Airborne Speed Trap Countermeasures - Revisited

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Originally Posted by thx1138

Silver might make you an easier lidar target.

Seriously if you want to try the TCAS in a controlled experiment, I can get an airplane to fly patterns and you approach the simulated enforcement area and see how the TCAS reacts. This would be way easier that trying to chase down an actual airplane trap.

Experiment is as follows...
Pick a road, specific location on that road and a time. Airplane flys at 2500ft in a racetrack pattern, 1 mile legs. Target car, drives through the simulated enforcement area observe the TCAS. Target car drives beyond the target area by 2 miles and does a U-turn. Repeat the drive through and repeat observations. Do this 3-5 times.

Optionally you could video both the airplane and car cabins, note the exact GPS coordinates of both the car and the aircraft. Ground to air communication would be good, and you would need an aircraft two way radio (I have one BTW).

I'd suggest a road way out west Broward or Palm beach county, such as US27, SR80 or the Sawgrass--- somewhere way out of controlled airspace and on a road that has long straightaways and the ability to make U turns.

Just let me know if you really want to test this out.

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I definitely want to do this. I expect the TPAS to be delivered on the 13th. I will probably want to play with it and get familiar before we spend any time on a proper test like this. I'm looking forward to doing this.

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Originally Posted by thx1138

The fastest quick test would be to pick a small airport and see how your TCAS works. Determine which runway is active. Park your car under the downwind or final leg of the landing aircraft. Your TCAS should be alerting as aircraft fly over you. You have several airports to choose from (Exec-commercial Blvd, Pompano, Boca, Lantana). Traffic will only be 1000-1500 ft on downwind and lower on final, so this isn't a realistic test.

I'd suggest you try that first to confirm everything is working before a more realistic test and extensive test is performed.

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I will definitely spend some time with the TPAS before any serious testing. I could probably do it right here at home. It seems the landing pattern for FLL is near my house.

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Originally Posted by switch626

I think the CB is definitely a tried and true countermeasure for this. I think the collision avoidance method would be a good addition though if it works. These methods seem to both have their weaknesses, but together would fill in the gaps.

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True, the more countermeasures you have the better, especially with air enforcement.

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Originally Posted by switch626

I have also heard that silver is very hard for lidar reflections. That makes a nice double whammy. I am leaning toward my next car being silver.

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I have not heard that before. I sure hope it is true though!

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Originally Posted by thx1138

Silver might make you an easier lidar target.

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That is probably more likely. But don't they normally they target your plate or headlights? Ideally for laser protection (along with a jammer),you would want black, non-metallic paint, popup headlights, and no front plate. Or maybe two-tone paint, black with a silver hood and roof.:D

GTO_04

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Originally Posted by switch626

I will definitely spend some time with the TPAS before any serious testing. I could probably do it right here at home. It seems the landing pattern for FLL is near my house.

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I'll have a plane and pilot available when you are ready. I wonder if one more forum member could meet us. One driver (switch), one passenger to record the TCAS alert locations and one for the plane to assist the pilot and record info.

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Originally Posted by thx1138

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Originally Posted by switch626

I will definitely spend some time with the TPAS before any serious testing. I could probably do it right here at home. It seems the landing pattern for FLL is near my house.

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I'll have a plane and pilot available when you are ready. I wonder if one more forum member could meet us. One driver (switch), one passenger to record the TCAS alert locations and one for the plane to assist the pilot and record info.

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I'd love to join you guys, but I'm a little far away to do it. :(

Get a scanner(s) programmed for highway patrol and one for the police aviation unit.

FHP has gone encrypted digital since 2005. :(

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I wonder if anyone makes one of these that DOES INTERROGATE. That would make this much more attractive.

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Yes, they exist, but they are usually hardwired to the electrical system. And they cost a lot more than what you paid for this one. :)

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Originally Posted by thx1138

FHP has gone encrypted digital since 2005. :(

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Damn :(

The TPAS came in Yesterday, so of course I took it down to a side street that is perfectly aligned with West side of the runway (where planes are usually coming in for a landing). This gave me a good opportunity to . Play with the controls and get an idea of how it works.

Unfortunately, this model is so old and obsolete, that I was not able to find a manual for it. I did find a couple of really old articles written about the TPAS when it was a brand new model. They gave a pretty good description of how to use it for it's intended purpose. The Ebay seller assured me that this device would be easy to figure out, and so far it has been.

I basically just plugged in a set of headphones (since my car doesn't have the intercom system that a plane would have, and sat and watched as planes came in.

There are two sensitivity settings: TCA, and ENROUTE. TCA seems to be more accurate in estimating the distance of an approaching plane, and also only sounds an alert when the plane is nearly right on top of you. It also doesn't seem to track anything over 4 nautical miles.

Enroute, on the other hand, is far less precise. It also tracks planes at much greater distances. I think I saw it mentioned somewhere that this mode tracks up to 15 miles. It also seems to alarm around 2 miles out.

After a while sitting near the runway, I decided to follow SR84/I595 further out. I was hoping to encounter traffic at higher altitudes, and get an idea if there was any kind of a ceiling on either mode. Unfortunately, the alerts we so abundant that It like there practically was a plane any more than 3 miles out. Since I was driving, I didn't always get to spot the plane in question, but often I did. Still, with the alarms so frequent, I was starting to worry that I was getting a whole lot of false alerts.

At one point, I stopped at a convenience store, so my girlfriend could get a pack of cigarettes. While she ran in, I turned the motor off, and sat watching with the windows down and sun roof open. Sure enough, I got an alert in TCA mode for a plane 1 mile out. About a mile to the north of me, a plane! He still wasn't very high though.

I continued westward onto Alligator Alley, and finally parked at the second recreational area. By this time the alerts were finally stopping much of the time. The traffic I was getting was now often 3 or more NM out. Then finally, an alert! There was a plane within a mile of my location. I got out of the car and started to scan the sky for my bogey, and there it was. I would guess that this plane was at about 5 thousand feet and no more than a mile away. I'm pretty sure that I will have no problem with planes watching cars from 2500 feet.