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From: mikey@trsvax
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Protecting Car Stereos (and eve
Message-ID: <55200187@trsvax>
Date: Sat, 29-Jun-85 10:11:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: trsvax.55200187
Posted: Sat Jun 29 10:11:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Jul-85 07:33:01 EDT
References: <2788@pesnta.UUCP>
Lines: 60
Nf-ID: #R:pesnta.UUCP:-278800:trsvax:55200187:000:3527
Nf-From: trsvax!mikey    Jun 29 09:11:00 1985




After talking with a few people years ago when I had to regularly commute
into NYC and I lived on Long Island, I came up with a few tips for
keeping what is yours, YOURS!

1.  Don't use a standard alarm system.  This came from a house protection
company.  If a thief knows what systems you have, what is to prevent him 
from buying a manual and learning how it works, or even in one case in 
my old home town, contracting with the security company to find out how 
they operate?  

2.  Don't entice the amatuers, i.e. don't leave valuable things in view.
It may be impressive to leave $600 worth of speakers on the rear deck, but 
it's better to mount them in and put a whole sheet of acoutsic cloth over
the entire deck.  I did that on my '68 Mustang.  I removed the rear deck,
installed my speaker systems in the metal work, and cut the appropriate
holes in the pressboard.  I then "wrapped" the board with grill cloth that
matched my interior and put elastic on the bottom to keep it stretched tight.
When I was done, you couldn't tell there were speakers in the rear deck.  
I forgot to put in a metal grillwork under the cloth, so I couldn't set
anything on the deck until I ripped it out and did it over.  

3.  After thinking it over, I put in a dual alarm system.  I used the 
Radio Shack remote pager.  I hooked the microphones to the frame and also 
put a line from the interior light to the trigger.  In addition, I bought 
a little module they used to sell that gave you 15 seconds to to enter the
car and turn on the ignition key.  Since the pager triggered immediately,
I fed its trigger out to the timer alarm.  The timer alarm was hooked to
a "whooper" under the hood.  I never had a chance to use the alarm, so
I can't really give an account of its performance.  Maybe the false alarms
I had in my neighborhood until I got the microphone level adjusted 
warned all the "would-be"s away.

When I moved to Texas in late 1980, I had my Honda CBX tampered with 5 times
in four weeks.  Needless to say, I was "PISSED".  One time they even punched
out the ignition key and when that just jammed up the head, they tried 
prying off the lock tab.  I got another pager and started to mount it under 
the seat but I never finished the job.  Once I was out there jacking with
an alarm though, my bike never got tampered with again.  I think a local
was doing it and now he thought the bike was dangerous, or at least I was.

I thought about the razor blade trick, but I discounted it not for fear of
what may happen to a burglar, but to me.  I can just see me kicking my foot
under the dash or reaching for something and getting sliced.  The laws
that everybody tries to mention about dangerous devices getting the owner
in trouble I don't think apply here.  In every case that I've heard about, 
the only way the owner gets in trouble is if there is some possibilty of
an innocent person being injured.  The case that specifically comes to mind
is the guy who rigged a shotgun at the door of his house.  What if it
went off when a girl scout knocked on the door to sell cookies.  What if
it went off on the mailman.  Even a far out case, what if it went off if
an accident victim busted into the house in an emergency?  These arguments
don't apply to a clear case of theft.  I'm not saying that it's right, but
you'd better have some different arguments that apply.  Personally, I think
that anyone who steps outside of society gives up his rights to the protection
of society while he's out there.

mikey at trsvax