The ultimate stolen truck/car/bike GPS locator, for free

[trayseelea'sboy]

Found this on another forum. Thought I would share with you guys.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. Things youll need: a cell phone that you dont use, that supports Digital and Analog (most new phones) the ESN or HEX number from the back of the phone a cigarette lighter charger for your phone wire (12ga works best) zip ties electrical tape a good phone battery ziplock bag (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 andbody 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 hiding spot 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). I think there are 3 wires, you must connect the wires that are always on. The way you can tell is by testing the wires and making sure they charge the phone when the ignition is off. Once you find the "always on" wires, just splice the wires and run them to where you want to mount the phone 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 anybody. 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 in an unseen area. Step 8: Your Done! If your bike is ever stolen, you have a few options: 1: Call the police and file a legit police report, make sure they know that you have a phone on the bike that has GPS abilities, and its setup for that exact reason to recover your bike 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... umm... "Roadside Assistance" 4: Call Fugitive finder, 917-295-4425, they will find the phone to the nearest centimeter! They charge a few hundred dollars (may defeat the purpose), but it will save your bike For those with GSM type phones (SIM Chip phones). They have IMEI numbers which are about 11 numbers long. Copy those down. GSM phones are avaliable with T-Mobile, most Cingular, Nextel, GO Phones (Prepaid), Boost Mobile (Prepaid), and Amp'd (I believe). If you have any of these companies, you most likely have an IMEI number instead of a ESN number. ESN numbers (non-SIM Chip phones) are with Sprint, Verizon, Tracfone, Virgin Mobile (Prepaid), and INpulse (Prepaid). Also I would like to mention that if you DONT have a extra cell phone you can go buy a 20 or 30 dollar prepaid phone and dont buy minutes. It will act the same as a old post paid phone. This has been done on many cars but dont know if anyone has tried it out on a bike yet so feel free to give it a go. Basically, you wire up an old cellphone to your battery so it stays on all the time. Write down the serial number to the phone, and if the bike gets stolen, the cops can use the serial number to get a GPS location on the bike. Sounds plausible to me, as long as the phone is reliable and the thieves don't find it.

[TraySeeLea]

I can only believe this if I saw pictures of the process and heard/read testimonials from people who have actually utilized the "service".

[damronjr]

I was watching the news the other day and they found a girls body by tracking her cell-phone calls. Near the place her phone was called (by her family trying to contact her), they found her body. These phones can be traced, the knew each time her phone pinged a tower (received or made a call). This concept would definitely work, but make sure you wait to get to the police or have the ringer off so the thieves don't find and dispose of it before it can be useful.

[TraySeeLea]

Quote, originally posted by damronjr »I was watching the news the other day and they found a girls body by tracking her cell-phone calls. Near the place her phone was called (by her family trying to contact her), they found her body. These phones can be traced, the knew each time her phone pinged a tower (received or made a call). This concept would definitely work, but make sure you wait to get to the police or have the ringer off so the thieves don't find and dispose of it before it can be useful.yeah, the boyfriend of the girl called the girl's cell phone the police were able to narrow the search area after the waves pinged off a nearby tower....many other cases of people with cell phones who have been kidnapped have been traced (the girl who text messages she was being held in a cave by a crazy man). I wasn't saying that I did not believe cell phones could be located--they can. I am just talking about this specific use on a car/bike...

[zionzr2]

with the locators in these phones, from what i have heard is they do not need to have an active phone number or active service, as long as it is powered up and you can provide its esn. All we need now is a free website that would allow you to plug in the esn number of the phone and locate the missing item ourselves.

[TraySeeLea]

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 »with the locators in these phones, from what i have heard is they do not need to have an active phone number or active service, as long as it is powered up and you can provide its esn. All we need now is a free website that would allow you to plug in the esn number of the phone and locate the missing item ourselves.haha yeah....verizon has that program called chaperone that allows parents to track their kids' location via the web...(of course for a price)

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 »with the locators in these phones, from what i have heard is they do not need to have an active phone number or active service, as long as it is powered up and you can provide its esn. All we need now is a free website that would allow you to plug in the esn number of the phone and locate the missing item ourselves.That would be great except for the fact that all the nagging wives would be able to easily find where their deadbeat husbands are while there out boozin it up with some floozy... Murder rates would go WAY up....

[vibe-04]

I've seen the GSM tracking in action with the police. Very accurate and quick. The system was called Boomerang and it was beter than a lowjack because it did not need line of sight.I've got an old cell I keep in the car becasue it can stil call 911 even if inactive. I'm going to look into this.Andrew