Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 beta 3/9/83; site ukma.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!hasmed!qusavx!ukma!david From: david@ukma.UUCP (David Herron) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: Police scanners and speeding Message-ID: <310@ukma.UUCP> Date: Mon, 26-Nov-84 01:33:04 EST Article-I.D.: ukma.310 Posted: Mon Nov 26 01:33:04 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 27-Nov-84 04:30:44 EST References: <1896@pegasus.UUCP> Organization: Univ. of KY Mathematical Sciences Lines: 129 [Aaauuummmmmmm! Aaauuummmmmmm! Spare me oh devourer of lines!] > From: mzal@pegasus.UUCP (Mike Zaleski) > Subject: Police scanners and speeding > Message-ID: <1896@pegasus.UUCP> > Date: Mon, 12-Nov-84 01:08:41 EST > Okay, so I have my Cobra CB and have ordered my Escort "Passport" > radar detector, but there is yet another piece of anti-speed-trap > gear that I thought I'd toss out to net.auto readers: VHF scanners. > Does anyone have any experience with them? In particular: > 1. Are all (state) police calls on a single frequency within that state? Probably not. My experience with scanners is 3 years working for my Dad's towing company. We had a scanner in the office and I was expected to listen to the *CITY* police bands. (We didn't even have crystals for the state police). The range on those radio's are somewhat limited. Our police operate in at around 150 MHZ which is limited mostly to line of site. The range of transmission has VERY much to do with the height of the towers, and second on the power of the radios. Our police have trouble communicating with officers (sometimes) at the edge of the COUNTY (albeit, they are down in some 200 foot deep ravine next to the river sometimes) much less being able to transmit somewhere across the state. Also, police channels can be very very busy. In Lexington (a town of around 200,000) the dispatchers are VERY harried on friday and saturday nights. I don't think a whole state could be run through one dispatch channel. > 2. Do police cars radio in their position when they stop, especially > with respect to stopping to set up speed traps? For purposes of channel traffic, no, they only give a position when it seems necessary. Some examples are 1) they are ready for dinner, and give the location, 2) they are being given a dispatch, and feel like giving their location. A lot depends (apparently) on what they feel like doing. Bigger places may control this more tightly. > 3. How well do these units work inside a car if connected to an > external antenna? I have seen them running well with just the builtin antenna. But that was with only the local police. An external antenna might be necessary for pulling them in from a distance. > 4. Are there any states where such things are illegal (even if the > law is of questionable constitutionality)? I believe it is illegal in KY to have scanners in a vehicle. I don't know for sure and don't think any police ever mentioned it to any of our drivers. (But then, we work with the police all the time so are considered special? I do know we "get away" with some things sometimes.) > 5. Any other comments, suggestions? Scanners can be a LOT of fun. But you have to understand the codes to know what is going on. Once you do though, it is just like a second language. If I were to buy a scanner for myself I would get that bearcat that is controllable through an rs-232 port. (It's not portable but it has a lot of neat features). For a car-mounted scanner, any of the "programmables" would be good, just to save hassling with crystals. Use the computer controlled scanner to find new channels, and program them into the car scanner. The policy around here when setting up special enforcement thingies (read as "speed traps") is for them to talk about it as little as possible on the air. In fact, the police are as careful as can be with phrasing while on the air. They *know* they are being listened to, and want to limit the spread of information as much as possible. But with experience I could tell exactly what was happening most of the time. (This was with long portions of a full time job being spent listening to them talk, maybe 25 hours per week). Tell-tale signs were somebody mentioning "special duty", certain patrol numbers doing a lot of traffic stops, certain patrol numbers being out of the "normal" numbering sequence. Around here, the unit numbers are 3 digit numbers, first is sector number, second is shift number, third is beat number. There were 3 actual sectors, and a fourth for special officers. By carefully listening to what the "fourth sector" officers were up to, one could know where the speed traps were located at. > Radio Shack seems to have a variety of models ranging in price > from $100 to $350, which could be a lot cheaper than an insurance > surcharge for a ticket. > Note 1: I am mostly interested in using this in the New Jersey/New > York/Penna. area, especially central Jersey and New York Thruway > and Northway to Montreal. How hilly is all that? (I know Penn. is, but it's been forever sice I've been to nj though.) The things which will make it hard to recieve transmissions will be hills, buildings, or heavy trees. On the other hand, the police themselves will want to get through most of the time and would have a better set up (for getting through mountains/hills) than my local police do. > Note 1a: The Northway is almost completely empty of traffic when > I've been on it, which is not to say that New York is above > issuing speeding tickets there. > Note 2: I am not at all interested in flames about speeding. The > waste of two extra hours of travel time between NJ and Montreal which > would be required if the speed limit were obeyed is unacceptable. I can't drive 55 either. > Thanks for any info. > -- Mike^Z [ihnp4!, allegra!] pegasus!mzal or Zaleski@Rutgers ----------------------------------------- David Herron (University of Kentucky Department of Mathatical Sciences) Phone: (606) 257-4244 (phone will be answered as "Vax Lab", usually). 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