Electronic
and Active Countermeasures
Radar Warning
Receiver
I decided to get a radar
detector. I read several reviews and got some input
from some friends and I decided on the Valentine One.
This radar "locator"
will tell you what kind of radar it is receiving,
signal strength, how many signals it is receiving,
and most important where it is coming from. It also
has a laser detector built in.
I try real hard to maintain a
low profile appearance and did not want the flashing
LEDs letting everyone know I have a radar detector.
Cops just love to see this when they sneak up behind
you. Don’t ask me how I know. I decided to get
the remote display unit for the Valentine One. I
mounted it just to the right of the steering column,
above the ignition switch. It is hard to see from
outside of the vehicle, but is in the perfect
location to be seen by the driver.
Overall I am very impressed
with the performance of the Valentine One. They have
included everything you need to install it. It comes
with extra fuses, wire, suction cups, and two
different mounts. The overall quality and attention
to detail is very impressive.
The Valentine One is also the
last radar detector you will need to buy. As they
come out with improvements you can send yours back to
have it upgraded.
I have had other radar
detectors in the past. They drove me nuts. The damn
things would bleep if the wind blew. I never knew if
it was a false alarm or real police radar. The
Valentine One does a very good job of weeding out
false alarms and lets you know when it is the real
thing.
There are only two
jurisdictions that have outlawed radar detectors,
Virginia and the District of Columbia.
I recently called the
headquarters for the Virginia State Police and
inquired on how the enforce the bane on radar
detectors. This is what I was told. The detector must
be near an active power source and the officer must
determine that it is a functional radar detector. If
all that is confirmed the officer records the make,
model and serial number of the detector and issues
you a $50 ticket with no points and lets you keep the
detector.
I was a police officer in the
District of Columbia until December 1987. The way it
was enforced at that time is that the radar detector
was taken for evidence and if you lived or worked in
DC you were issued a Criminal Citation. This gave you
10 days to present yourself at one of the DC police
stations to be booked. You could plead guilty at the
station and pay $50, or pay a $50 bond and come back
for a trial. If you did not appear within 10 days,
the officer was supposed to obtain an arrest warrant
for you. If you did not live or work in DC you got
locked up! Please do not go into DC with a radar
detector.
If you are looking for a radar
detector, I highly recommend the Valentine One. Even
if you are not a speeder, of course I am not, get it
for the entertainment value. It is fun to play with,
especially on long trips.
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Laser Warning
Reciever and Jammer
My Valentine One like many radar detectors has a built
in laser warning receiver. The trouble is when it
detects a police laser and sounds the warning it is
to late for you to do anything. Police laser is
instant on, very accurate, and very fast. The police
laser guns have a gun sight like police swat teams
use on their shoulder weapons. The units transmit a
very narrow beam of infrared laser light that is
invisible. This narrow beam and the high quality gun
sight give the operator the ability to target any
vehicle they want, even if you are in a pack of cars.
The unit will give the operator a read out of your
speed and distance in less than one second. Your
laser-warning receiver simply can not give you enough
warning to slow down. And NO, they do not have to
pull everyone over to pull you over and give YOU a
ticket.
Jay
recommended that I get a Laser
Echo. This is a nifty
device. When it receives a laser signal it will sound
an alarm to notify you and transmit a very broad beam
of high power laser light. The beam is strong enough
to confuse the laser unit and will prevent it from
locking on to you. It will only transmit the signal
for five seconds. This is plenty of time to reduce
your speed. The unit will then take one minute to
recharge for the next encounter.
The Laser Echo has two major
components, the control unit, and the transponder.
The control unit mounts inside
of the vehicle and has a display, on/off switch, and
an alarm speaker. I decided to mount it on the roof
of the glove compartment. I mounted it upside down do
to the curved top. I have found that I do not need
the visual display. When the vehicle is started it
sounds the alarm so I know it is on. I can hear it
just fine through the closed glove compartment. This
also keeps it out of sight from prying eyes.
The transponder
mounts on the front of the vehicle. It is about seven
inches long and an inch wide. It should be mounted
near as possible to the front tag. This is where
police officers at trained to aim the laser as most
tags are reflective and gives a good return the laser
gun. There is an included license plate frame to
allow you to mount the transponder directly on the
top of the front tag. I thought that it covered too
much of the tag and made it really stand out. I
decided not to use the included tag frame and mount
it just below the bumper and above the tag. I think
it is much less noticeable this way keeping with my
low profile approach. All of the included hard ware
is theft resistant. It requires a special included
tool to install it and remove it. The control unit is
capable of driving up to three transponders. Extra
transponders can be purchased separately if you want
the maximum protection.
The day after installing the
unit I had a great chance to test it. A police laser
unit targeted me. The alarms on both my Valentine One
and my Laser Echo sounded. The Laser Echo sounded to
five seconds and then stopped. Two seconds after the
Laser Echo stopped sounding the Valentine One stopped
sounding. The Echo prevented a lock on by the police
unit for five seconds. When it stopped transmitting
he got his lock and stopped scanning my vehicle and
then picked out another target and that is when my
Valentine One stopped sounding. It was a great live
test. It functioned "as advertised."
I have found that the yellow
strobe lights from tow trucks will also set of the
Laser Echo, but will not set of my Valentine One. It
only seems to by yellow strobes not the red and blue
from police vehicles, and not the red and white ones
of fire/rescue vehicles.
