CQHQ

More than just a Ham radio blog.
CQHQ
is an informative, cynical and sometimes humorous look at what is happening in the world of amateur radio.

Thursday, 27 August 2009

Stolen Ham Equipment Database

Hugh Golding G7UOD has come up with what seems a great idea… an online rig register called, wait for it, Rigregister Online

The idea is you keep an online list of all your equipment’s serial numbers and then if they get stolen you can flag it so a buyer will be alerted if someone tries to sell it. Hugh is currently talking to the RSGB HQ and various well know shops and the police force and the vibes look positive.

Now as Hugh is a G7 and I think we sevens should stick together I will say nice one Hugh! , but, and there is always a but on here because I just love to be cynical, how safe is your site Hugh? I love the idea of a register, but I don’t know you from Adam (actually I do because Adam is one of my sons) so how do I know I can trust you with my data? How do I know some criminal gang is not going to steal your database and find out who has the radios they want to steal? I am also worried that sellers will not up-date their data and I might have trouble persuading someone that I was the legitimate owner and what about ’silent keys’ who up-dates their data when they pass on? More than that I would be concerned that it might lead to a false sense of security and suddenly when you get a radio nicked you type in the URL to get up your list and “where did that site go?”

I still think it is a great idea but I will have to think about adding my data to it a bit longer. Until then all my rig data is on my PC, my laptop, my portable HDD, two memory sticks and a scrap of paper in a shoe box.


The Tee Shirt is from http://www.zazzle.com/ by the way.

3 comments:

  1. Hey.

    Thanks for the comments.

    Ermm trust is something earnt and I realise that is hard to establish online.

    You have some interesting points and I'm all for
    people pointing ideas and views out. It helps me try to make it work better and take on board things I might not have thought of.

    Anyway thanks for the link and your views.

    Hugh G7UOD.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well the site is still running nearly two years now. I have a few thousand users now and equal amount of listed equipment.

    I have been promoting it around rallies where I feel there is the most likelihood of gear getting passed on and have a Smart Phone / PDA search tool for checking serials.

    Many Thanks

    Hugh. G7UOD.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Hugh, glad to hear the site is still doing well. Let me know if you need a announce anything new and I put something on the blog.

    Steve GW7AAV

    ReplyDelete