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Can you locate a lost hunter with a cell phone?
mogley98
Member Posts: 18,297 ✭✭✭✭
If a hunter or hiker has a cell phone but say was incapacitated and could not dial out, could searchers locate him by triangulating a call to him? Or at least get close?
Why don't we go to school and work on the weekends and take the week off!
Comments
If a hunter or hiker has a cell phone but say was incapacitated and could not dial out, could searchers locate him by triangulating a call to him? Or at least get close?
According to a hunting website (not me, I can barely use a quarter of the features on the dang thing), yes they can track you within a cell towers transmitting region, from there, they could only hone in closer if you were actually using the phone.
But assuming that the hunter was in range of a cell tower, and the cell phone had that capability, then the answer would be yes.
They sell a global positioning beacon, that with a push of a button sends out a call for help. If you've watched the "Alaska Experiment" you have seen them. The little orange and black thingy.
Margaret Thatcher
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
Mark Twain
seriously not all cell phones have gps locator's, as mentioned triangulation from cell towers can work if it has signal good enough for 3 towers
Have found a lot of "overdue" boaters by way of cell phone information. My best use of it, however, had nothing to do with the towers. Had a couple duck hunters in NC whose boat swamped in late Fall in the marsh. Bad weather and they were up to their chest in water and mud. The helo was in the area but could not locate them, although they could see the helo lights. 10 minutes to bingo fuel and hunters starting to panic (I was talking to them on the cell phone). Then it dawned on me -- the pilots had their NVG's. I told the hunters to to turn the phone so the LED display faced in the direction of the helo. Pilots later told me that little phone was bright as a flare with the NGV's. Damn duck hunters........it's ALWAYS the duck hunters!!!! [:D]
Thats just what I heard from a few different people. I have no idea how true it is but I would guess it could be possible.
With that said, I would imagine the American government would be able to do the same thing, as well as track you down if it is true.
During the 2008 Olympics held in China, Americans were told to remove the battery from their cell phones. If they did not do so, the Chinese government would be able to hear what they were saying.
Thats just what I heard from a few different people. I have no idea how true it is but I would guess it could be possible.
With that said, I would imagine the American government would be able to do the same thing, as well as track you down if it is true.
It's not just the government. News here ran a story on it the other week. Supposedly, computer hackers can actually hack your phone and turn it into a microphone that lets them listen in on you. Much like they can hack your computer and take over your webcam to watch you with. Pretty creepy.
During the 2008 Olympics held in China, Americans were told to remove the battery from their cell phones. If they did not do so, the Chinese government would be able to hear what they were saying.
Thats just what I heard from a few different people. I have no idea how true it is but I would guess it could be possible.
With that said, I would imagine the American government would be able to do the same thing, as well as track you down if it is true.
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1. Not true. 2. Why would the Chinese gov want to hear what people are saying? Got some big state secrets there do we?
quote:Originally posted by penetraitor
During the 2008 Olympics held in China, Americans were told to remove the battery from their cell phones. If they did not do so, the Chinese government would be able to hear what they were saying.
Thats just what I heard from a few different people. I have no idea how true it is but I would guess it could be possible.
With that said, I would imagine the American government would be able to do the same thing, as well as track you down if it is true.
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1. Not true. 2. Why would the Chinese gov want to hear what people are saying? Got some big state secrets there do we?
Its called a communism country. You do not have freedom of speech. It went over your head.
would only work if the phone was left on. if its off its a no go. i always carry mine on silent or vibrate but i usually don't get a signal anyway. Also the GPS from the satellites go through the cell phone towers so if you have no signal they won't be able to find you.
I would not go so far as to say that if I was you. Whos to say the government didn't regulate cell phone companies to wire the microphone in a series-parallel circuit. It kind of works like the light in your glovebox does. Your car is off but the light still works.
Also the cell phone companies would not advertise that, they just want to sell cell phones. We would have to ask high ranking people with in the company to find the truth. That is if they would squeal.
+1
quote:First off there is an assumption in your question that the hunter would be in range of a cell tower. Here in Idaho, that ain't happening.
+1
Maybe not in the Rockies or places in Idaho. But very possible for 60% or more, of the rest of the Unided States land mass it would.
www.themobiletracker.com
One of my neighbors caught his wife in the middle of an affair this way.
quote:First off there is an assumption in your question that the hunter would be in range of a cell tower. Here in Idaho, that ain't happening.
+1
-1
another example...the presidents daughter goes missing in the wilderness somewhere and has a cell phone that is in range of a tower...i`ll bet she would`nt be lost for long[;)]
It wouldn't have to.
