Anyone used one of these? Effective at all for avoiding tickets?

(Note--I already have a V1...version 1.8 w/ POP)

1/1/2008 11:26:57 PM

just slow down.

i know it cant be that hard.

there really shouldnt be an excuse

1/1/2008 11:29:24 PM

No, I suppose it's not that hard...but I have no interest in slowing down and no intention to do so. I'll just keep paying the fast driving tax whenever I get caught.

However, I'm all for using any cost effective means of minimizing the # of times I win the fast driving award.

1/1/2008 11:43:31 PM

get a cb. best radar detector you can buy for highway driving. i can't see that a scanner would be very effective just for avoiding tickets.

1/2/2008 12:04:20 AM

^probably right....but cb radio in the evo. talk about redneck style

i wish they made em smaller though, id rock one.

[Edited on January 2, 2008 at 12:54 AM. Reason : g]

1/2/2008 12:54:18 AM

they make them just as small as a scanner. i'm not that familiar with evos, but i'm sure you could do a clean install of one in the dash, center console, or even under the seat. there's wide array of tasteful antenna options as well. they don't have to be the ginormous chrome box with dual whip antennas you see on trucks.

[Edited on January 2, 2008 at 1:05 AM. Reason : or hell, just get a handheld one... range can be junk though.]

1/2/2008 1:05:07 AM

i want a police scanner. if i listen to that shit for fun is that illigal?

1/2/2008 1:06:44 AM

scanners are fun when they're chasing someone, but not really usefull otherwise.
I use mine to listen to the traffic reporters. Not only do I get real-time traffic info
instead of a delayed report on the radio, but these guys are entertaining as hell and constantly bullshit back and forth to each other. Better than any DJ.

1/2/2008 9:02:08 AM

still have mine collecting dust. Picks up the old wireless phone ranges that the new ones are blocked from. Heard a few good convos lol




needs some work though. It randomly cuts off for some reason. Something simple to fix probably.

1/2/2008 9:25:04 AM

I have a scanner that i listen to regularly when I am working from home. Its fun to listen to the stuff around here (Charleston, SC).

I dont use it to try and find speed traps or anything though.

1/2/2008 9:58:56 AM

I have a handheld one that I got back in high school (over 10 years ago.) It was great back then for knowing when people called the cops on parties and listening to cellphone calls. Haven't used it in years. I might break it out sometime.

Seems pretty useless for trying to figure out where cops are on the highway. By the time they are on the radio it means they probably already have someone.

1/2/2008 12:26:24 PM

Scanners for avoiding tickets, more trouble than its worth. Keeping up with relevant freqs is a pain and so is paying enough attention to the thing so you know what's going on. Keep in mind the cops usually give their location _after_ they pull someone over, not before

If you are on interstates go with a CB or get a scanner that receives 27.185 (CB Channel 19). As long as you're not pissing them off truckers are pretty good about letting people know what to watch out for ahead and behind.

-- Dave

1/2/2008 2:22:48 PM

bttt per request

6/7/2008 3:49:41 PM

anyone ever used a Uniden with the Beartracker "cop detector" function that supposedly tips you off when they're within 3 miles?

i don't expect it to be a magic bullet--I just wonder if it works well enough to justify bothering with it.

6/7/2008 3:53:01 PM

it detects radio traffic over a repeater. it all depends on the dept. and what radio system they are using. highway patrol uses (or at least used to) a system that incorporated every car with a vehicle repeater so they wouldn't have to put towers and antennas up all over the state. the radio transmission would just bounce from car to car until it reached it's destination. the downside to the scanner was you wouldn't pick up anything unless someone was talking on the radio on the opposite side of you and "headquarters".
ex: h.p. headquarters is on blue ridge rd. in raleigh. you are traveling down hwy. 1 south crossing over harris lake. a h.p. officer in sanford calls h.q. or a different cop on the eastern side of the state. the scanner would pick it up and alert that a cop was in close proximity of you because of the signal received from the cop that is sitting on the side of the road in holly springs. the signal from the sanford cop traveled to the holly springs cop and continued on to headquarters.
now take the same scenario of you on hwy. 1 crossing over harris lake. a cop in fayetteville calls h.q. the signal would go from his car to another car further up I-95 then continue on to h.q. in raleigh. the cop car that is sitting on hwy. 1 just a little further north than you never received the signal nor did he talk on the radio so the scanner never alerted.
another downside to this feature is most depts. have gone to digital 800mhz and you have to have a special decoder installed in the scanner to pick up the transmissions.
most likely this feature was okay years ago but now is pretty much obsolete.

