A vehicle tracker for the SilkRoute.

Although the theft of overland campervans seems to be rare it does happen. If it happens whilst you are travelling and all your money, documents and equipment is on board it could be "inconvenient". Obviously you should take steps to make it as hard as practicable to steal your vehicle, but even the most secure campervan can be loaded onto a trailer and towed away.

One method of increasing your chances of getting your vehicle back is to fit it with a "tracker". However most of the systems advertised in the UK are expensive and unlikely to be of much use in Bolivia or Mongolia. This page is concerned with finding a cost effective tracking system more suited to the needs of SilkRoute club members.

Anti-theft vehicle "tracking" systems can be divided into four types.

Radio Beacon Systems: Before the widespread use of GPS and GSM phones most "tracking" systems used in the UK were based on fitting a hidden radio beacon to the vehicles at risk. If the vehicle is reported stolen then the beacon is activated by a country wide radio signal and the vehicle is then located using directional radio receivers operated by the police. Most UK ports are also equipped with receivers that should prevent a vehicle being taken out of the country if the beacon is activated.

Centralised GPS and GSM Systems: More recent tracking systems rely on combining the ability of a GPS receiver to determine the position of a vehicle and the GSM phone system to transmit this information to a central control centre. If the vehicle is stolen the control centre is able to liaise with the police to recover the vehicle. The vehicle owner may also be able to track the the vehicle on screen via the Internet. There is usually an annual fee for this service.

Direct GPS and GSM Systems: These tracking systems do not rely on a central control centre. The vehicle owner can directly interrogate the tracker hidden on the vehicle usually using a mobile phone.

GPS and SPOT Systems: These systems (all centralised at the moment) use GPS to determine the vehicle's position and the commercial SPOT satellite system to relay this information to a control centre. No GSM phone system is used.

Will it work in Argentina and Mongolia?

Of these four types of tracking system, the first (Radio Beacon) can be ruled out immediately (the infrastructure for using it is not available outside Europe).

In principle the second type of system (Centralised GPS and GSM) could work worldwide, but because of the way these systems are targeted on Europe (or North America) and the way they are priced I have not yet found one that could be recommended.

The third type of system (Direct GPS and GSM) can be made to work at a sensible price if you select the right hardware and the right GSM service provider.

The forth type of system (GPS and SPOT) does not yet seem to be available to individual vehicle users for vehicle recovery. There are however some very interesting low cost devices using GPS and SPOT for personal emergency tracking (See here) It may be possible to adapt one of these devices for vehicle use. (Watch this space.)

Finding out where your vehicle is using GPS will work well worldwide (if your tracker can see the sky) but getting the data back to you via the GSM phone system is a lot more complicated.

Warning: The technology involved with data transfer via GSM is very complex and the number of acronyms in use is formidable. What follows is much simplified. If you want more information see here.

GSM Coverage: There are many different mobile phone technologies in use around the world of which GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) is one.

The very success of GSM in Europe has made Europeans tend to equate "mobile phone" with GSM. (You can download detailed maps of where GSM phone services are available.) The problem of GSM non-coverage however may not be as bad as it seems. If your vehicle is stolen in central Brazil, for example, you may not be able to track it immediately. However as soon as it is taken into a major city it will be within range of a GSM phone system.

Dual-Band, Tri-Band and Quad-Band: In the UK (and most of the rest of Europe) the GSM phone system operates on the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. As a result most tracker systems installed in the UK only work on these two frequencies. In Argentina they use 1900 MHz. In Nicaragua they use either 850 MHz or 1900 MHz. So a standard European Dual-Band tracker (and mobile phone) will not work in either of these countries.

You need at least a Tri-Band tracker, and preferably a Quad-Band one.

GPRS or SMS: There are two common technologies used to send tracking data over the GSM phone network. GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a way of sending data "in the background" over the GSM network usually to an IP address on the Internet. GPRS is often charged per megabyte, and it is common for "connections" to be open for long periods with only a few bytes of data being sent every few minutes. If you need to track a fleet of vehicles in "real time" in the UK (or any other individual European country) then GRPS is the technology of choice. However GRPS is not implemented in all countries and even when it is there may be roaming problems (see below).

