers so no issue to leave the van resting on them.
That said, I will definitely look at a tracking system, it just takes that one time when simple precautions are overlooked or the "she'll be right" attitude prevails that disaster will strike...
when we did the 1/2 lap a few years ago (pre covid) from Port Augusta all the way to Darwin had very poor Telstra coverage most of that trip is covered by Optus unless you were in the bigger towns, as a side note it was the first time we saw the little random satallie hot spots where you put your phone on a little shelf under a disc and hope for the best
Last edited:
Back then you certainly needed a Blue Tick Telstra phone so you could pick up the 700mhz B28 which was 3G now 4G LTE, not all phones could pick it up, when we went to Winton back in 15, only one of our phones would work as the other being originally an Optus phone didn't have the freq to work even with a Telstra sim .... still a lot of phones especially grey ones that won't ..... a Boost sim will work as good as a Telstra sim, its a telstra group and has full access while the other mobs only get part access................................. I messaged the mob that do the Solid GPS and got a quick reply with the freq they use so would work all over the place they use a Telstra/Vodaphone sim .............
I bought a Solid GPS after watching this review, and it's been brilliant. Plus the dude has a coupon that gives you 75 days' free tracking