I WAS ROBBED !!!!!!!!!

Gets the adrenaline going, doesn't it? Few thrills bigger in life than walking in on a thief.

Makes no differents what color they are, a good dog aint a gonna let em on the place without letting you know you need to fetch up yer pistol and see what they want........

Sorry about your loss--something about the biggest loss being your loss of faith in humanity probly wont make you feel any better.

A neighbor was robbed recently, and the perps (sorry, suspected perps) were casing other homes in the area for a while. Prompted me to buy an alarm system on ebay, some video cameras, and driveway alarm. The driveway alarm can be bought from Radio Shack probably just as cheap as can be bought from Northern Hydraulic. When this goes off, I check the camera to see who's coming. It senses IR emissions from the front of the car and sure enough, a VW doesn't always set it off especially on a cold day. Open it up and tape over the LED next to the IR sensor. If you don't, anyone coming down the road at night tripping the sensor will see the sensor port light up. If I didn't rent, I'd bury a sensor in the road. I live midway down a dead end road in the country, working from my garage also. Only one house past me, so I scrutinize every car coming down the road.

Bought CCTV cameras on ebay to use with older color TV. Couldn't get any picture but both sellers swore cameras worked. Found an RF Modulator (radio shack) at a yard sale for a buck and tried it on a lark. That was the ticket. Suggest auto-iris and wide angle lens. Looked into recording. Special VCR's are not cheap. If a smart thief thinks you're recording surveillance video, he'll try to find the VCR and take the tape. Suggest no overt recording from main camera. But, try to hide a small camera where you think you'd be able to get a license plate, and wire this to a hidden setup.

If you look at an alarm and monitoring service, shop around! You can install your own system for a fraction of a commercial install and hook up with an independent monitoring service. Ademco is one of the largest outfits and there's a lot of Ademco stuff on ebay. They also have a good web site with lots of PDF specs on systems and alarms. The neighbor that got hit had an alarm installed and 2 weeks later I got a call from the monitoring service that there was movement in the house. Hot damn! Grabbed the .45 and headed up, hoping to nail some dirt bag. Turned out the dog tripped an IR sensor improperly calibrated.

I'm hopeful that in the not too distant future, GPS tracking will become small and cheap enough one could tag at least some stuff. If stolen, that'd give you a shot at tracking down the perps in time to recover everything.

As for thiefs with balls, used to work in East Palo Alto in sheet metal shop late 70's. Buddy went up to a corner store to get something for lunch. Came out minutes later to find his truck door open and two fellows standing there with his stereo and speakers asking "Wanna buy a stereo cheap, looks like it'll bolt right in?" East Palo Alto then wasn't the sort of neighborhood where a lone white guy would want to start something, so he choked down his anger and drove away...

Jon

I got target silhouettes with some nice holes in them in the windows. Just a reminder to those so incline to wander in.

Allowing them the privelage of observing the muzzle of a .44 while waiting for the sirens is kinda neat.

michael

Those inexpensive CCTV cameras won't tell you much other than give you a general outline of the subject. Don't expect to be able to identify a person unless he is standing next to the camera. Also, plan on maintaining adequate lighting. No such thing as "wide angle" lenses, but the focal length is more important. And keep in mind your F-stops, the higher the number the more light you'll need to see anything.

With regards to do-it-yourself alarm systems, I wouldn't plan on this unless you understand (or willing to learn) how to setup line seizure, end of line resistors, communication formats (Contact Id, 4x2, radionics,,,,,) and much more fun stuff. Oh, you also need to setup a PC with a special modem to download the alarm panel, or you can keypad program if you have the right keypad.

Tony

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 22:09:59 GMT, "Chief McGee" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!: remove ns from my header address to reply via email

I have a small digital camera. It cost maybe Aud$80? It is full colour

640*480, which is better than "normal" TV. It has video out, so if you have a VCR with a Video Line in, it will allow live filming/recording.

Just a thought. Seems to me to be the way to go, for the money. You could buy 5 of these compared to some of those CCTV special cameras, and I have yet to see one of them give a decent shot!

Only trouble with VCR is that you have to keep remembering to rewind and re-record. And the tape will lose quality after a few rounds, especially if you keep recording over it, without mass-erasing it. You just _know_ the time the guys ripo you off will be when the tape is stuffed!

Don't know about where you are, but if you decide to go monitored, most company's will install so cheap or free that it's not worth DIY.

Those automatic floodlights are good cheap motion sensors, and again, cheap.

**************************************************** I went on a guided tour not long ago.The guide got us lost. He was a non-compass mentor.........sorry ........no I'm not.

I took the head off of a motion detector security light and hooked the output (normally goes to the light) to a 12V transformer. This rings a buzzer in my shop when someone (UPS, mail lady, customer or stranger) comes up my drive.

Put the function selector on "Test" and it works during the daytime. Whole thing cost me $30 including conduit and wire.

I think the way to go these days would probably be digital camera hooked to a computer, and hard disk recording, though I have not yet looked into completely automating that (it _should_ be pretty straightforward).

The actual recording system should be very well hidden - with a computer system, this is possible since you should not have to change tapes (thus, no need for easy access), and quality of the recording should not degrade much at all.

