Pizza's Radar Thread
A few nights ago Deb Walker and I were discussing our cars (what else?) on Yahoo Instant Messenger. At one point, the discussion turned to police (traffic) radar. I realized something: not everyone does what I do for a living and therefore does not know some of the “ins and outs” of traffic radar. (Nothing gets by me. 
)
I then made up my mind that it’s been too long since I wrote anything. Perhaps, it is time to attempt to keep my writing skills as sharp as my English professor said they were in 2008. (It should be noted that he IS a marijuana user, so don’t expect too much here.)
I am not writing this in order to help anyone avoid the law; I am doing it more for the writing experience – and the fact that Deb found our conversation interesting and maybe some of you here will, too. Besides, speed alone is not usually what causes accidents and we all know that. There are places where doing 89 in a 70 zone will pose no great threat (like an interstate with little traffic). On the other hand, if I was a police officer and caught you doing 35 in a 25 zone while passing an elementary school, I’d not bother with a ticket – I’d just kick your dumb, selfish ***.
So, what makes ME qualified to lecture on radar? Well, contrary to what you might think, I don’t make pizza for a living. In fact, I should be called “radioguy”. At this time, I have 29 years experience in radio equipment repair and maintenance. For the past nine years I have also been doing land mobile system design as well as State-of-Georgia-compliant radar certifications. (That ticket the officer just wrote you won't stand up in court, unless he has my signature and FCC license number on a calibration certificate, dated within the last year.). I also hold two FCC licenses; an industry technical certification known as a “CET” and recently (after all these years) earned a degree in electronics with an emphasis on radio communications.
Remember, you can call it radar, television, a cell phone, AM or FM - anything you want to - it’s all just different applications of radio. And I am "radioguy".
What I will write is based mostly on technical knowledge. But it is also based on interactions with officers when they complain that their radar “is acting up” or “doesn’t do this or that like it did when it was new”.
I also have carried a Kustom K band radar in my van for many years as an “operating spare”. Having this thing with me has proved very interesting. It has also helped me to understand some of the complaints that officers bring to me about their radar units.
This will be hard to explain without pictures, videos, power point slides or the ability to see the look on my handsome face... so I will break this up in sections and TRY my BEST to be clear.
Last edited by pizzaguy; Dec 5, 2009 at 12:00 AM.