Tracking Devices

[the elephant]

Replaceable watch battery, one-year lifespan.

[Yorkboy]

This shows how powerful these devices are.

Interesting video - the way DHL handled that “missing” package did not surprise me, in the least.

DHL is essentially the USPS of Germany and Europe. When it comes to shipping things of real value, I avoid using them at all costs, as I also do with the USPS.

FWIW, I had never seen an actual air tag until I watched that video, and it’s quite a bit smaller than I had previously imagined. I’m sure there must be some way to utilize it for shipping our horns around…?
(Personally I like the idea of affixing it inside the bottom bow, just out of sight)

[cjk]

I really hadn't been all that interested in airtags until this thread. Now I'm going to have to get some to play with.

[bloke]

I may have to send some to some of my suppliers, so when important packages are sent all over the country willy-nilly - instead of to me, maybe I can drive to where those stupid packages are and collect them.

[bloke]

…so maybe a set of aluminum bottom piston valve caps that are all extra tall, so that everything looks the same, and slip one of those inside one of them. They all would have a false bottom with a hole drilled in the middle, so that the springs function correctly.
Something similar could be devised as a set of aluminum rotary valve caps. I realize that rotary false caps would interfere with the nifty little Miraphone screw - which temporally addresses bearing wear.

[Three Valves]

My wife better not ind a way stick one of those blasted things on me…

[Schlitzz]

I probably need a set. My shepherd is known for taking small important objects. Never thought about tracking packages, probably should fashion something for the travel cases.

[the elephant]

My wife better not ind a way stick one of those blasted things on me…

Seriously, this is a genuine concern as they can be misused like this. If you discover one where it ought not to be, press down and rotate counterclockwise the silver cap with the Apple logo. Remove the cap. Take out the battery. Boom. Deactivated.

[Schlitzz]

My wife better not ind a way stick one of those blasted things on me…

Seriously, this is a genuine concern as they can be misused like this. If you discover one where it ought not to be, press down and rotate counterclockwise the silver cap with the Apple logo. Remove the cap. Take out the battery. Boom. Deactivated.

To confirm, this is about the device, and not the deactivation of the wife?

[York-aholic]

My wife better not ind a way stick one of those blasted things on me…

Seriously, this is a genuine concern as they can be misused like this. If you discover one where it ought not to be, press down and rotate counterclockwise the silver cap with the Apple logo. Remove the cap. Take out the battery. Boom. Deactivated.

If you find one where it shouldn’t be, maybe put it under the seat in some public transit and let it go for a ride…

[bloke]

My wife better not ind a way stick one of those blasted things on me…

If Beale Street could talk...If Beale Street could talk
Married men would have to pack their bags and walk,
Except one or two - who never drink booze -
And the blind man on the corner...singin' his Beale Street Blues...

[Yorkboy]

I always knew it as:

“And the blind man on the corner……who’s got his eye on youse”

[bloke]

(Assuming the “tracking devices“ topic is just about talked out…)

When I was a little kid in Memphis, all of the pawnshops were Jewish-owned - instead of corporate-owned - and they were all on Beale Street. When I was drafted into the high school jazz band, I needed a bass. My mother put on some *old clothes that she never wore any more – not even to work in the yard, drove me down there, parked way around the corner (so they could not see our pretty nice Pontiac - albeit our only car), and we negotiated $40 for a new Kingston (Japan) bass.
This was before “urban renewal” (mass bulldozing). Today, that street is very synthetic, and is much more dangerous a place than it was in the early 1970s.
I now also remember that there were some pretty nice things in that pawnshop… I remember an Elkhart Conn baritone saxophone - that was priced at $200… Of course (referring to the value of money), at that time there were still a few silver quarters and dimes in circulation.
________________
* She also put on no make up, and mashed her hair down. This was probably very hard for her to do, and was completely against her nature - as she had been a fashion and magazine ad model. All of it, though, was her idea, and we didn’t even speak of it.

[hrender]

Interesting empirical study of using Airtags to recover a stolen item:

https://twitter.com/dguido/status/1424921645483966466

[tofu]

.

[the elephant]

I have one in my wife's Honda. The tracking is not great in our small town. iPhones are popular here, but due to the Third World economy here in Mississippi, most people seem to use Android phones, which are far less expensive and can be easily had with pay-as-you-go plans, which are very popular here.

