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Comment by mckirk | Hacker News Reader

You also need a way to communicate back the tracking results, which presumably implies a SIM card and thus more opportunity to get detected (and linked back to you). But yes, in theory you can (and always could) do that.

The barrier to entry would be a lot higher though, as all that's needed here is 'microcontroller with Bluetooth'. And that really makes it dangerously easy.

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> You also need a way to communicate back the tracking results, which presumably implies a SIM card and thus more opportunity to get detected (and linked back to you). But yes, in theory you can (and always could) do that.

I think gp included the lorawan for that purpose. No SIM required.

Ah right, I had overlooked that, never having seen the word "lorawan" before.

I honestly have no idea how widespread LoRaWAN is, but I would be very surprised if it came anywhere close to the coverage you can achieve using Apple users carrying your uplinks around unwittingly. (Especially if you are attempting to track an Apple user.)

You'd also need a LoRaWAN network to hook into.

But most importantly, I doubt you could build a LoRaWAN tracker as compactly as an AirTag. A beacon would use significantly less electricity and therefore require a smaller battery.

Below is one of the smallest LoRaWAN modems on the market, which by itself is marginally bigger than an AirTag. Now add batteries, GPS, antennas, and an SoC to drive the whole thing.

https://www.murata.com/en-eu/news/connectivitymodule/lpwa/20...

There are some groups building 'armageddon' mesh-based hand-held communicators like Meshtastic. Converged hardware is already there. The network probably is too in more and more metros if you're not within a few km of what you're trying to communicate with/track.

https://meshtastic.org

Map: https://canvis.app/meshtastic-map

There's also the helium network (https://explorer.helium.com/) which has a surprising amount of coverage, especially in urban areas.

This looks interesting, but device itself looks like it wouldn't survive fall on the floor, let alone armageddon. Just joking.

The case is up to you. I plan on using a plastic food jar :)

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