GPS locator for instruments

**F5G WIZ** · Oct-20-2006, 12:29am

Heard there are GPS locators out there for your instrument or instrument cases. I think there are some new cases out there with them built in, I beleive they are called Gaurdian cases. Are there any small enough to hide in a Mandolin itself? If so where would it be placed in the mando? Does anyone out there own such a device and would it lower your instrument insurance to have one? Seems like a wise investment.

**Jerry Byers** · Oct-20-2006, 5:17am

I saw an advertisement in Stew-Mac or First Quality for something similar. The transponder is about the size of a grain of rice. You drill a hole anywhere on the instrument, insert the pellet, and then plug the hole. Now your item can be identified with a special reader. It's not a GPS unit though - it's not a Lo-Jack.

**fatt-dad** · Oct-20-2006, 6:04am

I guess you really have to have a lot of mandolins to loose track of where you keep them all - ha.

f-d

**F5G WIZ** · Oct-20-2006, 8:22am

Would be nice to be able to locate your mandolin on the computer if it was to happen to grow legs and walk off, which they have been known to do.

**thiggins** · Oct-20-2006, 8:29am

Sounds like the same "chip" they put in domestic pets.

Tim

**John Flynn** · Oct-20-2006, 12:44pm

There is the GPS tracking device at the link below. It is expensive and it might be a little large for the purpose. It also only carries a charge for 5 days. But if you had it charged up and could hide it somewhere in the case lining, you could track its movements on your PC. For really expensive instruments, it might be worth it.

http://ecrm.skymall.com/webapp....=Search

**BRW** · Oct-20-2006, 6:47pm

This is not GPS but since we're talking microchips and such. I've never put any in my instruments, but here they are: SNAGG

-Ben

**F5G WIZ** · Oct-21-2006, 8:16am

Found this article. Check it out: http://www.computerworld.com.au/inde...4867;relcomp;1

**kww** · Oct-21-2006, 9:02am

I'll bet that that Skymall device from Mando Johnny's post is much smaller than it appears at first blush. If you took the case off, the circuit board is probably much shallower. You might have to relocate some of the I/O ports with a soldering iron and use a different, more expensive, battery pack, but you should be able to apply it to a solid-body electric mando without difficulty and a standard mandolin with only moderate difficulty.

The trick would be not bragging to your friends about the GPS unit, because then the thief would know to disable the GPS as soon as he got his hands on your mandolin.

**Amandalyn** · Oct-22-2006, 10:11am

Here's another way to mark things- Data Dot Dna
www.datadothome.com
see a demo on youtube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lV-ZkUegYXY

**Walt** · Oct-22-2006, 1:42pm

We use that microchip technology in the veterinary business often. Occasionally we will find a lost animal with a microchip in it. Unfortunately there is no database set up for that kind of thing, so it is usually impossible to find where the animal came from.

**Jim Garber** · Oct-25-2006, 8:49pm

Here it is on Stewmac's site: SNAGG Microchip.

Jim

**F5G WIZ** · Oct-25-2006, 11:24pm

I was thinking more in the line of something where if it is stolen I can get on my computer, punch in my code and see where my mando is on a map. Maybe the technology doesn't quite exist yet.

**John Flynn** · Oct-26-2006, 7:19am

Originally Posted by

I was thinking more in the line of something where if it is stolen I can get on my computer, punch in my code and see where my mando is on a map. Maybe the technology doesn't quite exist yet.

Huh? That is exactly what the device I linked does.

**kww** · Oct-26-2006, 7:49am

I don't think he read our posts, Mando Johnny. The device you linked to does what he wants, and, like I said, a good luthier that is also comfortable with a soldering iron should be able to install it into any kind of mandolin.

**Keith Erickson** · Oct-26-2006, 10:06am

Originally Posted by (Walt @ Oct. 22 2006, 14:42)

We use that microchip technology in the veterinary business often. Occasionally we will find a lost animal with a microchip in it. Unfortunately there is no database set up for that kind of thing, so it is usually impossible to find where the animal came from.

Walt,

Yes & No...

We chipped our dogs just recently. #If the dogs run away and are caught here in El Paso county, Animal Control will not have a problem scanning for the appropriate information and returning them back to us. #However we have not had the chance to go on line and register them into a nationwide data base... #...but when we do it will only cost only $15 bucks to register on the database.

So if our dogs ran away right now and decided to cross the New Mexico state line 3 miles away, all that Doña Ana County Animal Control will see on the scan are a bunch of numbers. #Unless someone get's inquisitive or if the tags are lucky enough to be still on our dogs, it's pretty much a roll of the dice.

EDIT: Apparently my choice for a "roll of the dice" was blocked for inappropriate words. My apologies to all...

**Flowerpot** · Oct-26-2006, 10:57am

"I don't think he read our posts, Mando Johnny. The device you linked to does what he wants, and, like I said, a good luthier that is also comfortable with a soldering iron should be able to install it into any kind of mandolin."

The tracker from the skymall is 4 1/2" x 2" x 1 1/4". I would bet money that they already made it absolutely as small as today's technology will allow. Most of it will be battery area, as it has to transmit its location via "wireless internet"; whether that means wireless LAN or communication through cell towers, it is essentially the same hardware as a cell phone with GPS, sans display. I don't know about you, but I don't want something the size and weight of a cell phone inside my mandolin. The case, maybe.

As somebody who works with this type of technology, I get frustrated at the fact that a lot of people, especially those in the media, confuse the technology of implantable RFID tags (which can be microscopically small and do not require their own power source, but have to be detected by a specialized reader from inches away) and GPS technology, which can tell you where YOU are located, but getting that information relayed to a third party requires something on the order of a cell phone, with larger size and limited battery life due to long-range communications.

**Keith Erickson** · Oct-26-2006, 11:35am

Originally Posted by (Flowerpot @ Oct. 26 2006, 11:57)

As somebody who works with this type of technology, I get frustrated at the fact that a lot of people, especially those in the media, confuse the technology of implantable RFID tags (which can be microscopically small and do not require their own power source, but have to be detected by a specialized reader from inches away) and GPS technology, which can tell you where YOU are located, but getting that information relayed to a third party requires something on the order of a cell phone, with larger size and limited battery life due to long-range communications.

Flowerpot,

I didn't confuse the two. #I'm just responding to a post about chip technology. #

With that being clarified, I'm not quite sure how many animal control officers will now be assigned to mandolin scanning duties in the event a stray mandolin is located #

#

**Flowerpot** · Oct-26-2006, 12:03pm

No prob, Keith, and I wasn't referring to your post specifically. Just noting that I've seen a lot of general confusion about RFID vs remote location technology.

**kww** · Oct-28-2006, 3:06pm

Flowerpot,
My experience with such things is that the form factor desirable for a portable device usually has a battery pack mounted right up next to a circuit board, with a protective case wrapped around it. This one has some kind of I/O as well (at least I think that the three buttons on the side are). After disassembling, you will probably wind up with a circuit board about 3.5" x 2", batteries, three buttons, and an antenna thats about 2"x.375".

For a solid body electic mando, it's trivial, because you don't have to worry about the acoustics. Route a cavity on the back, install the hardware, and put on a coverplate. Wire the buttons to a convenient spot on the front.

For an acoustic, the circuit board can mount to the tail block or the neck block. There are numerous choices of battery packs, and I could see mounting many of them in the headstock without too much difficult.

I don't think that I would want to retrofit one of these to a valuable acoustic, but if you are having one custom built, this hardware could be incorporated without significant difficulty.