trb@masscomp.UUCP (06/07/84)
You might wonder how the Conn staties catch you with your detector on, after all, you can turn it off for a moment whenever you hear it go off. Well, I know someone who was driving thru Conn, a statie snuck up behind him, blasted him with microwaves, and when the box lit up, he got pulled over. I think there ought to be a switch that disables (just) the lights. Then it would be useful on the dash. Sometimes I think about putting my Whistler in a tissue box, but I've never done it. By the way, I used to ride with the box clipped to the sun visor, now I have it velcro'd to the dash (stick on the velcro with contact cement, the velcro stickum backing loses in the sun), and I don't think there's a difference in range. Don't leave home without it. Andy Tannenbaum Masscomp Inc Westford MA (617) 692-6200 x274
35738273@sdccsu3.UUCP (Dead.Account) (06/08/84)
All this talk about radar reminds me of somthing a former hot rodder
told me. In the early days of radar, an excellent way of jamming it was
to put steel wool behind the hubcaps. Unfortunately, I understnd that
this is no longer effective. (Wouldn't work with mags anyway...)
More trivia from...
Brian Donnelly
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (06/08/84)
Wrong, RADAR breath. A flick of the lights or a left turn signal flashing does NOT mean move over. The universal meaning in the US is to: 1. Lower your High Beams (to oncoming traffic) 2. The cops are waiting for you around the next bend. 3. Just trying to read your license plate. The left turn signal bit is ludicrous. The universal meaning is "I am turning Left." To apply any other meaning is asking for trouble. As for driving in the left lane, we have been all through this before. But, in the interest of education, and stirring up more nonsense, here goes again. If I am moving at 75 in the left lane, passing a slower group of cars in the center lane, and I am a reasonable number of car lengths behind the car in front of me and you start flashing and drooling at the mouth to go faster, you can stuff it where the sun don't shine. I do not intend to stuff myself into a slower lane of traffic just to satisfy your ego. I will move over only when it is safe and there are no more cars to be passed. I leave now to await the flaming responses from certain sources who have the mistaken idea that they are the only ones on the road who count. T. C. Wheeler
waynez@houxh.UUCP (W.ZAKARAS) (06/08/84)
T C Wheeler must think he owns the road by the he wrote that article. Also is he some type of GOD that he can give people names like RADAR BREATH? Well to each his own. I hope I never get stuck behind him, he'd probably step on his brakes just to be an obnoxious driver. WayneZ... (get out of my way)
simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) (06/11/84)
The idea of using steel wool or aluminum foil to fool radars has
been around for a while, and it does not work. Why?
When radar was first used for detection of enemy aircraft in combat,
the incoming planes would drop bits of aluminum foil or other metal
such as steel wool to form a cloud
of false targets, obscuring the radar images of the actual attack
aircraft. This was essentially an early form of radar jamming.
Later, someone rather simplistically concluded from this that foil
and steel wool somehow upset radar; hence the myth.
In fact, steel wool behind hubcaps can't do anything since the metal
exterior of the car (including the hubcap itself) serves as a microwave
reflector, which is how radar speed dection works.
--
Ray Simard
Loral Instrumentation, San Diego
{ucbvax, ittvax!dcdwest}!sdcsvax!sdccsu3!loral!simardix21@sdccs6.UUCP (David Whiteman) (06/11/84)
Actually aluminum pie pans were used all the time to block radar detectors. The police officer would use it to block the radar beam until he was right behind a potential offender, and then he would move the pie pan and the offender got zapped by the radar without being alerted to its presence beforehand.
