I Hate It When This Happens

[K7FE]

While I was in California enjoying the 80 degree days, my Las Vegas home was broken into and everything semi-portable and of value was removed. My computer, printer, scanner, transceivers, microphones, meters, tuners etc. was removed along with the normal jewelry, cameras, cash and guns. The snail mail that was removed causes me some concern for identity theft as well as my correspondence files in my computer's hard drive.

I still have my California amateur radio station and I am on my computer in California now. I will be shopping for new gear to replace the missing Las Vegas amateur station. They did leave my log book and recently received QSL cards from other amateurs. Metro police called me with the bad news and locked up the house again for me. I had an alarm installed today............a little late. How about you? Do you have your alarm installed yet to protect your ham gear?

73,
Terry, K7FE

[KB3LIX]

Terry,

Sorry to hear about your loss.
That just ain't right !!!!

No alarm here, but I am in the middle of no where.

[kb9iou]

Got a dog... that makes a pretty good alarm.. If that doesn't work, my Kimber 1911 is cocked and locked and is sitting next to the bed... anyone that comes in the house is not going to leave under their own power.

[wa9cwx]

Terry,

That is a terrible feeling, I am sorry for your loss, and the emotional trauma that always accompanies this kind of rotten crap.

Some 20 years ago, I had a break in, no radio gear was stolen at that time, and my losses were covered by insurance. But the irritation, and feelings of violation and my anger took a long time to dissipate.

I have taken steps to improve the situation since then, especially at this QTH, (been here 9 years).

73, Frank

[WS2L]

Terry,

I'm sorry to hear about what happened.

About 12 years ago I had a Kenwood Ti-Bander installed in my car, woke up to go to work and I find my car had been broken into. They stole the radio, a cellphone and a few other small items, no alarm on the car. As far as my home station is concerned, Smith & Wesson patrols my residence and if anyone wants to take the chance they are welcome.

[ai4ep]

...listen to cb channels for some one who has cheap equipment for sale

check local pawn shops

listen to 2 meter repeaters to hear of folks with NEW equipment they aint figured out how to operate ( yours ? )

This time of year there are a lot of break - ins,,,folks trying to round up extra money for gifts.

Who knows...they may be reading this thread...criminals have computers, too.

[wv6z]

Sorry to hear about that Terry. I know advice is like belly buttons..... everyone has advice..... but be sure to contact ALL of your creditors and don't forget to include your cell phone provider too. Identity theft is the worse thing that could happen now, you will no doubt put another fine station together in Vegas.

AI4EP wrote:
Quote[/b] ]...listen to cb channels for some one who has cheap equipment for sale

check local pawn shops

listen to 2 meter repeaters to hear of folks with NEW equipment they aint figured out how to operate ( yours ? )

This time of year there are a lot of break - ins,,,folks trying to round up extra money for gifts.

Who knows...they may be reading this thread...criminals have computers, too.


Short skip..... Vegas to Cali, Robert?!?! Yes, they obviously do have computers Robert..... they have Terry's for one! http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/ku4my/icon_rolleyes.gif

[nm5tf]

Quote[/b] (KB3LIX @ Nov. 15 2006,16:52)]No alarm here, but I am in the middle of no where.
I also live "in the middle of nowhere"....but...

I also have a 90 LB German Shepard & a Browning Hi-Power w/ 14 rds 'cocked & locked' readily available.....average response time for local law enforcement
is over 3/4 hrs....besides, I live in "Wild West" country & we're all armed http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

oh yeah....I also have an alrm system... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[W5HTW]

Sorry to hear of it. Not likely the thieves will actually use the radio gear, or anything else. They steal it to sell for drugs, usually. Hearing someone on the air with a new radio and some confusion might, though, enable you to question that person as to the source of the gear. Doubt it will do any good.

My home was broken into once, a number of years ago. No radios taken, but a couple of handguns, some binoculars, and some of my wife's jewelry. Never got any of it back, but the suspect (never proved he burglarized my home) was captured for other things and went to prison. Mad, I put an ad in the local paper (crooks don't read though) telling "the guy who broke into my home and stole some guns, you missed some. Come back for them, please." Of course, he didn't! But like I say, he probably can't read anyway.

I get particularly nervous as the holiday season approaches, and tend to avoid leaving the house at all. That is the season when "good decent folks" who want to have a nice Christmas, go "shopping" in homes where no one is around at the moment. The rest of the year, though, it is mostly the druggies who break in.

I have developed some security habits when I am returning home after a trip to the store or to the city. These habits have been with me for many years now, and are designed to spot trouble before I get INTO trouble!

Nothing you can do, really. Out here police response is lengthy at best, non-existent at worst. But in the city it can be just as bad, so I guess there's no place safe.

Ed

[KD6NIG]

Yeah, its a pain. #I've had vehicles broken into so many times that I went on the detachable face plan quite some time ago.

