radar detectors

[Coldkiwi]

You've obviously never had a cop flash his lights to let you know that your speed is a bit much, maybe cops up your way ain't so tolerant??

I must admit, i've had that a few times and its been MOST appreciated! Respect to the officers involved.

Why bother hiding a detector? you will have been pulled over because the cop has got your speed on his radar gun, not because he's about to ask you 20 questions to determine if you're likely to speed! When I got a heavy fine in January I had the detector sitting right there as he wrote the ticket but he didn't say a word about it. probably brightened his day knowing it didn't save me!

[scumdog]

I must admit, i've had that a few times and its been MOST appreciated! Respect to the officers involved.

Why bother hiding a detector? you will have been pulled over because the cop has got your speed on his radar gun, not because he's about to ask you 20 questions to determine if you're likely to speed! When I got a heavy fine in January I had the detector sitting right there as he wrote the ticket but he didn't say a word about it. probably brightened his day knowing it didn't save me!

GOOD ATTITUDE!! The detector won't save you if the cop has the stalker on hold and you are the only on on that bit of road giving the scoot a banzai windout! If he's checking other cars on front of you then you'll pick him up but the crafty ones pick their targets

[dangerous]

They couldn't make it legal because drivers/riders would stop flashing to warn on-coming traffic of potential hazards (accidents, stock on the road, etc.) [/font]

Well its the general consences down here that it is....... if there is no potential hazards (accidents, stock on the road) then you are obstructing the copper from doing its duty (or some sorta shit like that)......... but hay I could be wrong here and maybe I've just been had so as some dirt bag can get his quota in and go home

[Marmoot]

You've obviously never had a cop flash his lights to let you know that your speed is a bit much, maybe cops up your way ain't so tolerant??

Yea....OBVIOUSLY
1 was between Auckland to Hamilton, 1 was around Huntly, and 1 was in Swanson (Palmerston North).

Looks like the cops up the whole North Island to me then? Hehehehe

[Lou Girardin]

This does remind me of an incident with one of the One Tree Hill cops years ago. He was stopped with the TR6 antenna hanging out the window but turned off, while he wrote up notes on a few tickets. He noticed a car go past. stop and U turn. Then it came past again, stopped, U turned and drove past a third time. This time the driver stopped, walked back to the cop and said 'is that thing (the TR6) turned on? Cop said "yeah, been going all the time". At that the driver went back to the his car, grabbed the detector out of the window, threw on the ground and stomped it, saying f*%@ing useless thing, just paid $300 for rubbish that doesn't work.

[RiderInBlack]

You've obviously never had a cop flash his lights to let you know that your speed is a bit much, maybe cops up your way ain't so tolerant??

Yep, had that up here (my Father as well at 112KPH). Cool, hey
But have also got done @ 111KPM on the Ruakaka/Waipu Straights on the GSXR250 with nobody else around for miles Obviously that Cop was not having a good day and was trying to fill his "quota"

PS: Don't speed on the Ruakaka/Waipu Straights. I know they are fu*ken long, straight, and boring (hence the high accident rate on them, drivers dosing-off), but the cops up this way hammer it quite hard. Have counted 5 HP cars between the Brendowyns and Whangarei. This is not including Speed Cameras, of which there is at least one (usually a blue van). Oh and PLEASE DON'T DO RUNNERS here Killing yourself is OK by me, but we don't want any more teenage girls killed , thanks

[marty]

Steve good point , I have used a hand held stalker unit ( not laser ) and I am not a cop by the way . Some vehicles were very hard to get a lock on even at 400/ 500 meters where as others you could get 700meters out . I could not tell you why .This was about 9 months ago. The unit was probably a little less sophisticated than the units in the patrol cars are now but it was branded "stalker". I suspect that when they are crusing in standby mode and you appear around a corner its down to reaction time . I have had the odd head to head ( I do 50000kms plus in the car each year ) and Jumped on the brakes hard and as the detector has lit up the speedometer has been close to 100kms . All you get is the lights and finger wave as the cop knows exactly what you have done but all he has seen is 100 or thereabouts.
Also worth noting is that you can be done for what the cop has seen not what is locked in.

Dave

was back browsing and came across this. the reason that the laser sometimes has a longer range, sometimes shorter, is that if there is no reflective surface then a strong return signal will not be recieved. if you have a laser pointer (you know the cheap $2 shop ones), stand 100 m back from a road sign at night. point the laser at the sign. see what the difference in reflection between the sign and the post is. now do that with the front of your car, look at the difference between the number plate and the grille (go the tilted number plates....). imagine how hard it is to get a lock on the front of a bike. if you have reflective strips on your jacket though........

that is why cops lean on cars (although they shake if idling) or sign posts, or have the laser on a tripod.

and yes stalker make the laser as well.

and hey look what i found when i was cleaning up.....

[What?]

Interesting - my Passport 8500 seems to be more sensitive to Ka since I turned X and K bands off. Does this make any sense?

[marty]

i guess like any microchip, if you take processes away then the remaining ones will have more room, and may be be faster. perhaps one of the IT guys would have an explanation

[Racey Rider]

the reason that the laser sometimes has a longer range, sometimes shorter, is that if there is no reflective surface then a strong return signal will not be recieved. .....

Are we allowed to have our headlights covered while riding during the day?
As this would further reduce the return signal.

Tilted plates.... Good tip, thanks.

[marty]

only if you ride a katana. or drive an MX5, and only girls drive MX5's

[scumdog]

Are we allowed to have our headlights covered while riding during the day?
As this would further reduce the return signal.

Tilted plates.... Good tip, thanks.

Your'e assuming the cop is aiming the laser ONLYat you number plarE or headlight!!!
It is a bit like that urban myth that a series of C.D.s placed across your dash will stop the radar from working and save you a ticket.
I've heard a story that when a truckie got a speeding ticket and mentioned to the cop that the C.D.s didn't seem to work the cop told him pre-recorded ones were useless, told the truckie that only new blank C.D.s would work - truckie went out and bought 10 new ones and was silly enough to tell his workmate about his "secret" of using only new C.D.s to stuff the radar up

[k14]

It is true that you can stop the laser guns from putting cd's up to reflect the laser back to the laser gun. Because the tracks on a cd are about 40 micrometers apart they diffract the light back at the gun. Thus the gun can't pickup a proper reading. Try shining a laser pointer at the bottom of a cd, you will see that 4 or 5 lights are reflected back. But it would only work if the laser hit the cd straight on which is probably not very likely, but it is still possible.

They definately wouldn't diffract radar though, isn't light it is a sound wave, so it goes straight through the cd as though it wasn't there, lol.

[marty]

i cannot see how this would work in practice. normally the grille of a car would have a very low refraction index - it's generally full of holes, is black, has the radiator behind it, and it tends to slope upwards too.

you then place a row of cd's behind the grille of the car (seen it done). these CD's are excellent reflectors, albeit in 50 directions.

now if 1/2 of those directions are back towards the source, then you might as well be listening to that 'bad boys' cd you so foolishly thought would get you off that laser ticket....

[k14]

Yeah, well in theory it should work because it won't have a spot of maximum brightness at the middle of the diffraction pattern, also the wavelength will be altered and thus the frequency, which is how the radar gets the speed the car is going. But I would think that the reading you get would be off the grille or something else, because the cd's are so small they would be fairly hard to hit and the laser would miss them.