Scooter theft recovery

[Yager200i]

Just found a great little app for cell phones running Windows Mobile. It's called CatchMe.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=502214

You don't have to have an internet connection or data package with your cell phone provider, just text messaging. The phone also has to be GPS-enabled (i.e.: it can pick up the satellite GPS signals, but those are free).

Here's how I envision it:
You buy a Windows Mobile phone and get a pre-paid calling plan with text messaging. You mount the phone under the body of the scooter, and wire up a charging system to keep the phone battery charged.

If you find your scooter's been stolen, you send a text message to the scooter-phone. When the scooter-phone receives that text message, it sends a text message back to you with it's location.

This is much better than having to use a data-enabled phone, since text messages can get through where voice and data often can't (I know this, because in our shop at work, there's not enough signal to get even one bar, so I can't call my wife, but I can easily text message her).

By sending a text message to the scooter-phone every 10 or 15 minutes, you can determine if the scooter's still on the move, or if the thief has parked it somewhere.

What's really cool is that this software can act like a homing beacon. While you can request the scooter-phone's position from any text-messaging enabled phone, if you're running Windows Mobile on your phone, as well, it'll actually tell you how far away the scooter-phone is, and which direction to go to catch up to the scooter-phone.

Anyone want to test this? I'm still using an old Nokia E62 (Symbian) phone, so I have to wait until my wife lets me upgrade.

[Yager200i]

Found another way, but you have to rely upon others to track your scooter down for you.

I'd prefer NOT to have to rely upon a chain of:
a potentially recalcitrant 911 operator
a potentially techno-clueless cop.

That's two links of a chain that I've seen break far too often.

This was taken from here:
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1694483

So, here's the scoop:
Things you'll need:
1) a cell phone that is E911 compliant, and GPS compatible (most new phones) NOTE: The phone usually does NOT have to be activated for E911 to work. So, no monthly phone charges.
2) the ESN or HEX number from the back of the phone
3) a cigarette lighter charger for your phone
4) wire (12ga works best)
5) zip ties
6) electrical tape
7) a good phone battery
8) ziplock bag

New cell phones have the ability for the network to track the location of cell phones for "911" calls. This data is transfered through the digital network of the wireless carrier. This can easily be changed in your phones menu settings.

(Example phone: LG VX6000)
Step 1: On your phone, Go to the menu, select settings, select location, there should be menu that says "E911" and "Location On", select "Location On" or something similar. This displays Latitude, Longitude and Altitude of the location of the phone to anybody that requests it. This can be accesed even if your phone is not activated.

Step 2: Go through your phone and change any settings that would turn off or put your phone into sleep mode.

Step 3: Find a spot under the scooter bodywork where your charger can reach, that it would most likely not be seen.

Step 4: Find a 12 volt power source, this must me a power source that is always on (with the battery in obviously).

Step 5: Plug the charger into the phone and make sure everything works.

Step 6: Run the charger cables to an area where you can mount the phone. Make sure they are hidden from sight.

Step 7: Make sure the phone is charging, and if it is, zip tie the charger cord to the phone and put a ziplock bag over it. Then mount the phone.

If your scooter is ever stolen, you have a few options:
1: Call the police and file a police report, make sure they know that you have a phone in the scooter that has GPS capabilities, and its setup for that exact reason, to recover your scooter if its ever stolen. Give them your ESN/HEX number, and it can be used LEGALLY by you or any police officer investigating the theft.
2: Call the phone carrier, give them the ESN or HEX from the back of the phone, and get Lat & Long from them. This can be inserted into any GPS or even Google Earth, and you will be able to see the location of the unit.
3: If you are a AAA member or even if you have roadside assistance enabled on your carrier, you can always call them to get the location for "Roadside Assistance".

[jprestonian]

I bought up a dozen or so Boost Mobile Motorola i425 pay-go phones to sell as GPS tracking devices. You can use Instamapper with it without a data plan, so it makes keeping track of a scooter pretty cheap ($40 for the phone -- now discontinued -- and $5 every 90 days to keep the phone number activated).

What we couldn't tackle was the power drain on the scooter's battery, which made it problematic. But, it's far cheaper than a Zoombak, and works every bit as well. I use mine to track rides to this day.
.

[axy]

Over here scooters are torn apart for spare parts the same day. This way, you would only be providing a "new owner" with additional/supplementary mobile phone.