I have dogs roaming outside as well as 2 anklebiters in the house that will raise cain if anyone walks by on the sidewalk, much less anything else.

Also have cameras.....
Webcams (http://www.kd6nig.net/webcams.htm)
They upload stills frequently to a remote server and rotates them weekly. #Though, I mostly have them for anklebiter monitoring when they are out in the yard. #But I do have 2 of them pointed at where me and my wifes vehicles are parked. #Picture quality at night is marginal at best, but I can still see stuff going on. #I also have a history of stuff going on with the upload feature. I use these more for the dogs and the cars, as I can pull up a website template I made myself at home and watch whats going on outside with a second monitor attached to my computer. But these are definetely more for my geek side and watching the dogs in the yard than anything else, at night without light they get quite grainy.

That, and a camera with a red light right over the front door and front walkway is pretty effective too. #The grandparents dogs hitting that fence whenever someone comes near it is the most effective of all though.

We had PD chasing a guy a few blocks away one night who decided to jump our back fence into our yard. #The dogs were on him before he hit the ground and he ran across our yard and jumped the other fence, right into the headlights of a responding patrol unit. #I never saw someone run that fast either. #I was coming out of the back door of the grandparents house at the time he jumped the fence, and the dogs were already heading his way before I got the door shut.

We put Beware of Dog signs up everywhere after that at the advice of the cop-told us it would be a good idea in case a non-sprinter ever gets into the yard and the dog decides to do more than corner him or something (which I think it would, but you can never predict what someone might do to the dog, and what reaction that might cause).

I think the dogs do most of it. #And the fact that everyone on our block looks out for everyone else, helps also. #Its not possible everywhere though.

My parents live up in the hills and you used to be able to leave your garage door open while you went into town. #A neighbor being ripped off stopped that-everything gets locked up tight up there now too.

Course, the local paper I get from up there was decrying the fact that thier town was becoming too "large city like" last week with the discovery of graffitti at the high school... around here, seeing a nice clean wall without any makes you wonder.

Edit-typo on the URL.

[WB2WIK]

Sorry for your loss, and glad no one was hurt. Of course, if you'd been home, they probably never would have broken in!

Biggest deterrent to a break in is a physical presence.

I have an alarm system with wiring and electronics so well hidden and difficult to access that a burglar would never get to it, so maybe that helps -- never know. Putting the dialer on a cell phone instead of a land line also helps, because the first thing smart burglars do is cut the land line wiring outside the house to defeat alarm system dialers. Mine uses a cell phone that's checked about once a month.

Powerful motion-activated floodlamps probably help, too -- we have eight of them and they're pretty bright, illuminating front, rear and sides of the house. Somebody might break in, but they'll be lighted like a movie set while they're doing it.

But I think more important is to have close neighbors who will keep a watch on your place when you're away, and I have that, too. A few close neighbors are retired or work from home, so that it's very rare that everybody is out at the same time. We keep a watch on each others' places when anyone's gone.

That's probably the biggest deterrent of all.

WB2WIK/6

[KS4VT]

Sorry to hear about your loss Terry. It can be frustrating that your life was impacted this way and now you have to jump through all kinds of hoops to put it back together.

I assume you leave for a considerable amount of time and if so you may want to invest in additional protection for your home, such as accordion hurricane shutters that are lockable. This along with your alarm system should protect the exterior windows from any intruders because now they know what you have in your AZ home and they just may come back in the future.

On another note, if you are going away for a period of time don't say anything about it on the air. You never know who is listening and a quick search on this and other sites site will lead them right to the house while your gone. I for one never say on the air when I will be going away on vacation.

[ai4ep]

and do not forget, there are WOMEN thieves out there too... they have to have something to do while hubby is at work 12 hours a day.

[ai4ep]

Vt --- and dont say much about your leaving after you get back...Thieves can and do keep records of when you left and notice a pattern to your leavings ( always bragging about where he went AFTER the first weekend of every month, so he is always gone for the first wekend of every month ), etc talking about being at Wednesday night church services on Thursday morning on local 2 meter repeater...hmm...he is always AT CHURCH from 5 - 7 or 8 pm on Wednesday night !!

Even the casual mention of wife going to wal-mart can be a pattern...and some times you go with her.

Crooks are sneaky. If they know your vehicle, they can see your vehicle at church / shopping center, call their buddy on cell phone and go hit your home..and watch you from down the street or another part of the parking lot. If you come out, the watcher calls his buddy back on cell phone to HURRY UP and git through hitting your home.

Sound far fetched ? It has happened.

They could be reading all these posts about ways to defeat them, or, in this case, getting NEW ideas to use.


crooks are sneaky these days, using modern technology to HELP them steal your stuff.