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (06/11/84)
[] Yes I will step on my brakes if you are attempting to get into my trunk. I get mean and nasty when folks take it upon themselves to try to lay claim to the passing lane as their own private raceway. I play coummuter roulette twice a day, 95% in the center lane. But, when I am passing in the Left lane, and some cretin, who just did a three-lane slide, starts slavering for me to go 85 and get out of his way, a little bell goes off and I get very stubborn. If you don't like it, tough. Oh, I will move over, but not until it's safe. No amount of flashing lights, horns, or finger waving will hurry me into moving either. T. C. Wheeler
roger@felix.UUCP (06/13/84)
[] About high beams and moving over. Again. If you are given a couple of flashes with high beams, and you steadfastly refuse to move over, don't be surprised when someone with 100-watt highs + rally lights (all illegal, of course) doesn't give you a pretty good imitation of sunrise in your rear view mirror. And that is where "the sun don't (ordinarily) shine." Roger Webster
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (06/15/84)
As I have said many times before, I don't give a damn if you flash a circus searchlight behind me, I ain't moving over until it is safe to do so, so flash away left-lane speed freaks, it won't do any good. T. C. Wheeler
mth@drutx.UUCP (Hamilton) (06/15/84)
T.C. Wheeler: It's drivers like you that keep the speed limit at 55. You don't feel safe driving over that speed, so when you pass someone in the slower lane, you must only feel safe doing 2 MPH faster than them. Which would take more than a minute to pass, allowing for safe clearances you probably need. And you think the cars piled up behind you are speed freaks. You're are probably one of those drivers that don't drive over 50 whenever a cop is in sight. (Since you are so stubborn about your right to the fast lane, I feel compelled to group you with the other nuts on the road.) If you really think about it (maybe your emotions are stronger than your brain), you could drive in the slower lanes until you need to pass, and accelerate around them (read - hit the gas, change lanes, pass, change back, let off gas) when the fast lane is clear. If the fast lane isn't clear, and several cars are ahead of you in the slower lane, you have two choices; (a) Accept the slower speed until traffic dies down, or (b) Accept the fact that you will have to drive at the higher speed until the slower lane is clear. Is that such a tough decision to cope with? If it is, you apparently are out to piss people off instead of helping them out. This business about driving slow/flashing off-road lights is ridiculous. I've heard of people actually getting killed because one person gets mad enough to shoot the other. Both of you should have a little more patience. Sometimes it takes alot, I know. I like the fast lane myself, and hate it when a slow car is in front of me. When they are attempting to pass another car (seems to be a big, or difficult, event for some drivers), I can wait. It's when they stay in the fast lane after the pass, or when no other cars are in the slow lane in the first place; that's when I feel like blowing them off. So I pass them at 80 hoping they get the picture. Some do, some don't. Oh well, another one of life's BIG problems, right. Mark Hamilton Denver, CO
bees@drutx.UUCP (DavisRB) (06/15/84)
> As I have said many times before, I don't give a damn > if you flash a circus searchlight behind me, I ain't moving over > until it is safe to do so, so flash away left-lane speed freaks, > it won't do any good. I don't think any reasonable speed freak would expect you to move right if it were unsafe. The problem is that 50% of the drivers I see are oblivious to what's going on around them. They will be in the left lane going 50 with nobody for miles in the right lane. Or, they will be in the left lane pacing the slow car or truck in the right lane. If a slower driver is passing someone in the right lane, fine. I'll stay back. If they pull into the left lane for no reason at all, or just to go the same speed as the right lane, then they should just stay in the right lane. Around here we have lots of hills and mountains. How many drivers of small power cars or heavy trucks pull to the right lane before starting up a steep