Anyway, as to the anti-stalking features, her iPhone tells her every time she goes somewhere that there is an AirTag traveling with her, but she has not been on an eight-hour (or longer) one-way drive, so it has never started chiming at her. So at least the Push notification thing works. However, that sort of defeats the purpose if a car thief happens to have an iPhone on them at the time of the crime, as the phone will inform them that there is a tracker in the car. This could be good *and* bad. I think most thieves would pull over and perform a cursory search for the device; if it did not turn up they might abandon the car.

However, what will they do to the car in retaliation? I can see such a person angrily slashing up the interior or setting it on fire. (After all, dirty scumbags are dirty scumbags, you know.) Anyway, I am sure if they thought they were being tracked and were not part of a sophisticated car theft ring they would bolt pretty quickly. If they were part of a ring then ou can bet they have some way figured out to locate and disable these things (or stick them in a candy bar and toss it to a rat as Arnold did in "Total Recall"). Either way, the anti-stalking features make these safe to use, but also cut into their usefulness, in my opinion.

I will still use them in my cars and on my horns, but I do not place as much faith in them as I had initially hoped. They are very useful, but only up to a point. If you live in an area rife with iPhones and other Apple devices they are accurate and fast, but where I live they are not accurate and only report on occasion, as not many iPhone users will wander within range in the course of a day.

I would rather have them on my horns than not, though, as some protection is better than no protection, and the price is pretty good for what you *do* get, even out here in the sticks.

I have decided on a cage, using two half-round wire brace feet (like many German tuba makers use) with two screw sockets each. The feet would be fitted to the horn with the cage installed, and then soldered down. The cage is a base plate bent to fit, with four screw holes, a top (also bent to fit) with four screw holes, and four "finger screws" with knurled heads. I will install them inside the wrap of the tuba to the bell or bottom bow (or other places where the feet can be soldered down) where you can get to them to change the battery, but that is not something that will stick out to anyone other than another brass player as being out of place. This will be easy on a tuba, but would not be of much use on anything smaller.

So thanks for the discussion, folks. I like these things. I also like the Tile Slim (about the size of a credit card) that I keep in my wallet. That has saved me once, already, and was the reason I decided to give the AirTags a try.

[Rick Denney]

Security is not one single strategy, but a combination of strategies, each aimed at a different risk. It's impossible (read: unaffordable) to eliminate all risk.

By the way, if you get an inland marine policy (example: Clarion) with agreed-valve coverage, then it just requires an appraisal that supports the true replacement value. Those policies aren't super-cheap but they cover everything, even including simple misplacement.

Back to the original topic, I wonder if any thief would understand a tuba's architecture well enough to notice a small pocket-watch bag (to hold the device) wire-tied to an inner branch. Maybe mount the real one inside the bell and put a decoy on the outside. How would the typical thief know what is and isn't a normal part of the horn. Sew another one into the padding of the bag/case.

I'm reminded of Les Brass--the organization of a tuba is just spaghetti to most people.

Rick "nothing like posting a month after it doesn't matter any more" Denney

[hrender]

So thanks for the discussion, folks. I like these things. I also like the Tile Slim (about the size of a credit card) that I keep in my wallet. That has saved me once, already, and was the reason I decided to give the AirTags a try.

Thanks for the ref to the Tile Slim. I had not seen one before this. It looks like a useful gadget.

[bloke]

Rest assured that our rulers and large corporations have access to much smaller ones, but that we are denied access to such things for fairly obvious reasons.

[2nd tenor]

My thanks to the OP for this thread, I found some really interesting concepts plus one view into the diverse place known as the USA.

It's a neat idea, and I think some people would really like it. But for me, everything is replaceable. I may be pretty pissed off about it, but everything's replaceable. I wouldn't mind using something like this for shipping, but I wouldn't want anything permanently attached or even semi-permanently attached to the horn.

I think that I see where you’re coming from but, to my perspective you miss some points. The idea is to be able to reclaim stuff rather than go through the expense in time and money of repurchasing what was lost. I’ve a few inexpensive instruments that aren’t Tubas and they play well but that’s because I’ve invested time, energy and skill in changing them from as supplied to everything works really well. If they were stolen all I could reclaim, if they were insured, is their standardised market value which is a not large fraction of their value to me. As it happens the items aren’t insured - I only insure really expensive items that I couldn’t readily afford to replace - so it’s definitely best not to loose them and being able to find lost items is a real plus.