[ve2nsm]

Quote[/b] (kb9iou @ Nov. 16 2006,02:01)]Got a dog... that makes a pretty good alarm.. If that doesn't work, my Kimber 1911 is cocked and locked and is sitting next to the bed... anyone that comes in the house is not going to leave under their own power.
And of course, your gun is remote controlled when you're hundreds of miles from your house, right?

[KC9ECI]

Start watching ebay for a seller with a list of goodies that matches your loss.

[ai4ep]

...or even just an item or two.

They may to only sell an item or two via ebay

[K9STH]

Police officers tell me that even if you don't have a dog to put a fairly large dog dish on your patio. Most thieves won't take a chance that there isn't a dog in the house.

Unfortunately both of our dogs died a while back. The miniature poodle was 14 and the Manchester Terrier was 16. My wife doesn't want to get attached to any more dogs so she hasn't allowed replacement (yet, although she looks very longingly at puppies at pet stores) although my eldest daughter has threatened to bring over a miniature poodle puppy. Those that are in the 10 to 20 pound range tend to make the best watchdogs. They generally put up quite a racket when anyone that they don't know comes around and thieves don't want any noise.

I have had several vehicles broken into over the years so now I just don't leave anything of value in my vehicles and leave the doors unlocked. That way I don't have to replace any broken windows. I have even had car alarms bypassed which usually means that a "professional" was involved instead of the usual "druggies" or "teenagers".

Glen, K9STH

[kf6rdn]

Sorry to hear Terry.

Had same thing happen a month ago.

They didnt take the ham stuff, but any small thing packable.
Unfortunatly I had gotten back from a shooting outting and some of the guns were still out to be cleaned and not locked up, so lost them.

[kc9gld]

Terry, Sorry about your loss, I had 2 portables stolen from my car a yeasu dual band and a 202 Rad Shack. Never have heard anything since then, 2 years or so. Even spoke to the local Rad Shack MGR. about anyone wanting a power supply or new battery. Best of luck in the future,73' Harley

[KS4VT]

Quote[/b] (ai4ep @ Nov. 16 2006,12:29)]Vt --- and dont say much about your leaving after you get back...Thieves can and do keep records of when you left and notice a pattern to your leavings #( always bragging about where he went AFTER the first weekend of every month, so he is always gone for the first wekend of every month ), etc talking about being at Wednesday night church services on Thursday morning on local 2 meter repeater...hmm...he is always AT CHURCH #from 5 - 7 or 8 pm on Wednesday night !!
Yep...it sure doesn't take long for them to go through a house as most of us are creatures of habit.

[WB2WIK]

Quote[/b] (K9STH @ Nov. 16 2006,20:42)]Police officers tell me that even if you don't have a dog to put a fairly large dog dish on your patio. Most thieves won't take a chance that there isn't a dog in the house.
Years ago when I did not have a dog, I bought a tape recording of what sounded like a HUGE dog barking, jumping, scraping at the door -- a lot of dog noise coming from a dog that was probably the size of a small horse.

I re-recorded that onto an 8-track cartridge (of all things!), which of course are continuous loops, so I had 30 minutes of dog barking noise which would then repeat automatically for another 30 minutes if necessary.

Used an 8-track "home player" (remember those things?) keyed by a motion detector that would normally connect to an alarm system. No alarm, just the cart player.

Anything moved anywhere around the house, and the tape would play loudly (40W amp and big speakers) for several minutes.

Never knew if that kept anyone from breaking in or not -- but nobody ever broke in! I still have the parts from that project, although the 8-track deck died.

So, you don't need a big dog -- just a tape player and a PA system. Nowadays, not even the tape player -- you could record it on your computer and play it back through its sound card. Probably even a free download of "big dog barking" on the web somewhere... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

WB2WIK/6

[ky5u]

Sorry, Terry. Yeppers, my house is alarmed and every house I have had for the last 25 years. Stealing ham gear ought to be a capital offense.

Had a friend who wired his alarm system to a solenoid pin in his doggy door. If the alarm sounded, it let his pit bull in the house. We were always sad he never had a break-in.

[ai4ep]

some one sent me a PM asking if I had any attack possums in my home ??

[k5lnx]

Hi Terry,

Dude, I hate to hear about your computer and radio gear. I was broken into about 5 years ago one evening while I was home, and though the guy left with nothing, I tell ya what, I had a 9mm next to the bed the following night after a trip to the pawn shop. I've also had my car broken into with the car stereo stolen, and that feeling of violation will be there for a long time.

I'm a new ham, and keeping a 2m radio in my car I'm always expecting to walk outside and find broken class and the radio gone. I have a huge 2m antenna on the roof of my truck, which I guess is a dead giveaway that I have a radio, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no one will bother with it.

Hope all works out, and dude, check your credit monthly for a while.

Take care,

Sam, KX5SAM