Here's the scenario:
My wife an I are heading down Satelite Blvd in Suwanee, GA (Atlanta for all practical purposes) about 1:45 am coming home from a very long-winded wedding and reception. It's pitch black outside and we pass a car in the median, no lights of any kind on...you know the first thing through my mind :o

Of course - I am right. Just after I've driven past, the car's headlights illuminate and he u-turns out of the median blue lights flashing. As I saw him I looked down ~ I'm doing 67. I thought I was in a 55mph zone - turns out I'm in a 45mph zone and he clocked me at 69.

Here's the big deal:
MY V1 NEVER WENT OFF!!!! NOT A PEEP!!!

The officer voulnteered that he'd clocked me with RADAR, the serial number of the unit and that it had been calibrated that night at 21:35 hours (9:35pm for the civies and non-computer geeks.) I asked him what type/model the unit was, and told him my detector never went off. He didn't act smug or anything about my questions but said that he was in a rotating car and didn't know the model number. It was a Genesis unit and was newly installed. I asked what band of RADAR it used and he said he wasn't sure, that they had just gotten them.

The key here is after 10+ years of owning a Valentine - It Let Me Down! Not a freakin' peep! It does not seem defective as it goes off for RADAR just as it always has. It does not have the latest upgrade that Valentine recently released but is current otherwise. I always drive with my unit in All Bogies mode and choose to use the mute button to quiet falses. Just so I'm extra careful.

Watch out as there may be a new type of RADAR that the V1s cannot protect us from! I think I'm going to get a Phazer or some other scrambler. I can't afford to be without it as my right foot has a restraint problem and my insurance was clean.

Anyone know a good traffic attorney in the Atlanta/Suwanee area that practices in Duluth County?

 

Thats why is use a radar detector/jammer all in one.I used to have the same problem.

 

:eek:

Phasers will not work though!!
Did you ask him to see the reading? :confused:

 

A radar jammer is a radio transmitter which requires a transmitter license and you couldn't get one at that frequency so it is illegal. Of course speeding is illegl also. :nono:

 

Actually, a passive jammer does not send out any waves and is legal in most states!

 

I don't buy it...

Did he have your speed right on the ticket. I mean is/was there any indication that some funny business was going on?

I am not saying that he was lying, maybe his radar unit is doing something funky, like reading 69 for all cars or something.

I am completely uninformed about Radar guns and thier function, I just think something smells fishy.

I am kinda local, I work near Duluth I don't know any traffic lawyers but will be glad to ask around.

I also got some friends that are local blue, I'll ask and see what they say about new Radar.

Lee

 

This sounds like a case of a reading left in the radar unit being used over again.This is a tactic police have been known to use to make quota's when things are slow.

 

SPRGMAN - What brand do you use? Have you tested it definitivley?
A friend of mine has one of the older $300 Phazer (Model "II" I think) and followed a cop for a while - right behind him and watched him try to clock several people. Since he was so close to the cop's car, he said he wasn't sure if the cop was simply having trouble with a specific unit or his Phazer was actually working but the cop continually was adjusting the unit as if it were malfunctioning. He also said that the unit was mounted high enought that he could see the display and nothing was showing up - thus the cop kept trying to get the unit to work.

This is all fine and good - if you are less than 30 feet away but how good do these units work from 1/2 mile?

As for the possibilty of funny business goes - I don't think this was the case. He seemed very authentic and ready to share information. And he also said he clocked me at 69; when I looked at my DIC it indicated 67. the 2mph difference could be speedo error, my instinct to lift when I saw him (obviously too late) - I was in 6th gear so lifting would not drop the nose much...

Thanks!
cgh1


[Modified by cgh1, 9:47 PM 4/21/2002]

 

This happened to me as well 1 year ago with a FLA State Trooper using Stalker KA radar.

I promptly DUMPED my V1 and bought the best KA detector on the market, the Escort 8500.

Further BS from Valentine since I had my V1 checked prior for the latest upgrades and everything was supposedly 'A OK'.
:bs :bs :bs
I believe the newest KA is outside some of the older V1's range.
Valentine is lying about the upgradeability of some of the older units. My V1 was bought in '97
I won't buy another.

