Ryan McGinnis
EF5
Thought I'd share this, since it took me a bit of experimenting to figure out how to do this. I've taken my stock 2G iPod Touch and converted it into a GPS-enabled always-on-the-internet chasing tool. The conversion will cost around $100 on the low end, but most of the equipment you buy to do this can be used for other hardware and applications, as well.
What you have:
1 iPod touch.
The iPod already comes with Safari, which will allow you to browse pretty much any typical chaser data site, so....
What you need to put on it:
The App "Radarscope".
Radarscope supports constant refreshing of radar as new scans come out, Spotter Network location reporting, and a little GPS "blip" showing where you are. However...
What an iPod touch lacks:
GPS
Cellular internet
The first problem is how to get GPS onto an iPod touch. Stock iPods support bluetooth, but will not interface with a bluetooth GPS puck, not because the iPod lacks the hardware functionality, but rather because Apple will not allow such functionality to be added. Fortunately, enterprising minds have discovered a way to crack open the skull of your iPod operating system and surgically implant a large middle finger pointing at the Apple corporation; what you want to do is "Jailbreak" your iPod Touch.
Note that Jailbreaking an iPod voids the warranty. If you walk up to a Genius bar with a jailbroken phone, the results will be bad. Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Fortunately, restoring a jailbroken iPod to the way you found it (leaving no trace that you ever messed with it) is a very simple process, so you can always restore your iPod before you bring it to the Apple gods for servicing.
Why jailbreak? Basically, it allows you to access programs and functionality that Apple doesn't approve. Of course, with this come risks; I'll leave you to research that on your own. But if you're not incredibly stupid with what you download, you'll probably be fine.
Also note that jailbreaking may involve a level of risk of bricking your iPod. Almost all the comments I have read on the issue point to this being completely impossible, but a small number of people insist that it can happen. Since you can easily reload the original Apple OS onto the iPod at any time, I tend to think it's impossible as well, but definitely do your own research. I personally have had zero issues with jailbreaking.
How do you jailbreak an iPod? It depends if you have a Mac or a PC. Personally, I like the program Blackra1n, which will jailbreak your iPod in about 30 seconds.
Once you have jailbroken your iPod, you will need to purchase a program called RoqyGPS. This costs 12 Euros via Paypal (the developer lives in France). You will do this first by downloading the program into your iPod via the iPod app Cydia (this is installed automatically when you jailbreak your phone). Cydia is basically a black-market App Store. Once you have downloaded and installed RoqyGPS via Cydia, you can visit Roqy's website to purchase a serial number. In general, it takes the guy a couple of days to get you your serial number.
Once RoqyGPS is installed, you need a bluetooth GPS puck. A list of compatible and incompatible models is here. I picked up a used G-SAT BT359W for about 20 bucks off of Ebay. Works like a charm.
Congrats, you now have GPS on your iPod. Nearly all GPS enabled programs will now know where you are. The only caveat is that the Google Mapping software won't see your GPS for some reason; the developer claims that he plans to fix this, if he can. The important thing is that you will now show up as a blip on Radarscope and can file Spotter Network reports.
But what about interwebs? Unlike an iPhone, an iPod only accesses the internet via wifi. This is why you need to purchase a:
Cradlepoint Router
The router you'll want will depend on what you use to access the cellular internet -- if you tether via a smartphone or via a USB 3G dongle, then the lower end models will work; if you tether via an expresscard, you'll need one of the newer models. The bare bones model (what I got) can be found for around $90 new and around $65 used. Once you have this, you can plug in your USB or Expresscard or Smartphone and... viola! Your cellular connection is now a wifi hotspot. Of course, if you already have some form of wifi router in your car connected to the internet, you don't need to buy another -- this is only if you don't have one.
Note that these routers are pretty dang small. The router plus the bluetooth puck on your dash will take up less space than most paperback books.
Alternately, if you have a Windows Mobile smartphone, you can download a free program called "ICSControl" or a pay program called "WMWifiRouter", which will turn your phone in a software-based mobile router. Personally, I would avoid this solution, as I've tried it and found both programs very buggy. Phones just weren't meant to do that much routing work; they tend to overheat and crash.
Okay, so now you have internet and GPS always on on your iPod Touch. With this, you can now place the iPod on your dash (you'll want to have some sort of car-charging cable attached at all times, unless you want your iPod to die in a couple hours), set the brightness to maximum, set the sleep to off, and fire up Radarscope. Viola. Live, zoomable level 3 radar products that centers on your current position. Want to check data? Back on out of that and hit Safari and surf.
I haven't field tested this yet during an actual chase, but this seems to be a very elegant solution for getting a lot of equipment out of the car and concentrating more on the sky. Of course, if you own an actual iPhone, you don't need to do all this to get this functionality -- it's already built in. But this iPod touch method allows you freedom to chose your data provider. And it goes without saying that you can always have both a laptop and a mini-radar display iPod touch on your dash at the same time, since the wifi router will securely connect something like a dozen users at a time, though personally I'd find that a bit overkill.