Police use of laser in my area
does not seem to be as popular as in other areas. I
think it is because it takes more effort to use. The
officer has to shoot it like a gun. He has to pick
you out, aim it like a gun, and then pull the trigger
and wait for a lock. Radar is much easier to use. It
can be set up to scan an area of the road, and an
alarm set for a certain speed. When the radar tracks
a car going over the speed set by the officer it will
sound an alarm. This gets his attention so he can
wake up, or put down the paper and get to work.
Believe it or not most officers in my area buy their
own radar sets. Most radar sets are cheaper than
laser units, which is why I think there are so few
laser guns out there. This will most likely be
changing in the future. I’ll bet that before to
much longer the laser units will be cheaper and much
more compact than the radar units and you will see
more and more lasers out there. I am a sniper. I use
laser range finders to determine range to target,
which is critical. A few years ago these laser range
finders cost over $3000. Now you can buy them for
$300. I have played with both radar and laser guns. I
will tell you if an officer gets you with a laser,
you are got! Judges love to here that the officer got
you at 83 mph in a 55 mph zone at 738 feet away. I
have never seen anyone beat a laser ticket yet.
I have found no laws that
specifically ban the use of laser jammers. The
manufacture claims that the Laser Echo is legal and
not controlled by the FCC like radar jammers. The use
of laser equipment does not fall under jurisdiction
of the FCC because they do not have the authority to
regulate the area of the spectrum that infrared
lasers use. A sharp police officer may be able to
articulate in a charging document that the use of
this type of device interferes with his official
duties and also may be considered to prevent the the
collection of evidence. I know that in Maryland it is
a violation of common law to interfere with or hinder
a police officer in the performance of his official
duties. That is why I like the Laser Echo. After five
seconds it will shut down and allow the officer to
get a lock. This should satisfy him and look for
someone else. If you do get pulled over the worst
thing to do is to tell a police officer how to
properly do his job. Believe me he already knows and
you will only motivate him to look for every charge
he can find. The pen is mightier than the sword or a
sharp tongue. It really truly is.
So far I have been very pleased
with the Laser Echo. If you are looking for
protection from laser this is it.
Other laser warning receivers
and jammers:
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The
ECM master switch is the one on the right with the
gray background. I will be installing a
blackbackground soon.
Both the Valentine
One and the Laser Echo are hard wired. I have it set
up so it is controled by the ignition switch and the
ECM master switch. The switch is used to deactive the
ECM package when needed.
Lo-Jack Vehicle
Recovery System
Even the best alarm system will
not stop a determined professional theft or a
car-jacker from getting your car. Once it is gone, it
is gone. You might get it back when the police find
if stripped or wrapped around a telephone pole.
I have seen the Lo-Jack system get cars back in amazingly short
times, and in most cases, no damage. I am a police
officer and I once responded to a car jacking call.
The victim told me his car had a Lo-Jack unit and I
called it in to the teletype section to have the
theft of the vehicle entered into the National Crime
Information Center’s computer system (NCIC)
system right away. Once it was entered, the Lo-Jack
unit was automatically activated and the police cars
with Lo-Jack receivers started to get the signal.
Police officers tracked down the car in just minutes
and spotted it boxed in at a red light. Four armed
robbers were arrested and one car returned to the
owner undamaged. I had a Lo-Jack unit installed in my
4Runner as soon as possible after that.
The whole system is automatic.
The only draw back is the system is only activated
after you report the theft to the police. If you are
away on vacation and you vehicle is stolen out of
your garage, the Lo-Jack unit will not be activated
until you discover the theft of your vehicle and
report it.
The Lo-Jack unit is a small
transmitter that is about the size of a pack of
cigarettes that is hidden in your vehicle. It is
connected to a constant 12-volt power supply. It also
has its own backup battery to run the unit if the
thief removes the vehicle’s battery. When your
vehicle is entered as stolen in the NCIC computer, a
signal is transmitted to the unit in your car. When
it receives the signal it wakes up and starts to
transmit a homing signal. Special receivers in police
cars receive this signal. The receivers start to beep
and an arrow points the way to your car. It is police
proof. The receivers in the police cars do not have
an off switch. The only way to make it shut up is to
find your car.
I have seen Lo-Jack work and it
does work well. There are other system that are
better and use GPS and the cellular phone system to
tell the police exactly where you car is, but they
are mostly in Europe and have not made it to the US
yet, hopefully soon. Until then get a Lo-Jack. I got
mine from Jessica at Herb Gordon Nissan in Silver
Spring, Maryland. Ask for the police price (it's
worth a try) and tell her Gadget with the
supercharged 4Runner sent you.
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Club Steering
Wheel Lock
Ignition locks, especially on
Japanese vehicles are very, very, easy to defeat.
Probably the simplest thing you can do to protect you
vehicle is get and use the Club
steering wheel lock.
Yes there are ways to defeat
the Club. In 14 years of police work I have
personally seen only one car that the thief used a
hacksaw to cut through the steering wheel and remove
the Club. The steering wheel is softer steel and it
is much easier to cut than the Club. I have recovered
countless stolen vehicles that there was no Club or
the Club was sitting on the floor unlocked. An
unlocked Club shows that although the owners had one
available, he did not apply it!
Please don’t be silly and
think that the alarm you have is going to keep your
car from being stolen, it won’t. Get a Club and
use it. It may make the difference.
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