Seeing position on computer screen

[daddywpb]

Siskiyou,
My wife (who apparantly doesn't trust me... ) was telling me, that someone else was telling her, that there was something that she could buy to see my posisiton on the home computer screen. Pardon my electronical ignorance, but I'm sure that you are the one who can explain it to me. I always thought that it required the GPS to be plugged into a laptop computer for that to work. Any info?

[SURVEYOR]

http://spyville.com/realtimegps.html

http://www.roameoforpets.com/

http://www.dpl-surveillance-equipment.com/90089453.html

http://www.mobilegpsonline.com/news_prod.php

[Siskiyou]

Did you feel the sting of the dart??

Back in my working days surveillance was either boring or rather exciting.  We had a lot of tools what we thought were cutting edge, but those toys are now obsolete. Today’s surveillance tools available to the public exceed 95 percent of what we were using.

The wide spread cellphone coverage, and gps tracking has given the average person the ability to keep tabs on somebody.  Many cellphone providers now offer a phone package that allows parents to buy a phone that track their kids.  Have you received a new cellphone lately?  The new ones have a gps chip, and you have the option of having it let 911 get a fix on your location or anybody that has the equipment and a laptop. “Dear, I just bought you a new cell phone for you birthday.”  A dart without the sting.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,114721-page,1/article.html
http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Cell-Phone-GPS-Tracking/26723
http://www.ite-mobile.com/


With today’s technology you can remotely track a target, listen to it, and take it’s picture.  I guess they call it the Husband CAM.

The same tools that hunter’s use to track dogs, and wildlife can be put to other uses. 


The Cellular-ScoutTM requires the additional purchase of a Treo 600 or Treo 650 camera cellphone.  A hunter can set trail camera up a any location and get pictures back via cellphone.  It can be a hundred miles away and as long as there is cell service it provides data.

Sometime back a friend was crying on my shoulder.  He had been caught cheating by his wife.  His wife is far more computer literate then him had come up with some e-mail he sent a lady friend. She handed him a handful of printed out e-mails that could put him out on the street.  He was sure that she had a “key logger” on their computer.  Electronics can be a double edge sword.

Catching people like deer is motivating, and the chance of success drives the hunter.  In many cases hunting season is open 12-months a year.

Many of my cases were made when the scorn woman came into the picture.  The bitter ones also asked that an agent from IRS be present.  I was the .270 Win. And the IRS agent was the .458 Winchester, the scorned one wanted a lot of knock down and killing power.

Game Wardens nailed a couple of poachers a few months back.  In there possession their handheld gps which had tracking on.  The wardens used it to take them back to the gut pile, which was inside a State Refuge.

[daddywpb]

I'm not interested in all the cloak and dagger crap. I had read in the instructions for the 60cs that you could track movements on a computer, but I never knew how it worked. Would I have to have it plugged into a laptop all the time? I thought it would be good for my wife to be able to see where I am while I'm hunting, just in case. She wouldn't suspect me of cheating. She knows when I married her I lost all interest in women.

[Siskiyou]

Siskiyou,
My wife (who apparantly doesn't trust me... ) was telling me, that someone else was telling her, that there was something that she could buy to see my posisiton on the home computer screen. Pardon my electronical ignorance, but I'm sure that you are the one who can explain it to me. I always thought that it required the GPS to be plugged into a laptop computer for that to work. Any info?

I must have mis-understood the question.  The simple way is to purchase a cellphone package that allows tracking.  If you can track your teenager, you can track anybody with the packages provide by cellphone providers.  To interface your 60cs into a transmitter would be costly and I am unaware of anybody that does that kind of work.

Or, you can be cheap like myself.  During a two week hunting trip this fall I would call my wife daily when in cellphone range to give her the Lat/Long for the areas we were hunting.  I would also give her the Township, Range, and Section along with geographic name.  If I was going to make a major change in the area I was in I could call home and leave a message on the answering machine.

It is good to have someone worrying about you and prepared to call for S&R if you fail to show.  My hunting partner and I have been running around in the wood together since we were teenagers.  So even at our age his parents still treat us as teenagers.  We told them that after a week we were going to come off the mountain and spend the night at thier place.  And we would eat before we arrived.  Now both his parents are old hunters but their memory must be fading.  Because it is dark by the time we get out to pavement, then we need to go to town to eat, and then to their place.  We arrived at 2300 hrs.  and they are all excited because we were out late.  They are starting to worry about us because we are over sixty now, and old guys die of heart attacks.  After that we started calling in on the cellphones to let them know all is okay. 

Because they gossip with the neighbors about our hunting the word gets out and we start running into the neighbors in the area we are hunting.  We might have to give them the information in a sealed envelope and then retrieve it when we return.  A good hunting area was lost because of lose lips.