IMHO, the cameras should be well concealed - has no deterrent factor, but reduces the liklihood of getting footage of "guy in ski mask #1", "guy in ski mask #2" and "guy in ski mask #3". If you want the deterrent effect, use dummy cameras for that (wire them, or they are not a good decoy, and provide that VCR for the theives to steal a tape from - covered by a real camera) and keep the real ones concealed. Perhaps some of that fire-pull purple dye set to spray when the VCR tape is ejected, too ;-)...

Driveway sensor - bury in driveway type seems best for car/truck, but should be backed up by motion sensing to get pedestrian/bicycle approach. The further up the driveway, the better.

"Old Nick" wrote

A friend of mine is a HARDCORE swapmeeter. He bought me a dozen fake security cameras for $5 each. Between those and the motion lights, we feel pretty secure. We watch people now who walk by, and their reactions to the fake cameras. The schoolkids now use the other side of the street, and our blockwalls have less tagging. And, a noisy Rott/Lab mix and a narly yappy little Corgi alert us when someone is really close. They are both cowards, but they bark loud, mostly out of fear. We can tell by the tone of the bark what is going on without even going outside.

Still, in June of last year, someone tried to steal the car from the driveway by inserting a scissor in the ignition. It twisted off, and they got about $5 in parking change from the ash tray. Cost to repair ........... $400.

You just do the best you can and go from there.

Steve

Three major tools you need at this point.

1. Automatic flood lights I like the later posters idea about at least one hooked to a bell or buzzer and put on "Test"
2. Companion dog (big or small, 1 each.) makes good company, also, when you are working by yourself.
3. 12ga pump shotgun with (1) 2C cell Maglight hose clamped to the tubular magazine or barrel.

Btw..they will be back within 3-4 weeks If the cops run the tags, get a hit and snag one or more suspects, prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Chances are good they already have a long rap sheet.

Gunner "A vote for Kerry is a de facto vote for bin Laden." Strider

Chief McGee wrote: Just walked in on two black guys putting some of my tools in their car. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Why did you have to mention the color of the perps? It has absolutely nothing to do with it, and only adds to racial stereotypes, and resentment from the vast majority of black people, who do NOT steal.

I have Javelin and Panasonic CCTV cameras, both high quality industrial duty. There might not be a true 'wide angle' lens, but one of them does has that familiar bugeye outer lens and gives a wider field of view than the other. These cameras are more than good enough. I can identify known cars to the top of the driveway (100+ feet) and known people to half that, with little trouble, as long as the sun is out. On cloudy days all I know is someone is there and that's good enough.

Didn't mean to sound like self install is easy. It sure isn't for the first timer. I did my research and pieced together a system with the proper keypad for programming, and have the full programming manuals. There's also alt.security.alarms and a couple others where good info can be gleaned from the chaff.

Jon

This is readily available though pricey and I don't know how well it works. Most seem to scan the screen and watch for a change. Before going with this, I'd check to see if this function can be tweaked for sensitivity else swaying trees, birds, etc. might set it off. Some will automatically dailup and start uploading pics to a remote FTP site. With my lousy dialup I'd be lucky to get one pic uploaded before perps found the system.

However, I have been thinking of putting small signs next to my existing cameras saying "Smile, your picture is being uploaded via wireless modem to a remote server as you read this". Some sort of small high-tech looking antenna on the roof would help with the bluff, and most crack heads around here are not savvy enough to know better.

Jon

Good point!

Harold

What's the difference if he mentions whether they were black, white, green, blue? Racial stereotypes are a product of each individuals perception. If you were making a report to the cops about a robbery, are you going to neglect to say what 'color' the perps were, so as not to contribute to racial stereotyping? I doubt it.

michael

Maybe.......

But you can bet yer life if was a Chink and a Drunken Indian, I would most certainly at least mention this fact to the cops in passing!!!

Sigh.. Leo...if you want to get all touchy feely about the poor felons...thats fine.

Sometimes it can be carried a bit too far. Im reminded of various Be On the Lookouts posted on the TV occasionally.

"Tall male, fu manchu style mustache, 6'2" 210 lbs, wearing ball cap, sort pants and plaid shirt."

Now was this perp black, brown or white? Or asian? Or does it make a difference? Lets see you pick him out of a crowd at the mall, ok?

As to racial stereotypes...would you care to discuss the 50% of the prison population that happens to be a member of the minority group that comprises only 12% of the US population? Or the minority group that is

6x as likely to commit a felony, or a murder? The same minority group that has 1 out of every 4 males who are convicted felons? The same minority group that the second leading cause of death is homicide, and homicide committed by another member of that same community?

Stereotypes? Seems like actually a high probablility function.

I pee on your Political Correctness. I drink another soda, and pee on it again.

Gunner

"A vote for Kerry is a de facto vote for bin Laden." Strider

IMHO, you need in depth protection. Start with a fence and gate, perps don't like to be inside fences because it telegraphs their intentions before they find out if there is anything good to steal. It is also EZ to monitor gate openings and EX to put on an automatic gate opener so the gate stays closed and you don't have to stop to open/close it. A closed gate is a clear 'keep out' sign.

The gate/fence makes it easier to keep a dog, and the dog becomes acutely aware of anyone inside or attempting to enter the fenced area.

A gas station hose is real nice to detect vehicles, and its visibility lets people know they are being monitored.