GPS Tracking For Cars

I always get a sense about hings and I’m usually right….

For example:
- I will think about someone I haven’t seen in years and they will call me the next day or I will run in to them somewhere… Always!
- I get strong feelings about people I meet and then hear stories later that justify those feelings
- I have just recently moved to a new area and there is a nice bike track/ walk track nearby but I have been hesitant to walk down it on my own for some reason – then I hear on the news a woman was attacked nearby the other day…
- I told my partner to bring his GPS inside at night2 days ago so he did after work yesterday – his car got broken in to last night!!

There are so many more things like this…. Am I a medium or is it all just a coincidence??

Best Answer: I believe that you may tend to overly contemplate your present perceptions and arbitrarily make what you perceive as trans-logical premonitions about future events.

Since you always have a large sample set from which to choose, many times your premonitions are correct. But, you are also wrong as many times.

If you indeed have supernatural powers, you would tend to be correct one hundred percent of the time. imho.

1. Who was the last Ford-Cosworth powered drivers’ champion?
2. Who was the first Honda powered drivers’ champion?
3. Who was the last driver to qualify a McLaren M23 (James Hunt’s world title winning car) for a GP?
4. How many GPs did the Andrea Moda team qualify for?
5. Which driver took part in the most GP seasons?
6. Which circuit has hosted the most championship F1 races?
7. Which track was the most recent addition to F1 (up until the end of 2007)?
8. When was the last non-championship F1 race?
9. Drivers of how many different nationalities have won GPs?
10. Three engine manufacturers won on their world championship debut…which?

Best Answer: 1. Michael Schumacher – 1994 – though i don’t think it was a Cosworth unit??
2. Nelson Piquet 1987 for Williams (again lol)
3. I think it may be Jochen Mass and James Hunt himself.. in the US GP west in ‘77.. i don’t know if any privateers bought any and used them after sorry.
4. One – the Monaco GP of 1992
5. Graham Hill – 1958-1975
6. Monza – 57
7. Istanbul Park – Turkish GP started 2005
8. 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch?
9. 19
10. Cosworth (DFV) – 1967, TAG-Porsche – 1984… they must be right… but i can’t get another

I can’t think of the other ones i’ve got wrong sorry… my own memory only goes back to 89 at the earliest lol and my references are often not that detailed…

There are so many options available when looking at scopes. I have a cheap small blurry Meade kids scope (that I will later run over with my car), and I want to see the ring separation of saturn, moons of Jupiter, nebula and galaxies if I can. I have been looking at the telescopes below. But I cant not find many photos or videos on the these models only the larger more expensive models.

Meade 8″ Lightbridge $399.99
Celestron NexStar 4 SE $599.99
iOptrn smartstar G N114 GPS Goto $399.99

The lightbridge is the best looking and from what I can tell would grab the most light(right). But it doesn’t have goto or tracking and would probably not be good for astrophotography which is the main thing I would like to do with the new telescope.

The iOptron Gps and goto look really nice, but the telescope looks pretty weak.

The Celestron Seems to have the best features of both scopes, but costs $600. I do not mind the $600 as I will always use this item, but for that price I would expect 5,6,8 or even 10″ scope. I really confused about focal lengths and what makes what better than the other.

Also, what image capture device should I use? Webcam, security camera, b/w, color, or should I get a ccd made for only telescopes.

Best Answer: Hmmm -

I am unsure where to start here. It’s great that you are enthusiastic about the hobby of astronomy in general and astrophotography in particular. However:

1. I am really concerned by the fact that you are using the scope’s appearance as a criterion. That is a flashing neon sign that you really, really need to do some serious thinking and review before you actually buy anything.

2. If you do not know the night sky (and that appears to be the case based on your description of what you want to see), you should really start by learning it. If you do not really understand where things are located or how they move, you will have a tough time finding, centering, and tracking your targets. You may believe that you can let the computer do all those details, but you would be mistaken.

3. If you think the Celestron is getting a little on the high priced side, wait until you do astrophotography. You will spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to get satisfactory results. I am not convinced that you are prepared – yet – for that investment.

4. (ADDED: The fact that you do not understand focal lengths tends to reinforce my opinion. The guys I know that are successful at astrophotography not only understand focal lengths. They eat them for breakfast. Seriously, to have any success at all in astrophotography you need a better understanding of telescope design and astronomy than you appear to have – at least for now. This probably sounds condescending – but this is how folks get frustrated and end up selling their equipment in a year or so).

Look, I understand your enthusiasm. You want it all now. But astronomy really is a hobby that requires patience – a LOT of patience. And that goes to another level in the area of astrophotography. You will not understand patience until you either have teenage kids or until you stay up all night struggling to keep the image centered when it’s 20 degrees out there. Those two are roughly equivalent.

