California Surveyors Forums

GPS Base station set-up stolen today, January 20th from Palmdale, CA. The unit was set up near the northeast corner of the intersection of East Avenue Q and 120th Street East. Lost equipment included a Trimble R8 Receiver s/n 4438138569 with a wood tripod and cowbell battery.

Please keep your eyes out for this equipment and stay safe!

Matthew Vernon, PLS (805) 383-3373

I hope you get your gear back, but I have to shake my head every time I see an unattended base station, especially one within a few steps of a paved road. You might as well put a "Steal Me!" sign on it.

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Need to train rattlesnakes as equip guards :)

I like the rattlesnake idea; just remove the rattle. Can't be warning anyone now.

I remember a few jobs where we'd decided the Ashtech Promark 2 station we were setting up was too visible, so we brought a college student along to watch it for us. He was happy to get minimum wage while reading textbooks for class.

It worked just fine until we came back early one afternoon and he was napping. We quietly picked up the equipment, walked it into the woods about 300 feet away, and buzzed him on the radio to see how it was going.

Back to the original point of the post, I'll keep my eyes open on the various private sale sites; I'm never really sure what these thieves think they can do with this equipment.

"It worked just fine until we came back early one afternoon and he was napping. We quietly picked up the equipment, walked it into the woods about 300 feet away, and buzzed him on the radio to see how it was going."

I would have loved to witness his reaction.

One time i drove by one of my job sites and saw my TS set up near the shoulder and neither of my guys within a few hundred feet. I quietly packed it up and drove away. I got that idea from a boss I had quite a few years ago.

It makes sense to me as well to hire someone at minimum wage to babysit the base. Even a napping student is probably just enough of a deterrent to keep some opportunistic thieves from walking off with it.

Hope you get it back, Matt.

One time, I drove by a GPS receiver just off the road and was wondering where the crew was. About 5 miles down the road noticed a crew from a rather "large public agency" with another receiver. Did a 180, drove back and simply put a hat over the base receiver...and proceeded to wait.

Took them about 20 minutes to drive up. Long enough for someone to be long gone. I knew their boss, so I asked if their boss approved of this procedure.

next chapter meeting, the boss was telling me about it!

I heard that the rattlesnakes on Catalina are directly related to our diamondbacks but without the rattles.

Nature is assisting :)

The Catlina Island in question is actually Isla Catalina in the Sea of Cortez, near Lorreto. It is not the one off Los Angles.

I know it said a wooden tripod. Hope it isn't stolen.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/fo ... 06099.html