What you have:
1 iPod touch.
The iPod already comes with Safari, which will allow you to browse pretty much any typical chaser data site, so....
What you need to put on it:
The App "Radarscope".
Radarscope supports constant refreshing of radar as new scans come out, Spotter Network location reporting, and a little GPS "blip" showing where you are. However...
What an iPod touch lacks:
GPS
Cellular internet
The first problem is how to get GPS onto an iPod touch. Stock iPods support bluetooth, but will not interface with a bluetooth GPS puck, not because the iPod lacks the hardware functionality, but rather because Apple will not allow such functionality to be added. Fortunately, enterprising minds have discovered a way to crack open the skull of your iPod operating system and surgically implant a large middle finger pointing at the Apple corporation; what you want to do is "Jailbreak" your iPod Touch.
Note that Jailbreaking an iPod voids the warranty. If you walk up to a Genius bar with a jailbroken phone, the results will be bad. Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Fortunately, restoring a jailbroken iPod to the way you found it (leaving no trace that you ever messed with it) is a very simple process, so you can always restore your iPod before you bring it to the Apple gods for servicing.
Why jailbreak? Basically, it allows you to access programs and functionality that Apple doesn't approve. Of course, with this come risks; I'll leave you to research that on your own. But if you're not incredibly stupid with what you download, you'll probably be fine.
Also note that jailbreaking may involve a level of risk of bricking your iPod. Almost all the comments I have read on the issue point to this being completely impossible, but a small number of people insist that it can happen. Since you can easily reload the original Apple OS onto the iPod at any time, I tend to think it's impossible as well, but definitely do your own research. I personally have had zero issues with jailbreaking.
How do you jailbreak an iPod? It depends if you have a Mac or a PC. Personally, I like the program Blackra1n, which will jailbreak your iPod in about 30 seconds.
Once you have jailbroken your iPod, you will need to purchase a program called RoqyGPS. This costs 12 Euros via Paypal (the developer lives in France). You will do this first by downloading the program into your iPod via the iPod app Cydia (this is installed automatically when you jailbreak your phone). Cydia is basically a black-market App Store. Once you have downloaded and installed RoqyGPS via Cydia, you can visit Roqy's website to purchase a serial number. In general, it takes the guy a couple of days to get you your serial number.
Once RoqyGPS is installed, you need a bluetooth GPS puck. A list of compatible and incompatible models is here. I picked up a used G-SAT BT359W for about 20 bucks off of Ebay. Works like a charm.
Congrats, you now have GPS on your iPod. Nearly all GPS enabled programs will now know where you are. The only caveat is that the Google Mapping software won't see your GPS for some reason; the developer claims that he plans to fix this, if he can. The important thing is that you will now show up as a blip on Radarscope and can file Spotter Network reports.
But what about interwebs? Unlike an iPhone, an iPod only accesses the internet via wifi. This is why you need to purchase a:
Cradlepoint Router
The router you'll want will depend on what you use to access the cellular internet -- if you tether via a smartphone or via a USB 3G dongle, then the lower end models will work; if you tether via an expresscard, you'll need one of the newer models. The bare bones model (what I got) can be found for around $90 new and around $65 used. Once you have this, you can plug in your USB or Expresscard or Smartphone and... viola! Your cellular connection is now a wifi hotspot. Of course, if you already have some form of wifi router in your car connected to the internet, you don't need to buy another -- this is only if you don't have one.
Note that these routers are pretty dang small. The router plus the bluetooth puck on your dash will take up less space than most paperback books.
Alternately, if you have a Windows Mobile smartphone, you can download a free program called "ICSControl" or a pay program called "WMWifiRouter", which will turn your phone in a software-based mobile router. Personally, I would avoid this solution, as I've tried it and found both programs very buggy. Phones just weren't meant to do that much routing work; they tend to overheat and crash.
Okay, so now you have internet and GPS always on on your iPod Touch. With this, you can now place the iPod on your dash (you'll want to have some sort of car-charging cable attached at all times, unless you want your iPod to die in a couple hours), set the brightness to maximum, set the sleep to off, and fire up Radarscope. Viola. Live, zoomable level 3 radar products that centers on your current position. Want to check data? Back on out of that and hit Safari and surf.
I haven't field tested this yet during an actual chase, but this seems to be a very elegant solution for getting a lot of equipment out of the car and concentrating more on the sky. Of course, if you own an actual iPhone, you don't need to do all this to get this functionality -- it's already built in. But this iPod touch method allows you freedom to chose your data provider. And it goes without saying that you can always have both a laptop and a mini-radar display iPod touch on your dash at the same time, since the wifi router will securely connect something like a dozen users at a time, though personally I'd find that a bit overkill.
