tb (08/13/82)
a Firstly, this is my first attempt to reply on the net, so if I screw up any (helpful) advice will be appriciated. I have a "micronta" (sp?) xk radar detector which suffers the same problems common with most cheap fuzz busters. Stray noise etc often gives me cause to hit the breaks, (covering one's own ar**)!
lauren@vortex.UUCP (06/05/83)
Well, over the years I've seen two different techniques described to "alter" the readings of radar speed monitoring equipment. The simplest involved mounting a good-sized loudspeaker on the bumper, with a rubber sheet mounted across the opening. You were then supposed to glue some foil strips onto the sheet, and run a very low frequency tone through the loudspeaker. The other technique used a small, bizarre antenna-like contraption that would be mounted on the car. You were supposed to run a signal into this beastie as well. It supposedly had elements to cause problems for both K and X band radar. I've never seen either of these techniques actually tried, nor do I have any practical experience with any other techniques. Out here in California, radar traps are not the same sort of problem that they are back east. While radar *is* used from time to time here, you only rarely see organized speed traps of the sort typical in the east. Also, unmarked vehicles may *not* be used to ticket traffic violators in California (at least in Los Angeles and on the freeways throughout the state). Even more significant is the fact that the Highway Patrol (our "state police") may not use radar on California freeways. It turns out that they have been authorized to do so for years, but the California legislature, mindful of public opinion on this issue, has consistently refused to allocate funds for the purchase of radar equipment for the Patrol. --Lauren--
jim@uw-beaver.UUCP (06/07/83)
All of which makes me very glad I don't have to try to live in California.
mark@hp-kirk.UUCP (06/11/83)
#R:vortex:-5500:hp-kirk:7200004:000:755
hp-kirk!mark Jun 9 14:50:00 1983
It turns out that the use of radar on freeways in California and the use of
radar on a street that has not had an engineering and traffic survey done
within the previous five years constitutes a "speed trap".(Also included in
the speed trap definition is the timing of a vehicle between two fixed
points). Speed traps as just defined are not legal in California.
Presumably the purpose of this law was to require police to actually observe
a vehicle for some time rather than simply relying on a single instantaneous
reading of speed for the purposes of determining unsafe driving.
"Death" Rowe
hp-pcd!hp-cvd!mark
Corvallis, Oregonmckeeman@wivax.UUCP (06/20/83)
I suggest that one place a whirlygig of corner reflectors spinning away from the radar site -- air pressure of motion is enough to drive this. The corner reflector is much more efficient a relfector than your hood, the down doppler of the rotation will take 10-20 mph off your speed, believable without being too gross. Besides, it makes a pretty hood ornament.
wdr@security.UUCP (William D Ricker) (06/22/83)
And how do you arrange for the corner reflector to spin only AWAY from the radar site? what spins one way on one side spins the other on the other side. You would have to have the corner reflector cowled in a hemisphere which was radar-opaque that aerodynamically convinced the reflector's open side to spin rearward on the car. Note: for smokeys on your rear, you want the device spinning toward the smokey, likewise to the rear of your car. Remember, the best speed traps hit the cars after they pass the measurement smokey who targets up the tail pipe, and another smokey makes the collar a quarter mile down. These use pulse guns.