Trackers

[economicpygmy]

I'm looking for a tracker for my camper van.
Given how vulnerable GNSS is, I'm failing to see much point unless it has an alternate band/protocol i.e. VHF.
From the following, it seems like only Tracker UK are the only ones to offer such a service; is that true?
And does anyone have any experience or tips?

ScorpionTrack
Smartrack
Tracker UK
Meta Trak
Vodafone
TrackStar
AutoWatch

Aside: Reading previous threads, I can spot a trend of 'why bother' so to answer that up front:
- When finished the van will be of the value that insurance will require one.
- As a self build you cant get the hours back so Id want it back.
- Supply chain issues have resulted in new vans having massive lead times with this spec, with second hand vans being difficult to source, so Id want it back.

[economicpygmy]

threespires said:

Explain GNSS

Global Navigation Satellite Systems I.e. what's commonly referred to as GPS (USA), although the receivers in your phone and other devices will most likely also use other constellations that cover the world: Galileo (EU), GLONASS (Russia) and Beidou (China). Most marketing simply says GPS.

Grumps. said:

If your insurance company require one, I am sure they will give you a list of approved brands.
Try talking to them.

They can check a list and that's about it. They certainly don't understand which devices use non GNSS services and are very unlikely to understand value based decisions as to the technologies involved, hence asking on here ;-)

b0rk said:

VHF requires a vehicle or fixed reader within range to receive the signal.

Supposedly the police can track Tracker UK units.

b0rk said:

If you’re worried about GNSS blocking then VHF blocking of the frequency Tracker use is equally simple. Ofcom publish the frequency FYI and plenty of Chinese blockers support “lowjack” blocking.

I googled some for a laugh but its not like GNSS as most of those services are easily blocked as they are very low power, spread spectrum (buried in RF noise) and at 1.5GHz, unlike what I'm presuming is a narrow band <300MHz signal.

Ive just looked through the tables ( http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/spectrum/fat.htm... ) to try and understand what techniques they might be using but couldn't find the band, well, not in the VHF band at least. If its a single frequency that's dumb, might as well not bother and would make my selection easier. However given Tracker UK advertise anti-jam, I would assume its frequency hopping or using another robustness technique, especially if its pattern is linked to the tracker. If it is, it would be difficult to jam without a) many transmitters hitting all the bands, lots of power if they are wide, or b) receive monitoring.

Ultimately what Im trying to get an idea of is, what's available, difficult when companies are understandably cagey about details and user experiences. E.g. have PHers had cars recovered..etc.

[economicpygmy]

b0rk said:

Tracker is dual frequency 163.1625 MHz and 164.1750 MHz transmit enough white noise on said frequencies and you can drown the unit. About £400 for a Chinese origin blocker that does all the GNSS frequencies, 3G/4G/5G and anything LoJack based such as tracker UK. These things are basically high powered white noise emitters to raise the noise ratio above the capacity of a receiver to pick out a carrier signal.

Antiblock will I’d guess be the receiver units flagging uncoded noise on said frequencies.

Yes the police have the receivers in some cars and tracker have fitted fixed units to some trunk / motorway overbridges.

Edited by b0rk on Sunday 30th July 21:39

Ah, so they use two frequencies in the 162.0375 - 174 MHz ISM band. Somewhat disappointing, what's the tracker going to do if the noise floor rises above a certain threshold, go to sleep periodically and transmit when the interference goes away; when its being loaded onboard a container ship lol.
Anti jam to me, for narrow band, means moving frequency to a clear channel at the least or FHSS. It would be so easy to make it a royal PITA for thieves but I suppose there are knock on consequences to the entire system and cost if they did that.
From the info you gave I've found the modulation details so I can estimate the effectiveness, well kind of.

[economicpygmy]

thanks, that's great and all makes sense

[economicpygmy]

TheConsultant said:

they pointed out that Trackstar is the only tracker that's approved by BMW and won't cause any warranty issues.

Its only a warranty issue if its reasonable to conclude it can cause the issue. Lets assume you have a mechanical problem, not reasonable. Lets assume you have starting issues, the ignition won't turn on, not unreasonable as some of these tracker/immobilisers with tags or phone connectivity may be connected to the vehicles CAN-bus. If you have an issue like that, the first thing to do would be to disconnect it, then see if the problem goes away (or thats what I would do). If it doesn't, you'd then chuck it back at BMW to fix.

TheConsultant said:

Although trackers can be jammed, presumably those with the immobilisation feature are still effective at preventing the car starting when the driver ID tags are not present?

Yes. They would have to find the device to interfere with it physically. A jammer on the dashboard would not affect the immobilisation feature.

TheConsultant said:

Maybe a Ghost would be more suited for my needs? (Although I've heard these can cause issues when it comes to BMW servicing and can also be circumvented, however I imagine that requires pretty niche and specialist skill sets and equipment for the thieves and 99% would give up and run away when they can't get it started via whatever means they attempt?)

The board is tiny and can be installed in a place that would be a royal PITA to find. I believe its installed on the body bus which goes all over the car.
From what I've read, you can disable the device for servicing. I'm quite tempted by one too.

TheConsultant said:

feedback and reviews about Trackstar as a company and all the problems with their customer service and dodgy app,

Tracker UK is the same; not convinced! Check out the app rating... oh dear.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....