incline? Some do, but many do not. When I drive, I know who is doing what in every direction. Most drivers are half asleep. Just the other day there was this bozo going 55 in the left lane with nobody in the right lane for 100 yards each direction. As I approached at 70 or 80, he obviously didn't care, so I signaled right for a few seconds, then proceeded to change to the right lane. Well, of course, the bozo finally notices me, at the last second, right as I am changing lanes. He doesn't care about my turn signal either, so he jerks right. I have to break hard and jockey around him. The whole point here is whether you like what other people do, or not, have some consideration. Ray Davis
roger@felix.UUCP (06/16/84)
[] It will NEVER be safe, so long as you are out there. R. Webster
wildbill@ucbvax.UUCP (William J. Laubenheimer) (06/18/84)
> Around here we have lots of hills and mountains. How many drivers > of small power cars or heavy trucks pull to the right lane before > starting up a steep incline? Some do, but many do not. > Ray Davis Around here we have lots of hills and mountains, too. As a frequent driver of "small power" [sic] cars and occasional driver of motorhomes and medium weight trucks, I do not pull into the right lane before starting up a steep incline. Instead, like most savvy drivers of underpowered vehicles, I have my foot to the floor, picking up speed and getting the RPM's up to the point where I have enough torque to climb the upcoming hill as effectively as possible. I move over only after I have lost enough speed that I no longer belong in the leftward lanes. I have seen lots of professional long-haul truck drivers doing exactly the same thing. Their, and my, biggest pet peeve is a driver who doesn't maintain speed when starting up a hill, forcing them, or me, to back off or even brake. The result is a much slower climb and more strain on the engine. ____ Bill Laubenheimer ___ / \ ___ UC-Berkeley Computer Science / \ | o o | / \ ucbvax!wildbill ------+++----------()----------+++------ ...Killjoy was here!
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (06/18/84)
Apparently Mr Hamilton needs to go back to school and learn how to read. Nowhere have I mentioned the 55 mph speed limit. Nowhere have I mentioned staying in the left lane. FLAME ON******* If you would learn to read before you make such stupid and assinine statements, you would begin to understand. I will say it once more for hamilton WHEN I AM PASSING A GROUP OR EVEN ONE CAR THAT IS GOING SLOWER, AND THAT CAR OR GROUP OF CARS IS IN THE CENTER LANE, I WILL USE THE LEFT LANE. I WILL TRAVEL AT THE SPEED THAT THE LEFT LANE IS TRAVELING UNTIL I SAFELY PASS THE CARS IN THE CENTER LANE. I WILL NOT PULL BACK INTO THE CENTER LANE UNTIL IT IS SAFE TO DO SO. NO AMOUNT OF LEFT LANE ANTICS BY FOOLS SUCH AS YOURSELF WILL MOVE ME UNTIL IT IS SAFE. THE CENTER LANE NORMALLY MOVES AT BETWEEN 65 AND 70 AT THE RUSH HOUR. THE LEFT LANE MOVES AT 75 TOPS AT THE SAME TIME. FOR YOU TO BE TRYING TO DO 80 IS THE ABSOLUTE MARK OF A FOOL BECAUSE THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN DO THAT AROUND HERE IS TO BE CONSTANTLY LANE SWITCHING, ANOTHER STUPID WAY TO DRIVE IN HEAVY TRAFFIC. SO, UP YOURS HAMILTON. T. C. Wheeler
mth@drutx.UUCP (Hamilton) (06/20/84)
T.C. Wheeler: If you would learn how to write, people would be able to understand what you mean. Your latest reply has proven your brain and logic (if you have either) have no control over your emotions. I can see you driving down the highway, gritting your teeth, with a stranglehold on the steering wheel. Please stay in NJ (?). Mark Hamilton
chrisp@oliven.UUCP (06/20/84)
I was listening to the news yesterday on KCBS. At the end of the reports on the latest Supreme Court decisions, there was a one liner to the effect that the court had decided that the District of Columbia could lawfully confiscate "radar scanners". While the other descicions were described again in later broadcasts and there were appropriate articles in the paper this morning, I have neither heard nor seen anything further about "radar scanners". Has anybody else picked up anything on this? Chris Prael
royw@hound.UUCP (#R.WALTERS) (06/20/84)
T. C. WHEELER states truth, not fiction, concerning sane driving. He gets my vote for attempting to point out the inane policies of the idiots that ignore the traffic laws. BTM