# Do People Still Steal Car Radios? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174 "2016-03-16T16:50:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/41 "2016-03-20T17:57:56Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > In 2008, someone caused a little over $200 in glass damage to my car in order to steal a generic single-disc CD player that had been purchased brand new for $99 in 2000. It isn’t uncommon for the homeless and addicts to break a window to steal the change in the center console. People are dumb about crime. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/42 "2016-03-20T18:45:00Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > G-d bless Radio Shack, it is no more. ☹ You sure about that? I could drive to one, that is open for business, in 15 minutes or so (depends on traffic). They’re fewer than they once were, but do still exist. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/43 "2016-03-20T18:53:37Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > You sure about that? I could drive to one, that is open for business, in 15 minutes or so (depends on traffic). They’re fewer than they once were, but do still exist. I thought they had gone through the tubes. Wikipedia says they have “partnered with Sprint”. As I mentioned above, they have very few electronic parts, which used to be their bread and butter. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/44 "2016-03-20T19:28:16Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought they had gone through the tubes. Wikipedia says they have “partnered with Sprint”. > > As I mentioned above, they have very few electronic parts, which used to be their bread and butter. Last time I went to one, the very nice young man behind the counter said he’d heard from his higher-ups that they’re dumping a lot of the prefab consumer stuff and going back to components and such. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/45 "2016-03-20T20:59:14Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Tell me - now that Radio Shack is gone, where DO I find “radio/electronic” solder? > > For kids interested in circuits - especially those circuits NOT on chips, where the Hell are they going to find tools/components/supplies? > > Oh well, the Chinese can do it cheaper anyway, right? > > Jobs and “the Woz” will not be replicated soon. [Tell that to the thousands of people all over world that use the Raspberry Pi.](https://www.raspberrypi.org) [Or Arduino, for that matter.](http://forum.arduino.cc) ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/46 "2016-03-21T00:15:02Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Saw a photo joke once… > > My ideal car stereo, 2000 - a fancy front with lit control knobs and buttons, CD, backlit equalizer, etc. > My ideal car stereo, 2014 - blank faceplate with “audio in” jack. > > There was a market for car stereos when the typical factory basic radio was AM/FM and nothing else; but people wanted surround sound CD or tape and all sorts of other features…Once your cellphone can carry more music than you could possibly listen to while doing a road trip through all 50 states and Guam, and produced sound quality to rival the best stereos - who needed a separate unit for your car that you had to update with some awkward procedure? It’s worth mentioning that the 1990’s and early 2000’s were the heyday of the “geek belt” era, when people carried around (or dreamed of carrying around) lots of gizmos that each did something cool, e.g. cell phone (dumb), PDA, graphing calculator, AM/FM radio, ham radio, weather radio, universal remote control, handheld video game system, etc. Nowadays, people get most of what they need from smartphones and have long since ditched the box of gizmos. Oh, and how do you include Hawaii and Guam in your road trip? Do you use an amphibious vehicle or something? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/47 "2016-03-21T01:03:46Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > How many here know what a “crystal radio” is? Hint: it used a cat’s whisker. One of the unmentioned and IMHO really sad aspects of the move to digital transmission is that it won’t be possible to make a useful crystal set radio anymore. The fact that you could, in principle, build a device that hauled music out of the ether from little more than a length of wire, tinfoil, paper, and a little bit of fools-gold was quite something. (OK, the headphones were a bit harder.) Something I noticed about car radios - even the in-built systems often use the DIN standard mount. It is just that the dashboard is build so the units all integrate in behind. So the entire installation is peculiar to the car model. The habit manufactures have of adding some car functions to the touch screens of higher end systems makes the integration more pervasive. Common to have air-con controls via CAN bus available. (I notice that at least a couple of after market head units now support air-con control.) There is a ready market for upgrade units for some cars. My car could be obtained with two levels of in-car entertainment. The higher spec unit brought in GPS, better speakers, sound, and a reversing camera. The whole thing was three DIN units that bolted into the dash. Owner forums were full of posts asking how to upgrade. For a while second hand units would appear on eBay for over $2,000. The only possible sources were wrecked cars or theft. One suspects thefts were no opportunistic junkies, but rather organised theft on demand. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/48 "2016-03-21T01:36:19Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > One of the unmentioned and IMHO really sad aspects of the move to digital transmission is that it won’t be possible to make a useful crystal set radio anymore. The fact that you could, in principle, build a device that hauled music out of the ether from little more than a length of wire, tinfoil, paper, and a little bit of fools-gold was quite something. (OK, the headphones were a bit harder.) at least in the US, I don’t think analog radio is going anywhere for a while. since we settled on IBOC for our digital radio transmission, there’s no “penalty” for keeping the analog broadcasts going unlike digital TV. > [@](#): > > Something I noticed about car radios - even the in-built systems often use the DIN standard mount. It is just that the dashboard is build so the units all integrate in behind. So the entire installation is peculiar to the car model. The habit manufactures have of adding some car functions to the touch screens of higher end systems makes the integration more pervasive. well, that’s mostly because the automakers don’t care about the aftermarket. they’re not in the business of selling aftermarket parts. their stylists are tasked with making an appealing, attractive interior. they don’t want to have to stick an ugly black rectangle in the center stack. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/49 "2016-03-21T03:05:12Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > It’s worth mentioning that the 1990’s and early 2000’s were the heyday of the “geek belt” era, when people carried around (or dreamed of carrying around) lots of gizmos that each did something cool, e.g. cell phone (dumb), PDA, graphing calculator, AM/FM radio, ham radio, weather radio, universal remote control, handheld video game system, etc. Nowadays, people get most of what they need from smartphones and have long since ditched the box of gizmos. My husband has a smart phone, with belt pouch. His belt pouches also include: graphing calculator, PDA, and several other items. Inventorying normal pocket luggage would take most of the day. When he takes off his belt and empties his pockets, he loses about 20 lb. He’s been dong this since I met him in the mid-90s. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/50 "2016-03-21T05:37:15Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > One of the unmentioned and IMHO really sad aspects of the move to digital transmission is that it won’t be possible to make a useful crystal set radio anymore. The fact that you could, in principle, build a device that hauled music out of the ether from little more than a length of wire, tinfoil, paper, and a little bit of fools-gold was quite something. (OK, the headphones were a bit harder.)… I built one of these as a child. It’s a really valuable lesson in electronics that every kid should have. Crystal radios do have the disadvantages of being difficult to amplify and also AM only, so they have limited utility. Still, I could see the advantage of having one in a wilderness scenario where batteries need to be preserved or are not available. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/51 "2016-03-21T06:19:50Z")
I think the big thing being overlooked is the increase in quality of stock stereo systems and that ant-theft systems on newer cars. There’s been a decreasing need to buy aftermarket stereos, which were stolen in droves 10-20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/52 "2016-03-21T06:28:32Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I built one of these as a child. It’s a really valuable lesson in electronics that every kid should have. > > Crystal radios do have the disadvantages of being difficult to amplify and also AM only, so they have limited utility. Still, I could see the advantage of having one in a wilderness scenario where batteries need to be preserved or are not available. They do have a pretty high output impedance, which made using a BJT not work so well as an amplifier, but a FET tends to work pretty well. The big problem seemed to be the rather poor selectivity, as your Q was rather limited at best. Adding any gain to your system could mean going to a regenerative design. There was nearly as much fun building a radio with a [ZN414](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZN414). ---
**Author:** ![Cp1024](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cp1024](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cp1024)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/53 "2017-08-04T19:27:12Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Tell me - now that Radio Shack is gone, where DO I find “radio/electronic” solder? > > For kids interested in circuits - especially those circuits NOT on chips, where the Hell are they going to find tools/components/supplies? > > Oh well, the Chinese can do it cheaper anyway, right? > > Jobs and “the Woz” will not be replicated soon. I would just get it where radioshack did…from China. They had the worst markup for cheap stuff. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/54 "2017-08-04T19:33:22Z")
I bought it at Home Despot, next to the plumbing solder. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/55 "2017-08-04T21:40:56Z")
In my old neighborhood (Portage Park, the lower end of it) cars would get broken into and stuff stolen all the time. Happened to my sister and her husband on two separate occasions and the radios were both stolen, even with the faceplates off. It does happen, this was about 6 years ago. They were nice aftermarket ones installed in older cars (Dodge Neon, 1993 S10/Chevy Truck)… so the outward appearance of cars I suppose didn’t matter. We had a camera set up so the next time someone broke in a car, they would get busted… happened about a month later and it worked, got the plate number and video of the people… too bad the cops did nothing about it (some excuse along the lines of “well the owner of the vehicle wasn’t in the vehicle”) and let it go. Bah humbug. My radio is easy to take out with screwdrivers and I leave it in all the time in my new neighborhood, no issues. I guess it depends on where you live/proximity to bad neighborhoods. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/56 "2017-08-04T23:17:03Z")
In my local Halfords (a car parts store) they used to have a whole aisle of car stereo systems, from basic all the way up to several hundred pounds. Now they have a small selection of a dozen or so, The most popular thing to steal from cars in the UK are dashcams. Very upsetting to have an expensive window broken to steal a cheap dashcam. It’s also not unknown for thieves to lurk around traffic lights on hot days to reach through open windows and steal handbags/laptops/phones etc. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/57 "2017-08-04T23:18:30Z")
I assume that people that have high powered, subwoofer driven, aftermarket amps, head units, etc are still targets. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/58 "2017-08-05T00:15:12Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > My husband has a smart phone, with belt pouch. His belt pouches also include: graphing calculator, PDA, and several other items. > > Inventorying normal pocket luggage would take most of the day. > > When he takes off his belt and empties his pockets, he loses about 20 lb. He’s been dong this since I met him in the mid-90s. Maybe he’s Batman. 😃 I came to this thread to recommend Frys. Then I was going to point out Arduino. Ninja’d on all fronts. So ‘Batman’ is all I got. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/59 "2017-08-05T00:17:35Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > How many here know what a “crystal radio” is? Hint: it used a cat’s whisker. I assume the cat’s whisker was removed from the cat before being used to make the radio? I can’t image a cat cooperating to be part of a radio. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174/60 "2017-08-05T02:39:42Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I assume the cat’s whisker was removed from the cat before being used to make the radio? > > I can’t image a cat cooperating to be part of a radio. It’s actually a thin “whisker” of wire. Or actually, it’s a semi-conductor diode, which functions the same as a point-contact diode, which, if you had a some experience and a lot of care, you could make with a whisker of tin and a piece of coal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-steal-car-radios/749174.md?page=4)