SMS (Short message service) is a way of sending short (160 character) human readable messages from one GSM phone to another. SMS messages are usually charged per message (sometimes there is a charge for receiving as well as sending). In terms of roaming (see below) SMS is often grouped with voice services rather than data services.

You need a tracker that can be used entirely by SMS (it may be ably to use GRPS as well, but that is less important).

Roaming: If you have a GSM phone contract with a UK provider (O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile etc.) your ability to use your phone (or GSM tracker) in another country is dependant upon your UK provider having a roaming agreement with a suitable provider in the target country and you having a suitable contract with your UK provider.

If we assume that you will keep your tracking system for (say) five years and only use it once a month (just to be sure it is still working) then during its lifetime you will only receive and send 60 SMS messages. Even a very cheap monthly contract with a UK provider will cost you around £600 (say €750). Unfortunately most UK based "Pay as you go" contracts will not cover many of the countries you need.

In terms of cost and functionality the choice of service provider (SIM) is considerably more important than the choice of tracker hardware.

A suggested Tracker for the Silkroute.

There are at least five suitable GPS/GSM trackers available to purchase in the early part of 2008. In many cases the exact specification of each unit is hard to find. Many of them are being sold by people who do not understand how they work.

The one I have selected to play with is the Xexun TK-102. (It seems to be offered under a number of different names.) I bought mine on eBay delivered from Hong Kong for around £100 (from Buy4less). A search on eBay for "gps tracker gsm gprs" will bring up several other vendors).

My TK-102 was supplied boxed but unbranded with two batteries and a UK charger/plug. The charger powers both a battery charging cradle (bottom left) and the tracker itself (top right). The tracker will need a 12/24 volt power supply when installed in the vehicle. (It requires 5 volts.)

The user manual (supplied both in printed form and on a mini-CD) is not well written and it seems from information on the Web that some functions of the TK-102 do not work well. However it does do exactly what is wanted in this application.

You send it a text message "t030s001n123456" and it replies
"lat: 52.500976 long: -002.997221 speed: 000.0 19/04/08 16:57 bat:L signal:F"

If you put "52.500976 -002.997221" into Google Earth you will find the camp site used for the club's recent 2008 meeting. The "123456" is a user changeable password.

The manual talks about storing up to five "registered users", ignore this. You don't want any "registered users" because you can not then interrogate the tracker from a non-registered phone and your phone might have been stolen along with your van!. The manual talks about making voice calls to the tracker to initiate a return SMS (text) message. Ignore this, it probably won't work when the call is "international". The manual talks a lot about setting up GRPS communication, ignore this you will not be using GRPS.

The TK-102 can be told to send its location if it is moved or if its speed is excessive. These functions are not reliable.

A SIM card for the Silkroute Tracker.

To make the TK-102 viable in this application you need a service provider (i.e. a SIM card) that is:

• "Pay as you go" preferably without credit expiry.
• Works for SMS in all the countries you intend to visit.
• Can be topped up without access to the "phone".

The SIM card I have been using for my tests is from OneRoam. Rather oddly your OneRoam number will be in Estonia (+372) so you need to be sure, not only that your "ordinary" phone will also work in every country you are going to, but also that you can SMS to a phone registered in Estonia. That should not be a problem for any quad-band phone with a monthly contract with O2, Vodafone or T-Mobile.

Where to Instal your Tracker?

The tracker will need to be hidden in (or on the roof of) your vehicle with a good view of the sky. I plan to put mine in a waterproof plastic box and "associate" it with my solar panels.

By using the box as a "junction box" for solar panel wiring it should be possible both to take power from the output of the solar regulator and provide a distracting explanation for the box.

The TK-102 tracker should work for 48 hours without external power. Although not fully documented it seems to send "battery failing" messages to the last cell phone to be in contact with it. One drawback of the design of this device is that it will not start working automatically when power is applied. The "on" button must be pressed.

It is probably a good idea to site the tracker away from any radio or audio equipment in the vehicle so that any interference caused by the tracker when it is transmitting will not be noticed.