[Yager200i]

What we couldn't tackle was the power drain on the scooter's battery, which made it problematic. But, it's far cheaper than a Zoombak, and works every bit as well. I use mine to track rides to this day.

Well, with the setup as I described in the first post, the phone is always on standby, until you send it a text message, whereupon it sends its position. So, the battery drain would be very low.

Once I upgrade to a new phone (which should be soon, since this old phone (Nokia e62) keeps locking up, and the battery runtime has been dismal lately), I'll get two of them, install one in the scooter, along with an automatic battery tender so the battery stays topped up when I leave it parked in the garage for long periods.

[jprestonian]

Well, with the setup as I described in the first post, the phone is always on standby, until you send it a text message, whereupon it sends its position. So, the battery drain would be very low.

The setup I described, the phone was always on, but could conserve power by only reporting its position at lengthier periods (whereas for useful live tracking, I think less than every 15 minutes would be kinda pointless). At that interval, the phone might stay powered for two days.
.

[Yager200i]

Wow... this'd be AWESOME.

APRS: Automatic Packet Reporting System
http://www.aprs.org/

It transmits via amateur radio frequencies, and the system is tied into the internet (APRS-IS) AND satellites. It's a GLOBAL system that allows you to send text messages and emails, make emergency calls or notifications to designated groups of people or to organizations, track location via the internet or APRS unit, make voice calls (or monitor audio when tracking a stolen bike), etc. worldwide.

So, you'd have two ways of getting a location fix, via GPS and via the APRS digipeaters. So even if your stolen bike was inside a building where it couldn't get a GPS signal, there's a good chance it'd still pick up the APRS digipeaters and be able to get a fix, because their signals are stronger than the satellite signals.

In other words, it can be as simple as a unit sending out one-way (i.e.: only transmitting, not receiving messages) GPS and/or digipeater triangulation coordinates, or as complicated as a full-on two-way voice and data communication system that can tell you points of interest, other APRS users nearby, weather, etc.

Here's a unit that runs on 8 AA batteries (12 volts), and can transmit position every 2 minutes for 2 days. Imagine if the 12 volt battery from the bike was tied in. It'd run for a very long time.
http://www.byonics.com/microtrak/mtaio.php

And here's one that a guy built himself based upon a commercial unit (but with better design for lower power consumption) that runs for about 150 hours on a single 3.3 volt 1800 mAh battery:
http://www.dk7in.de/TinyTrak_e.html

The only issue with this is that to use APRS digital, you need at least a Standard Amateur Radio license.

I wonder if there's a way to set it up so that it can RECEIVE APRS (so it can triangulate position) and GPS, but only send out coordinates via text message. That way, no Amateur Radio license should be required.

{EDIT}
I contacted my dad, who's an Amateur Radio operator, and I'll get his help in trying to get a system working. What would be really cool about this for people who have their amateur radio license is that you can set the beacon text that your APRS transmitter sends out so it's something like this:
@120800z3300.28N/11702.39W-PHG1000/STOLEN VEHICLE LIC 1ABC234

That gives the latitude and longitude in real time, the transmitting power and antenna configuration and the fact that it's a stolen vehicle (and the license plate number). This would allow other APRS operators in the area to not only see the vehicle location in real time on a map, but that the vehicle is stolen and its license plate number, AND to figure out which direction it's travelling and how far from each APRS digipeater the bike is. That'd go a long way toward recovering the bike.

For those who don't have their Amateur Radio license, the unit would still be able to receive the latitude and longitude of the APRS digipeaters nearby and relay that info to the cell phone of your choice, along with GPS data if it's available.

I'm trying to determine if pinging the APRS digipeaters (but not entering data into them) requires an Amateur Radio operators license. Pinging the digipeaters would allow a person to calculate round-trip times, and thereby calculate distance from each digipeater, which means you could easily triangulate position pretty much anywhere in the world, whether the bike's inside a building or not.

[Yager200i]

JPrestonian:
I know that you sometimes do group rides. The app detailed in the first post would be a good thing to use if anyone got lost. The lost person could just send a text message to the group leader, get their coordinates and a map / directions to catch up.

Or, conversely, someone in the group could send a text message to the phone of the lost person (in case that person crashed and are unable to use their phone), get their coordinates, and go find them.