Quote :

"i want a police scanner. if i listen to that shit for fun is that illigal?"

no, why would it be illegal? if you want to listen to raleigh you must purchase one that has the "APCO-25" card installed or capablility.

[Edited on June 7, 2008 at 4:13 PM. Reason : -]

6/7/2008 4:09:30 PM

I have a handheld one that i use in the car on long trips. You can listen to the cb freqs too, so no real reason to have a cb unless you want to talk back.

As for cops, eh, every once in a while you get lucky... I keep mine on 'close call', and i've gotten some calls that were like 'car xxx on station' and then passed a cop a little bit farther down the road. Radar detectors are far more useful honestly. The problem is really that you dont get any indication of location. Even if you hear a cop, he could be a mile ahead or behind or beside you, and you won't know which.

I'd say get a hand held one too... They're great at races, airshows, etc.

6/7/2008 5:06:12 PM

Quote :

" he could be a mile ahead or behind or beside you, and you won't know which. "

yes i will.

Quote :

"(Note--I already have a V1...version 1.8 w/ POP) "

I want something to protect against instant-on RADAR. picking up on the repeater would be helpful. I didn't know if they all still use equipment that the Beartracker would pick up, though.

6/7/2008 6:14:00 PM

^^^didn't the shp recently change to new radios? i thought i remember reading something about it in the news a few months ago. or maybe it was the sherrif's dept...

6/7/2008 8:01:31 PM

yes SHP is migrating to the NC VIPER system on 800 mhz. BUT the coverage is only decent near metro areas... so rural SHP's are still using the UHF channels.

And in some areas it is actually illegal to listen to scanners while in a vehicle... not around here.

everybody in Wake County is on 800, with 85% being on the digital side, thus you need a digital trunk tracker

6/7/2008 8:21:00 PM

well, i'm not opposed to buying an old UHF beartracker and a digital trunk tracker. i'm not familiar with the options for digital trackers

(although i'll be down east, near new bern and morehead city...but i will be coming up to raleigh from time to time).


i would just ante up for fines and lawyers like everyone else, but i could get in trouble at work for a really bad ticket.

6/7/2008 10:01:58 PM

It's not gonna protect you from instant on radar in any way. Sorry. Not much is...

All the new, decent, scanners are trunk tracking. You also have to have a digital scanner to listen to viper. When I bought mine, only the top of the lines did the digital stuff, I think it's called apco25 or acpo25 or some shit like that.

Lasar jammers might not be a bad idea too. Or infared screens/detectors. Check out alex roy's set up. Or some of the other gumballers.

6/7/2008 10:34:12 PM

just get a decent cb man. best radar detector you can buy, at least for the highway. i just don't see a scanner being very useful at all for locating units that are clocking. plus, you have to be fairly experienced to weed out all the other radio traffic.

6/7/2008 11:52:24 PM

Quote :

"No, I suppose it's not that hard...but I have no interest in slowing down and no intention to do so. I'll just keep paying the fast driving tax whenever I get caught. However, I'm all for using any cost effective means of minimizing the # of times I win the fast driving award. "

thanks for being that dangerous asshole on the road

6/8/2008 12:28:17 AM

dangerous assholes go the speed limit too. i'll take a competent and alert driver excessively speeding any day over some idiot on the phone not paying attention, stupid women doing make up, and otherwise generally clueless people causing dangerous problems, yet going at or below the speed limit.

6/8/2008 1:28:33 AM

^+1000000

Quote :

"thanks for being that dangerous asshole on the road"

Thanks for being that ignorant asshole. Speed =/= dangerous. The government just likes to make you think that.

6/8/2008 1:43:57 AM

the cops have you before the scanner goes off. ive ridin with a cop who got a friend with a v1/ it was a test we did.

6/8/2008 2:33:34 AM

Quote :

"thanks for being that dangerous asshole on the road "

there aren't enough rolly eyes in the world.

6/8/2008 5:34:39 AM

rofl this is not about radar detectors

6/8/2008 9:34:27 AM

so duke have you considered that you're about to be deployed and don't have a fast car at the moment, so in however many years it is before you're back in a sports car, the technology of the scene/location may be completely different, making your scanner obsolete?

6/8/2008 10:17:13 AM