Dave Sweetman
July 31st, 2005, 19:37
CP's remarks about tinfoil in the hubcaps got me to thinking [I know..scary thought]...
Over the past 33+ years of diesel driving, I was reflecting, if that is a good term, on all of the money I have whizzed away on "bird dogs" and the like. On second thought, I could probably make a good downpayment on a jet ski if I had all that money back.
Examples:
Early 70's I had to have every new bird dog made. Fuzzbuster, Fuzzbuster II.. were suposed to be the best. They had all the "latest" technology. They also had a great knack of going off just in time to get out my billfold and alert me that I was in trouble.
I remember losing one to a Va trooper only 2 miles into the Commonwealth, as the trooper was parked up on the bridge, looking down at traffic. I wasn't speeding, but that little square box on the dash was "probable cause." I lost the unit to the Trooper, got a ticket for unlawful possession. He told me they took them to the pistol range and used them for target practice. Said it was a good laugh... :rofl: I got to the North Carolina line and bought another one. That'll teach em!!
Escort made a good unit, till they were sold out to the Japs. Mike Valentine, the inventor had a non-compete clause and stayed out of the business for several years, when he re-invented the top-of-the-line Valentine 1. I owned several Escorts over the years and like the others, with the advent of "instant-on" radar, let you know when to pull over, as you've just been had. :harhar:
Radar and Lazer Jammers: I was sent one by a company in Colorado to test out. It was junk. The magazines I wrote for at the time rounded up a fleet of detectors and jammers, as well as several different types of police radar and lazer units:, Kustom KR, CMI. At an airport runway, we tested them all in all sorts of conditions: front, back, side, angle, jammers, the whole she-bang. The verdict: JUNK! The jammers were as useful as a box of rocks and offered the exact same amount of protection. My prognosis: Save your money and slow down.
The nice folks at the jammer manufacturers threatened to sue, as their "product never failed." In fact their product never failed to fail. JUNK! I even had a guy in New Mexico who claimed to build "Stealth Cloaking Devices" for the military that if used in a semi truck would shield you from all sorts of detection devices. JUNK! All smoke and mirrrors for really big money, but there were drivers who "swore" it kept them out of the hoosegow." More liars that didn't want to admit they were had and lost their money.
In the past several years, since the laws were passed, prohibiting commercial vehicles from using or owning detectors and jammers, I honestly have never used them. Somewhere in the garage there's a box with all sorts of contraptions from the past and honestly... I don't miss them. Maybe I've gotten older, slowed down a bit or just don't feel the need to know where Smokey is, I can also say that I have probably been given a break or two because I DID NOT have a bird dog. I don't even have one in my cars.
I always thought it was funny, as the very same companies who made radar units for the police, made radar detectors for the public. When ever they came out with a new X, K, Ka band the manufacturers came out with superheterodyne detectors to catch the newest bands. Then when there appeared the VG-2 Bird Dog detectors, then the manufacturers came up with "leakproof" bird dogs that were undetectable. Don't believe that one either. I spent an hour in the Md Scalehouse on I-95 researching a story I was doing, visiting with the scale boys. Their VG-2 was beeping and barking at half the trucks that rolled past. Mostly they just let them roll on, unless they had other problems.
Now about that downpayment on the jet ski... :D
dave
Over the past 33+ years of diesel driving, I was reflecting, if that is a good term, on all of the money I have whizzed away on "bird dogs" and the like. On second thought, I could probably make a good downpayment on a jet ski if I had all that money back.
Examples:
Early 70's I had to have every new bird dog made. Fuzzbuster, Fuzzbuster II.. were suposed to be the best. They had all the "latest" technology. They also had a great knack of going off just in time to get out my billfold and alert me that I was in trouble.
I remember losing one to a Va trooper only 2 miles into the Commonwealth, as the trooper was parked up on the bridge, looking down at traffic. I wasn't speeding, but that little square box on the dash was "probable cause." I lost the unit to the Trooper, got a ticket for unlawful possession. He told me they took them to the pistol range and used them for target practice. Said it was a good laugh... :rofl: I got to the North Carolina line and bought another one. That'll teach em!!
Escort made a good unit, till they were sold out to the Japs. Mike Valentine, the inventor had a non-compete clause and stayed out of the business for several years, when he re-invented the top-of-the-line Valentine 1. I owned several Escorts over the years and like the others, with the advent of "instant-on" radar, let you know when to pull over, as you've just been had. :harhar:
Radar and Lazer Jammers: I was sent one by a company in Colorado to test out. It was junk. The magazines I wrote for at the time rounded up a fleet of detectors and jammers, as well as several different types of police radar and lazer units:, Kustom KR, CMI. At an airport runway, we tested them all in all sorts of conditions: front, back, side, angle, jammers, the whole she-bang. The verdict: JUNK! The jammers were as useful as a box of rocks and offered the exact same amount of protection. My prognosis: Save your money and slow down.
The nice folks at the jammer manufacturers threatened to sue, as their "product never failed." In fact their product never failed to fail. JUNK! I even had a guy in New Mexico who claimed to build "Stealth Cloaking Devices" for the military that if used in a semi truck would shield you from all sorts of detection devices. JUNK! All smoke and mirrrors for really big money, but there were drivers who "swore" it kept them out of the hoosegow." More liars that didn't want to admit they were had and lost their money.
In the past several years, since the laws were passed, prohibiting commercial vehicles from using or owning detectors and jammers, I honestly have never used them. Somewhere in the garage there's a box with all sorts of contraptions from the past and honestly... I don't miss them. Maybe I've gotten older, slowed down a bit or just don't feel the need to know where Smokey is, I can also say that I have probably been given a break or two because I DID NOT have a bird dog. I don't even have one in my cars.
I always thought it was funny, as the very same companies who made radar units for the police, made radar detectors for the public. When ever they came out with a new X, K, Ka band the manufacturers came out with superheterodyne detectors to catch the newest bands. Then when there appeared the VG-2 Bird Dog detectors, then the manufacturers came up with "leakproof" bird dogs that were undetectable. Don't believe that one either. I spent an hour in the Md Scalehouse on I-95 researching a story I was doing, visiting with the scale boys. Their VG-2 was beeping and barking at half the trucks that rolled past. Mostly they just let them roll on, unless they had other problems.
Now about that downpayment on the jet ski... :D
dave