thin credit card sized tracker...

[bloke]

...solder a brass sheet metal "pocket" in the backside plumbing of a tuba, and slip this between the two layers of sheet brass...??

https://www.tile.com/products/tile-slim

[the elephant]

I have one in my wallet. It has limitations, too, but works very well within those limitations. It is about three credit cards thick and has the same "face" dimensions.

[bloke]

When I enter into Memphis (re: money/credit card/license) I have a "throw wallet".

It has a fake license, fake credit cards, a $10, a $5 and two 1's

I keep my cash, license, and credit card in my shoe (again: when I enter into Memphis).

As far as the "tuba" thing, that brass pouch would appear to be pretty bulky, based on your info.

thnx.

[JESimmons]

Would it transmit through the brass?

[Mary Ann]

When I enter into Memphis (re: money/credit card/license) I have a "throw wallet".

It has a fake license, fake credit cards, a $10, a $5 and two 1's

I keep my cash, license, and credit card in my shoe (again: when I enter into Memphis).

As far as the "tuba" thing, that brass pouch would appear to be pretty bulky, based on your info.

thnx.

That reminds me of visiting certain sections of NYC in the 1970s. You just didn't by yourself.
That is a fairly standard recommendation for being in mugging territory --- only they say use a money clip and put a bunch of one dollar bills in it to make it look thick, with a 10 or 20 on the outside, and when mugged, pull it out, say "This is all I have," throw it as far as you can, and run like hell. Same with a car jacking --- throw the keys and run like hell. Or, heh, drive a stick shift -- but still run like hell.

[Sousaswag]

Right now, since I'm using all Apple devices, I have AirTags in my gig bag(s) and in my truck... Insanely easy-to-use, but they are just sort of "there" so to speak. I like the idea of really thin and light trackers, but having one physically "on" a tuba, and being inconspicuous while it's there is a hard task, is it not?

[travisd]

With Tile, you're dependent on being close enough to someone who happens to be using the Tile app to pick it up, compared to an AirTag that will get picked up and reported by pretty much every iPhone in use. I suspect putting one inside a brass faraday-ish cage isn't going to make it work any better, as others have mentioned. Tile has been in a fight with Apple over letting their app have enough "anytime" permissions to allow it to pick up tags without having to specifically have the app open too.

I have one of the Tile wallet-cards around here somewhere. I stopped using it because it has a button built in to send a signal back to your phone, and every now and then my wallet would start playing a tune when I sat on it the right way.

If you insist on trying Tile, I'd stick with the square fob format instead. They at least make it easy to change the battery on those.

There's also GPS trackers out there now designed to go on a dog or cat collar, some of which have embedded cellular connectivity to report in without needing to be near any other device like a phone. Larger, more power requirements (probably have to charge it occasionally) but takes the 'ecosystem' (other than the cellular networks) out of the equation.

[Mary Ann]

Do those things work if taped INSIDE a tuba bell as far down as you can reach? Does the metal block the signal? Did someone ask this already? Would be harder with a horn, I think, but also could likely be gotten out of sight by someone without gorilla-length arms.

[Rick Denney]

Imbed it in one of those sweat guards we used to buy for the right arm where it lays on the bell of a left-facing tuba. Pad it well--even a quarter inch of "padding" would keep an RFID chip from being shielded by the brass.

That would get it outside the Faraday cage and I doubt anyone would remove it, at least not immediately.

Rick "an RFID chip will still be range-affected by just being up against metal" Denney

[bloke]

Yesterday evening, I was in Memphis taking Mrs. bloke to a meeting - because I won't let her go to Memphis by herself. Coincidentally, I had a rehearsal that started about 45 minutes later and it wasn't far away. Halfway between the two locations was a Walmart. I needed some more glucosamine and chondroitin, because (duh) I am old. I stopped at the Walmart, ran in to get a large bottle of those pills, and the whole time I was in there I was thinking that I had to hurry back out to my car, because not only could my car be stolen (though manual shift) but my tuba could be stolen (even though there were all kinds of people coming and going in that parking lot, or perhaps because of it). Fortunately, the pharmacy counter was very unbusy, and the pharmacist was able to sell me the pills, so I got out quickly. I shouldn't have stopped in Memphis at any store, and I certainly shouldn't have stopped with a tuba in the back of the car. My feelings inside the store reinforced the fact that I had made a bad decision, but I lucked out. The really bad feelings I had while in that store certainly let me know how stupid I had been to stop there, and I will never do that again.

Tracker technology is fine, but the best technology is to keep yourself and your sh!t in the same spot. I'm thinking that if I didn't work at home, I would have a couple of trained dogs inside (not outside) my place, or perhaps three.

I'm starting to wonder whether I should buy a jimbo thing for Memphis use, but I'm seeing that people are starting to charge real money for those, too.