[daddywpb]

Now that I re-read my original question, your interpretation was correct. I didn't word it very well. My crappy cell phone won't even make a call in the woods so I doubt it would be good for anything else.

[Siskiyou]

I have been holding back the last couple of months on getting a new cellphone because I was due for a new phone the end of November.  I do not like updating phones every couple of years because change is tough.  But I also know that two years of service from a cellphone battery is safe, but after that you are closer to the day when the battery will have problems.  And I found that I had to recharge my battery more often.

One of the minor issues is that my wife’s contract does not come up at the same time.  It would be nice to have the same phone.  It would reduce the learning curve.  I chose my phone because it was the top of the line “free” upgrade.  It is a Nokia 6315i, or at least I thought it was a Nokia.  I then find out that it is a re-branded Korean made phone.  But I must admit that it seems to be a good phone.

It has the ability to be a gps navigator if I want to add that service to my plan.  I have chosen not to at this time.  Apparently when you plan a route on it the information is downloaded to the phone.  You pay airtime for this.  As you continue down you route, you might miss a turn.  The phone re-contacts who ever and re-does the route for you.  You are charged airtime every time the phone establishes contact.

I own a couple of gps units that will do a better job for me, and they do not charge me if I miss a turn.  They just recalculate the route.

I got on the computer and looked at the Verizon phones, and I then called customer service about certain phones.  The customer service contact was great.  Not only did he answer my questions regarding phones, but he also volunteers some information.  Cellphone service providers update their system regularly.  He knew from looking at my account on his computer screen that I had not updated the software in my cellphone.  He said that to receive the newer towers and improve my reception I should update my cellphone software.  It was free of charge and simple to do.

For Verizon customers hit *228 send.  You be asked if you want option 1 or option 2.  Select option 2 to update your old phone.  It is recommended that you do this monthly.  Both my wife and I updated our phones.  It maybe my imagination but I think the reception is slightly better. The update only takes a couple of minutes and you are not charge airtime.  I do not know if other provider charges air time for the same task.

I am sure other Cellphone providers are updating their system and software.  I recommend that you contact them if you have not updated your old phone and find out how to do it.  If you do find an update for a cellphone provider please post it.

I did not order a phone because I wanted to check it out.  He suggested I stop by a Verizon Store.  I was taking a granddaughter to the big town for shopping so that is what I did.  This was not a private contract store but a big Verizon Store.  Looking in the window I could see a lot of phones on display.  I could also see three or four sales people lined up making runs at customers like feeding sharks.  When I walked in the door three put the rush on us.  I was not afraid because the granddaughter has a Black Belt and I knew she could kick butt. 
When I told the sales people I was not interested in signing up because I was already a customer.  But I would like to see a few phones, and might have a question or two.  They fell away like fish when your bait has gone bad.  After having looked at a few phones I had a couple of question. A reluctant sales person answer my questions.  Clearly that made up my mind and we walked out of the store to do or shopping on the website or a smaller local store.  I would say they were on commission.

It is also cheaper to get the phone from Verizon off their web page. 

FedX delivered the phone within 24-hours.  Currently I am happy with the phone but I have not been out in the bush with it.  So I cannot say if it is the same as my old phone or better then my old phone.

One of my brothers called me this evening on landline.  I told him about *228 send for updates.  So while we were talking he updated his cellphone.

California has a new law going in effect in 2007.  The drive of a vehicle must be using a hands free device (cellphone) or get a ticket.  So part of my criteria was to get a Blue Tooth capable phone.  As a rule I do not use my cellphone while driving, but I would like to have other options.


Even when you are not talking your cellphone emits a signal.  Cellphone engineers can track a phone tower by tower by scanning records produced by the towers.

I have my phone with me when hunting, but it is turned off to save the battery in case of emergency.

[daddywpb]

We have Cingular, and they are the worst. We switched from them to AT&T a couple years ago and six months after that, guess what happened? Cingular bought them out and we were back to square one. There are billing issues every month, just like before, and more dropped calls than ever. I don't know if they offer the GPS service, but I certainly wouldn't pay them extra for it even if they do. Most of the time, I cannot make a call from the woods, but I can usually send a text message to my wife, so that's the way we do it.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. I already got my present - a Canon digital camera - a couple months ago after the wife lost our camera on vacation. I hope everyone gets what they hoped for.

It was a strange Christmas this year around here. I usually enjoy Christmas Eve the most, I guess left over from when my daughter was young, seeing the look of wonder in her eyes. My wife and stepson went to her mother's house until late, and my daughter, who is about to turn 16 and hates me, went to my sister's house. I spent the night alone - well, me and four Greyhounds and three cats. Funny how fast kids change. A few years ago, she was at the door ready to go with me where ever I was going - now we barely speak. Change isn't always good.

Worst part is, I've lost my hunting partner. She has zero interest in it anymore. Oh well, what's a Dad to do?