Lo-Jack

[vinzep491]

Hmmm, I wonder if we can find out where base locations are in my area...?

Do ya know

 

[chrismol1]

You can checkout the coverage page here
Dealer Locator
It just tells the state and county that it operates

I was curious and put in 173.075 and after a while I received the lo jack squawk and it was a very strong signal followed by the same squawk except this time the signal was weak.
I'm located near Albany, NY which according to the coverage area is not covered by lo-jack. In fact the only counties covered in NY are in NYC and Long Island.
So I assume I'm receiving the signal from Mass which is covered in all counties according to the coverage area list. I'm even receiving the signal on my handheld scanner so the transmitter must be close to the border about 40 miles away.

I went to ULS License search and put in 173.075 and there is 95 matches in the US and many are licensed to the state. Many licenses are expired, out of 95 It looks like the majority are expired licenses.

The closest transmitter to me is on mount greylock in Adams, Mass about 60 miles away which must be what I'm hearing. I pick up NOAA in Adams too so that must be it

 

[vinzep491]

Interesting. Thanks!

 

[procopper7005]

LoJack is an old and established company (20+) and I would have thought the product would have become much more widespread here in the north Texas area by now, but it simply hasn't. I have seen their recent advertisements for installation in laptop computers, but never see any advertisements for vehicle installations. And the car dealers I have delt with never mention LoJack; "Oh, we can give you a number to call if you want to have it installed," the last salesman I delt with told me. The salesman was more interested in giving me some stupid window etchings with a number different from the vehicle serial number (a stupid idea, but obviously they make a commission on that). I guess the greedy car dealers want more of a commission than LoJack wants to pay; but that is the place to get the customers. Very few people are going to go out an purchase a 20+K auto then fork out an extra $800 cash for something like LoJack (Dubs and Twanky Duces being another story of course!). That kind of thing needs to be rolled into the monthly payment.

There are no receiver towers I'm aware of in our area. The system here relies on individual receivers in squad cars and police helicopters. There are less and less receivers being installed in new cruisers as they cycle cars through the ready lot. Someone with a hot LoJack could drive right though our city (1+million) and most officers on the street without receivers wouldn't be the wiser! We might get one or two hits a week, and I have yet to be involved in a recovery of a knicked laptop with a LoJack. It's a good and inexpensive system to get your car back. I don't have it in my rides because quite frankly I'm not sure I want my ride back after some punk has done Lord knows what with it! I'd rather they crash the thing or burn it so I can get the insurance money and get a new car! The insurance company will give you a break on your insurance because the quicker your car is recovered the more money they save.

MC

Lo-jack has receivers installed in police agencies in Dallas, Collin, Denton, Rockwall, and Tarrant counties. Including Fort Worth PD, Dallas PD, Plano PD, Farmers Branch PD, Addison PD, Rockwall SO, Tarrant SO, Collin SO, Frisco PD, Bedford PD, Carrolton PD, Allen PD, Irving PD, Highland Park PD, Dallas SO, and a few more.
Also TX DPS has many of these as do ALL of their aircraft. The Dallas PD air unit and the Fort Worth air unit have lo-jack receivers.
The border area of Texas has many agencies using lo-jack including DHS agencies like border patrol and ICE which have these in some of their aircraft. There are also fixed installations near the border where trucks enter and exit the country.

Much of lo-jacks systems are installed in expensive heavy equipment and construction trailers as well as motorcycles, classic cars, and boats.

The glass etchings are a fantastic tool used by police and they really take the profit out of stealing a car because a theft ring has to spend hundreds buying replacement glass for all the windows before they sell an intact car.

 

[procopper7005]

No question, if you want your car back, get LoJack. Problem I've seen is it takes too long to activate. Police have to come to your location, take the report, call or type it into the report system, then a clerk somewhere has to get the report then enter the stolen vehicle into the NCIC system, then LoJack will activate the system. That can take close to two hours in my experience. Bad news for a vic in our area since that's about 1/3 of the way to Mexico! On-Star is better in that it can get activated quicker and doesn't require independent receivers in squad cars to pick it up. The problem with On-Star is most people do not renew the initial one-year trial subscription and when they get jacked or their car is stolen, they are SOL! That's when you tell the complainant, "Hope you don't owe more on the car than its worth."

Correct me if I'm wrong however, but systems like On-Star require a cell subscription and thus a cell antenna somewhere on the outside of the vehicle to transmit the GPS coordinates to the dispatch center? If the perp breaks off the cell antenna, will that render the system useless?

On-star is great but its not covert like lo-jack. The thief knows as soon as he gets in the car that you have on star and yes it can be disabled.
lo-jack is hidden and the thief would have to spend hours finding out if you have it.