There are some folks with lots of experience here, and they are generally all sending the same message. Start with something that you can use to actually see the objects. That means as much aperture as you can afford. Spend your money on optics instead of electronics. If you want a scope with a clock drive, then get one. You will pay a lot for it if you want comparable aperture. But I would not spend your money on GoTo features unless you are setting up amid light pollution (in which case, astrophotography is even more difficult). Learn the night sky. If you want to strap on a webcam or a prime focus camera and take a few fuzzy shots of really bright objects, fine. You can do that after you learn how to use the scope, but you had better dress warm. The hobby can be quite frustrating for a beginner. It would not be wise to multiply your frustration level by struggling with a CCD while you are struggling with “What the hell is that? It doesn’t look like that in the book.” If you have not attended a local star party, by all means do so. Look up your local astronomy club and take the opportunity to see what you can expect. It will be different than you think, I think. Best of Luck and Clear Skies to you. And patience.

• Of the three you mention, none are really suitable for astrophotography because of their altazimuth mounts. However, a quality equatorial mount will cost more than any of these telescopes, just the mount, no telescope! The 8″ Lightbridge is the best of the bunch, but you can save money and hassles by getting the smae optics in a solid tube, rather than the Lightbridge’s truss tube.

  Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner’s telescopes:
  http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying…
  http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html
  http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.begi…

  For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington’s Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

  You’ll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:
  http://www.telescope.com/control/categor…
  http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtin…

  Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don’t buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:
  http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community…

  I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.

• I agree that generally astrophotography isn’t for beginners, but you sound pretty determined.
  I’ve owned a bunch of scopes, and I have been without a telescope for some time now, so, getting back into the hobby I decided to go with the Meade ETX125. Lightweight, portable, reasonably large diameter objective, goto, and the Meade LPI , lunar planetary imager to get me started in imaging. (It’s not called astrophotography any more….that’s soooooo twentieth century)
  It gonna set me back about $1,000 total.
  Join the ‘CloudyNights’ forum, btw, you’ll learn a lotsa stuff.
• one part of your question we can dispose of right away: forget astrophotography. it is not for beginners, and you do not want to go there. the fact that you have to ask says it’s not for you.

  with that out of the way, all other things being equal, spend your money on optics, i.e. aperture, i.e. the meade lightbridge. get a bigger one if you can afford it. this assumes you can handle and transport a fairly large piece of equipment. don’t worry about tracking: a well-balanced dob moves with a very light touch and stays where you point it. my 18″ dob moves with one finger. it’s nice.

i been thinking of ways to hook up my car so i can locate it if stolen. the same with my cell phone. the problem is that gps devcies and servces is too much. RF isnt too good cause of distance and line of line. i also thought about ip web cams but now i have to be able to have internet connect 24/7 in or around my car with having a modem and everything else that ill need. i could get an i.s.p like t-moblie or cinguar and use their wireless network but now i have to have a computer in the car with a network wirless card and who is to say that the internet connection will all ways be good or cover a large area.
the same with my cell phone. i would like to have a device like they got on “dragon ball z”, the small screen that shows where the dragon balls are, its pin point its location. well, i would lose my phone in a club and to have something where the phone TX a signal and ill have a screen that a show its postion with in a certain distance. RF wouldnt work too well. any help. thk u

Best Answer: well, invent something, where it is consumer-installed in a car, then using Google Earth-type technology you could track it and see it. =p if that could be done, i don’t know who wouldn’t buy it….

• Ummm. there is no such “animal” that I know of…. and as the answer above me says, someone, anyone, you should invent something like this. Until then GOOD LUCK with all that you want!!!
• LoJack, among other things, allows the police to track your car if it stolen.

  If your cell is stolen, then you should just disable it and ask the phone company for a new one.

I am planning on buying a system for my car. It is worth almost $4000 ( I’m getting a good deal, I wouldn’t pay that). The thing is, I am worried about it getting stolen. I will be careful, but I was wondering if I could get some sort of tracking system, so if it ever were to get stolen, I would be able to find it. (I’m a little paranoid). I’m not looking to spend a tonne of money on it, just something to help me worry less. Does anyone know where I can buy something like this? Thanks.

Best Answer: Sure! Check out these products from a company called Zoombak. http://www.zoombak.com/products/

The weak point of a tracking system is power. The Zoombak systems need to be recharged every 5 days. You can do that on an included home charger, but you’ll have to find a way to conceal the device on the sub box, in such a way that it can be easily removed for recharging.

It also requires a monthly service fee.

• best thing to do is secure your car from breakin because by the time you check the lo jack the system is already divided up between 5 different people.
• ive never really heard of doin sumthin like that ..
  what i did in my trunk is just bolted every thing down with sum heavy duty bolts and nuts
  its worked for me