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- Dec 19, 2002
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And always had towers. Usually those are licensed to state police and are in the FCC database. I have visited over 50 of the tower sites in about a dozen state.
LoJack Question
- Thread starter BinaryMode
- Start date
ScannerSK
Member
The original poster of this thread was asking about how to identify a signal from a stolen vehicle. Attached is an audio example of the frequent stolen vehicle tracking pulses verses the longer in duration however less frequent tower data bursts. Tracking pulses are transmitted every second or two when something stolen is being actively tracked or when first activated. The pulses will become less frequent when not being tracked to save on battery life.
Last edited:
When a person says,
I tend to not believe them, especially when I am still hearing plenty of bursts on vhf, in 2024, 3 years later.
While those may help in certain situations, pretty sure if they are somewhere not near a bluetooth connection, it will only give last known location. And battery life could be a concern
The Bouncie 4G/LTE is nice but OBD2 ports are the first thing an experienced thief will check. The ones with sim cards are nice but those to are running on battery. There are some hard wired ones also but if the car battery gets disconnected, same thing, last known.
BinaryMode
Blondie Once Said To Call Her But Never Answerd
Cool, thanks for that. Is there a back story behind this capture?
BinaryMode
Blondie Once Said To Call Her But Never Answerd
Didn't quote you...
Attachments
spacellamaman
Member
T
I always wondered what it would sound like.
You must've been right on their tail eh?
Thanks!
I always wondered what it would sound like.
You must've been right on their tail eh?
ScannerSK
Member
The audio was from a file that another user uploaded to YouTube years ago however is no longer available. I have recorded so many LoJacks through the years that I lost track. However, the audio sample referenced above is a good sample.
ScannerSK
Member
I have received LoJacks from over four miles away while at other times they are so weak they can only be received within a few blocks radius. I think the one that had a weak signal had an antenna wire that was disconnected as it was not responding to speed up requests sent by the towers. Most LoJacks can be received at least one mile away with a decent receiver. Denver has an impound lot that used to always be pinging with LoJack signals from vehicles towed to the lot which had not yet been deactivated. This may still be the case however I have been out of the loop for a while.
ecps92
Member
yup, some would beep for days, as the entering department had not cancelled/cleared it from NCIC as the recovering agency never told em'
spacellamaman
Member
Was all of this monitoring in pursuit of the hobby or work related?
ScannerSK
Member
It was simply as a hobby and to help unfortunate people get their stolen merchandise back.
BinaryMode
Blondie Once Said To Call Her But Never Answerd
Joke follows:
What if you tracked down the LoJack signal to the car, pulled along side and jester for the Perp to roll down their window? The following is the exchange:
Car 1- Hey, yo, dog. That car you're driving in, it's totally stolen and the police know it due to LoJack. I'd run if I were you.
Car 2 Perp- *makes surprised and confused face* "Yeah, alright then, thanks. *slides down the seat as to hide himself.*
What if you tracked down the LoJack signal to the car, pulled along side and jester for the Perp to roll down their window? The following is the exchange:
Car 1- Hey, yo, dog. That car you're driving in, it's totally stolen and the police know it due to LoJack. I'd run if I were you.
Car 2 Perp- *makes surprised and confused face* "Yeah, alright then, thanks. *slides down the seat as to hide himself.*
ScannerSK
Member
Police drive around in undercover or personal vehicles at times transmitting LoJack signals from what they refer to as rabbits for training purposes. I would not want to get caught for aiding and abetting a criminal. Most of these car thieves just want a quick ride and like the adrenaline rush. Someone telling them it is stolen would only add to the rush however it probably would make them ditch it sooner. They might even pull out a gun as they are not in their right mind. You have to laugh when the thief is confronted and all they can say is some guy parked the car in front of my house and walked away!
I saw a story once of LoJacks installed in street light poles. It turned out one light pole company was stealing another company's light poles and using them in their installations. A lot of LoJacks are installed in skid steers and the like. Even boats and motorcycles have LoJacks. A person never knows exactly what object the LoJack signal is coming from unless overheard on the scanner however typically it is a vehicle. Sometimes a LoJack signal leads to a large chop shop where cars are being chopped up and sold for parts.
LoJack provided recovery stories for a while however it appears they have ceased doing this many years ago. The following has over 50 pages of recovery stories: Blog - LoJack Recovery Stories.
BinaryMode
Blondie Once Said To Call Her But Never Answerd
Looks like a lot of Honda's and Toyota's. Time to buy one of these in addition to utilizing other measures...
ScannerSK
Member
As an update on whether the VHF 173.075 MHz LoJack system is being phased out, the LoJack Dealer Hub now states, "Attention Classic LoJack Dealers (selling legacy LoJack, pre-Spireon products): As part of the wind down process, we are no longer accepting orders for new installations." This is in reference to the VHF LoJack systems.
I reached out to LoJack to verify if dealers can still install old stock they have available of the Classic LoJack devices and received the following reply: "If you are referring yourself to our old Legacy & radio frequency devices, they were discontinued a few years ago and we are not offering service or replacement for them or any accessories related to them anymore. Therefore, you cannot install them anymore since you will not be able to activate them."
So, I guess that answers that. LoJack on 173.075 MHz in the United States is being phased out in favor of GPS and LTE technologies.
BinaryMode
Blondie Once Said To Call Her But Never Answerd
And massively perfect for jamming. Was there a cost savings or what?!
rf_patriot200
Active Member
Might be interesting to give a listen, to see if there's still data being transmitted.
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2002
- Messages
- 2,458
This morning 28 FEB 2025, I still see/hear 3 LoJack base stations transmitting every 64 seconds. this is about half as many as I once hear but hearing 3 has been the same for the last couple years. May be latter I will set up again the software to see which they are. Note that the SDRTrunk software, though it sort of decodes the data, it is incorrect in parsing the data and I have to take its decodes manually back to bits and properly sort out the station IDs.
ScannerSK
Member
I used to think I would come across a radio jammer however never have after decades of monitoring the LoJack frequency while driving around. A jamming signal may prevent the LoJack from being activated however a jamming signal would also provide a signal capable of being tracked by a radio enthusiast like myself directly to the stolen vehicle.
The original LoJack was a one time fee for the life of the vehicle whereas now it is a monthly fee, i.e. perpetual income for the company.
Radio technology was great back in the day prior to GPS and LTE and offered some advantages however I imagine GPS and LTE offer better results overall today over the older radio technology.
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