WE’RE JAMMING

There’s a great deal of hype at the moment about the widespread of GPS jammers, which are supposedly being used to prevent GPS tracking systems from transmitting a signal.

In reality, the widely available products that can be found on eBay are Chinese manufactured and as such, lack a certain level of quality and reliability. In fact, anyone daft enough to buy one in the misguided hope that they can steal a car and not be tracked is in for a bit of a shock.

The products seldom function unless plugged into the cigarette lighter in the vehicle that has the tracking system fitted, and the ignition switched on. Most high value vehicles are stolen by low-loader, so the only time they would actually work is if the vehicle is being driven, in which case the thief would need the keys, so the tracking system wouldn’t work anyway!

The other detail often missed is that they are only recommended for very small vehicles, as they can only jam the GPS signal over a small area; and with all tracking systems being hidden simply anywhere in the vehicle, it’s highly unlikely the jammer would be in the same area anyway, so again, would never actually jam anything!

So you might think that with all this in mind, maybe in the odd case a thief with a jammer might just be lucky enough to get away with the vehicle undetected. But you would be wrong!

The frequency GPS tracking systems operate on the UK is entirely different to that used in the USA, where many of these hail from and China, where most of them are actually made.

The bottom line is, don’t believe the hype! It’s far less likely than you think and frankly, if a thief has genuine military spec GPS jamming equipment, it’s fair to say that the vehicle was going.