Passport 8500 Radar Detector Installation
Radar detectors are like locks on a door; they keep honest people honest.
Radar is nothing more than radio emissions whose wavelength falls in the microwave region. In the case of speed measuring radar, they are transmitted from a fixed point, reflect back from the object being tracked or measured (for our purposes, your car) which results in your speed being measured VIA doppler effect. All (supposedly) without your knowledge. If you are intentionally speeding and get caught, too bad. Should you be passing through a town or county who has chosen predatory speed traps as a revenue enhancement... now that is another matter. For those of you who travel I95, know that Emporia, VA is such a town.
We should all have knowledge of when our actions are under surveillance.
When installing a radar detector in an FJ or for that matter, any vehicle, the idea is to mount it as high in the vehicle as possible to enable the greatest effective range. I chose to mount a Passport 8500 to the sun visor in my FJ.
Suction cup mounts are messy, fall off and can be easily seen in an unattended automobile by a would be thief.
By using the case for my sunglasses as a wedge,
the
business end of the Passport, its feed-horn, is
positioned to "look" straight down the highway.
I did not want cumbersome and messy coiled power
cords dangling all over the place. So choose to use route the wiring
between the headliner and windshield.
To the left is a picture taken with the camera laying on the dashboard, looking
up.
A little tricky, it required gently working a broad hook like device under
headliner and pulling it down just enough to work the wiring harness for the
Passport in.
Powering the detector must be given some careful
thought.
Because I chose not to use the bulky coiled cord, an alternative had to be
found. Ideally, I wanted the detector to power up when the engine was
started. An additional issue, the detector runs on 6VDC.
The simplest approach was to go the the fuse box, mounted behind an access cover in the dashboard right near the drivers left knee. Next, find an unused fuse holder to which power is supplied when the vehicle is started. In my case, I wanted to power other (IMPORTANT: low current) devices. I needed to find a fuse holder that powered up with the key was turned to the first position, "Accessory."
A quick check with a DC voltmeter and a few cycles of the ignition key revealed the bottom terminal for last fuse on the bottom row would meet my needs. I trimmed a male crimp terminal so that it could be inserted in place of one fuse leg, crimped the leads and inserted it. I also wired a ground under the dash and ran both to a cigarette lighter socket bought from Radio Shack and mounted under the dash.
Turned the key one click to the right and got the satisfying beeping as the Passport went through its self-checks and powered up. Mission accomplished!
A Sidebar on Radar Detector Use in Virginia
I live in VA where the last
law
making the use of Radar Detectors illegal in vehicles is still on the books. Still, I
can use my Passport Radar Detector here with impunity without fear of
prosecution. "How can that be," you ask? Read on.....
About 2 years ago while traveling through Emporia, VA (speeding ticket HQ of the
State), I had pulled off the side of the road to safely pour a soda into an
insulated mug. Yes, I was completely stopped, pulled off the road. A
passing Peace Officer (I prefer that term, "Law Enforcement" keeps being
shoved down our throats and it sounds like something out of East Germany, after it became the "Workers Paradise").
Anyway, the policeman saw the detector on the visor pulled in behind me and
issued a summons.
He wanted to confiscate it
however I informed him that would be illegal under Federal Law and that while I
would regret having to do it, he could count on a warrant being filed in Federal
Court in Norfolk that next morning. That warrant would be at the Federal
level against him, personally and the County government would not be able to
stand in his place.
I've been a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers and an Amateur Radio
Operator for 36 years and am quite familiar with the FCC rules. With those
same FCC Rules under my arm, I went to court in Emporia, pleaded my case, showed
the prevailing Federal Law to the Judge and won.
Radar Detectors are nothing but very simple radio receivers. The FCC rules (Part
15, if I remember correctly) clearly state that jurisdiction of the Airwaves is
the sole purview of the Federal Government. There are many reasons for this,
interstate commerce issues being but one. Hence, a state has no jurisdiction
over the regulating the airwaves and can not enact or enforce law such law.
I'll never forgot the look on the Policemans
face
when the judge said "not guilty." To this day, I carry a copy of the
court record in my glove compartment should I be questioned again.
I am not a speeder nor do
I advocate breaking the law. However, that works both ways. My issue
is that this is a law which should not be on the books, let alone enforced. Its
Federally pre-empted which makes enforcement at the State or local level simply
not legal. However, its there because cities and counties in Virginia
champion the extra revenue. That why VA is the only state left (maybe DC still has one) with an
anti-radar detector law on the books. The reason I fought the ticket was 50%
because it is based on bad law and 10% to use a radar detector.
I'd be less than honest if I did not admit the other 40% was to put a thumb in
the eye of lawmakers and judges who are increasingly under the impression think
we work for them v/s the other way around.
Screw 'em..... Radar speed traps are nothing more than a state run, for profit
revenue generation system.
While I did not have to go beyond the FCC rules defense, there are several
others. Among them is that there is an Amateur frequency allocation right next
to the 10.5 ghz radio location band. At that frequency, there are some fairly
specific spectrum sharing regulations which come into play if you are a Ham and
are willing to research the FCC regs. Finally, rules have been recently put into
place by the FCC and OSHA with regard to bodily RF exposure. The higher the
frequency and denser the field (like having the business end of a police radar
detector pointed at the back of your head from the car behind while you're
stopped at a traffic light), the shorter the exposure time. At 10 gHz, depending
on the field density, the exposure time in 24 hours runs for a few seconds to
less than a couple of minutes.
BTW: 99.9% of Peace Officers have no knowledge of the exposure rules. I see them
with transducers mounted outside on the door pillar and on the dash board
zipping up and down the highways and byways unaware of the danger they are in.
Do that for a couple of years and you get anything from brain cancer to loosing
your eyesight.
