Traveling? Check the Radar Types before you Go (Massive List)

“I want to go fight crime but nooo, it’s just issue tickets tickets tickets…”

by Zack Klapman

Everybody speeds. Us, my timid mom, your super hot sister, the truckers that blow by aggressively worded signs “Trucks 55MPH Speed Limit”; like peeing in a pool, we all do it. On a 700 mile drive, an extra 5MPH can save you 45 minutes. Go faster, get there sooner. Tell me the roads aren’t safe enough, and I’ll post countless pictures of flat-as-a-gymnast roads that are as straight as George Clooney. But the reason we don’t all speed with reckless abandon is speed traps.

Cops sit in the bushes like Elmer Fudd, and hit a button, shooting a beam of light or radio waves or Hogwart’s magic at us, telling them how fast we’re going. That’s the motivated ones. Lots of them leave the radar on, too busy to pull the trigger themselves, allowing our radar detectors to tap us on the shoulder in warning miles ahead of time. But not all states-and counties- were created equally. The type of revenue generator radar frequency used in one town might not be the same as another. For example, in California, all you really get hit with is Ka band, and laser, both fairly modern methods of catching speeders. We ignore the K band chirp, and some of us even disable the X-band completely, not wanting to be annoyed every time we pass a 7-11 with an automatic door. In fact, I’d assumed I’d never encounter these dinosaurs of detection.

Then we drove through Georgia, and shit changed. K band is the Wonder Bread of Georgia, and the ancient X-band is still dusted off in some counties. Wonder when they’ll get the internet? No wonder DNA takes so long to process.. Had I not researched the local methods of “safety enforcement” I would have muted all the K bands and continued on my safe, efficient, merry way. But thanks to some guy named Kevin Patz, I knew that Georgia, the Carolins, and Alabama still use the rotary-phone radar frequencies, so I knew to take a K chirp seriously. And I’m really really really glad I did. So if you’re flying or driving to a new state, and think, by bringing your radar detector, you’re protected from numerous men in uniform who couldn’t safely navigate a bumper cars course yet have the authority to fine you, check the list. It’s not just having a radar detector, it’s knowing what to do with the information it provides. If you’re in a rural place, chances are those frequencies you’re used to ignoring are legit. Brushing them off will mean a very prompt citation, because from what I gather, these cops have little else to do but park in the median. Check out Kevin’s site for a massive list of county radar frequencies, organized by state.

http://www.patzcatz.com/radarbands.html#O

Source: Kevin Patz

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