Doug
If I am useing the computer I can also get a satelite photo of the location.
So far the times that I used it the location was right on the money.
The GPS engine(a chip, really) is embedded in your phones' circuit board, and is only a receiver.
Tracking someone requires proximity to a cell tower so the phone has a point of contact; most phones have the cheapest GPS engines, so you wind up with coordinates that can be as much as 1500' off.
Try this example: Take a "shot" with your phone and write down the coords it gives you.
Enter those coords into Google Earth or any other aerial photo site and have it navigate to your coords.
SEE the difference between where the phone says you are versus where it actually is.
I'm not certain as to why the phones are so notoriously "off", but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the possibility of someone attaching a phone to a missile of some sort; it would send the missile to a place about 1500' away from the coords. It could also be that Google Earth has a bit of "slop" built-in for the same reason.
The GPS signal comes from the satellites into the antenna on the phone; there's literally no way that it goes through the cell towers before reaching the phone.
The GPS engine(a chip, really) is embedded in your phones' circuit board, and is only a receiver.
Tracking someone requires proximity to a cell tower so the phone has a point of contact; most phones have the cheapest GPS engines, so you wind up with coordinates that can be as much as 1500' off.
Try this example: Take a "shot" with your phone and write down the coords it gives you.
Enter those coords into Google Earth or any other aerial photo site and have it navigate to your coords.
SEE the difference between where the phone says you are versus where it actually is.
I'm not certain as to why the phones are so notoriously "off", but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the possibility of someone attaching a phone to a missile of some sort; it would send the missile to a place about 1500' away from the coords. It could also be that Google Earth has a bit of "slop" built-in for the same reason.
How does one do this.?.?
That is why cell phones are banned at high security Installations.
Doug
The good side is that, when you pull the battery, you are once again a Free Man.
Doug
I would wager a bet that more and more cell phones are going to be like the iphone where you will not be able to remove the battery. This will be required in the name of the greater good of the people
quote:I would wager a bet that more and more cell phones are going to be like the iphone where you will not be able to remove the battery. This will be required in the name of the greater good of the people
I'd wager it was more for the corporate pockets...
quote:I would wager a bet that more and more cell phones are going to be like the iphone where you will not be able to remove the battery. This will be required in the name of the greater good of the people
no disagreement here from apples standpoint, but like everything else once an idea has been planted it is always exploited
Wouldn't it be a kick to get some of the fathers of science fiction to re-write their classics to include today's technology ??
Doug
Now where I live, there are towers bristling everywhere. That's why my 911 is on.
Most newer cellphone can be "hot mic'd" meaning they can be turned on remotely and used as a listening device. The majority coming out also have a gps service that can be turned on remotely, even if you do not pay for the service. Cell towers are not needed for the gps service, obviously.
swampwalker - the GPS aide of your phone doesn't use towers - it uses the geosynchronous GPS satellite system - like any other GPS.
Doug
quote:Originally posted by gunnut505
The GPS signal comes from the satellites into the antenna on the phone; there's literally no way that it goes through the cell towers before reaching the phone.
The GPS engine(a chip, really) is embedded in your phones' circuit board, and is only a receiver.
Tracking someone requires proximity to a cell tower so the phone has a point of contact; most phones have the cheapest GPS engines, so you wind up with coordinates that can be as much as 1500' off.
Try this example: Take a "shot" with your phone and write down the coords it gives you.
Enter those coords into Google Earth or any other aerial photo site and have it navigate to your coords.
SEE the difference between where the phone says you are versus where it actually is.
I'm not certain as to why the phones are so notoriously "off", but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the possibility of someone attaching a phone to a missile of some sort; it would send the missile to a place about 1500' away from the coords. It could also be that Google Earth has a bit of "slop" built-in for the same reason.
How does one do this.?.?
I don't have or use a cellphone, but I watched a guy do it last night on one of those "push-talk-SQUAWK" phones. He apparently had a setting that would show the current position, and while it took about 3 minutes for it to generate coordinates (WGS84 is the "default" datum for GPS since there are such minute differences in the latest iteration and what's being transmitted "raw" from the satellites); it was about 1200 feet off from the coordinates I got right next to him on my Etrex. His also gave the coords in the degree/decimal degrees as minutes format instead of the more user-friendly DD/MM/SS.SS format. The Etrex accepts both or converts if you enter as a separate waypoint and then hit Go To. That's what's called a "Field Inverse" in the lazyman's surveying curriculum.
My phone has a tracking system that I can turn on or off. I leave it on.
what phone is that anyway?