That stop cost me 4 tickets from a psycho cop that wanted to throw me in jail. Reckless, Speeding, and 2 other BS tix. 14 pts in one stop.
Thanks Valentine!
:bs

Thank God for good Attorneys.
:D
0 pts

 

I just checked Valentine's website with the serial number of my unit and they indicate that only a slight gain in KA reception and false rejection will be noticed. And Mike Valentine says "...in my opinion" upgrading would not be cost effective unless I want the new smaller size and few features that have been added.

While I appreciate the honesty, I'm not too happy that the unit was dead silent.

Hmmm...

C5 Lee - I would greatly appreciate any info you can find out!! Thanks!!!
Feel free to email me anytime or I can give you my phone number or how ever is convenient for you. THANKS!!!

cgh1

 

cgh1,
I use a unit by Rocky Mountain Radar,and I have been using them for quite a few years. Nothing is fool proof,but I have been hit over and over by lots of radar and never had a ticket with this unit...

 

Well since I used to be a cop and did write a few tickets in my time, the only thing that seems a little bit funny is that he cannot calibrate the radar.only the factory or service department can truly calibrate!! Now he can run either internal test or even back in the day take a a tuning fork and get a reading off the unit, but that by NO means makes it calibrated!! For what its worth.

Bob

 

First, passive jammers DO NOT work. Second even active jammers are useless against Ka besides it's a federal offence.

Anyway, I'd have had him flip his gun on to see if your unit went off. Sounds really strange to me. BY FCC regulations they must all be on a specific frequency, just like radio stations. One day 106.7 isn't on 106.4, it's always 106.7. Nevertheless your word against his and his counts.

I like my V1, never let me down kncok on wood :smash:

Joe

 

I've been using a passive jammer for years and it definetly works...I've used every brand of detector on the market and had tickets with all of them..

 

Yes. They were giving me this same line of BS about only needing to upgrade for the lower profile visual of the unit, but it is a :bs sucker lie. The older units just aren't performing well over the expanded newer KA range.

 

I will check around and let you know.

Lee

 

Car and Driver, Motor Trend did articles in the past about Rocky Mountian jammers and concluded they were junk-said money would be better spent taking your wife to dinner.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I have also noticed my Escort hasn't been going off as much now that you mention it. I live and work in the Duluth/Suwanee area and it is notorious for speed traps!:mad I had to go to Duluth traffic court last week. There were over 200+ offenders lined up outside the courthouse to check in. I spent 4 hours there just waiting to talk to the solicitor. He offered me no points and a the minimum fine if I pleaded Nolo, since I previously had a clean record. :blueangel:

He said if I fought it and lost , I would get points and a higher fine....
I assume this was a City of Duluth and not a Gwinnett County cop that pulled you.

 

I have a new V1. Its range is definitely less with Ka than K. I think Ka is actually a lower output mode than K, which makes the signal a lot harder to pick up. Still, it's hard to imagine a V1 giving no reading at all. I think the cop was scamming you. It's your word against his, anyway. I had a State Trooper stop me once because he saw my headphones with microphone on as I passed his car in the median. I checked the speedo as I went by, and I was running about 7 MPH over (cruise control, calibrated speedo). He stopped me and asked what I was wearing on my head. I explained that it was an earphone/mike combo for my cell phone, so I would be a safer driver. (One ear is completely uncovered so traffic can be heard.) He said that any headset was illegal in VA and besides that I was speeding 76 in a 65. This was a State Trooper (read: Gestapo) so I didn't argue, just took the ticket. He didn't write me for the headset, which I'm pretty sure would have been bogus, but I'm convinced he made up the speeding charge so he could justify the stop.

:mad :mad :mad

I realize cops do a lot of good and they have a tough job, and I've put in my time in uniform for this country, but having been on the receiving end of their self-regulated idea of justice, I think many are extremely unethical. Ever wonder why so many end up in jail for being on the take and other criminal activity? I think there's a fine line between cops and the criminals they are supposed to apprehend, just as there is a fine line between corrections officers and the animals they are supposed to guard. Funny how that works.
:yesnod:

 

Sorry to hear you got the ticket :( I guess the only assurance of not getting speeding tickets is to lobby the gov to raise the damn speed limits. Think about it, instead of all of us spending $400 for v1 we "contribute" that $$ to the guys running the committes incharge of these laws. Either that or drive like a snail :mad


[Modified by Moundir, 10:08 PM 4/21/2002]