Gypsy Scout Radar Detector
Gypsy Scout Radar Detector
EVALUATION
There’s a war going on all along the highways of America. It’s a cold war, characterized by an arms race on both sides, each one trying to find the ultimate weapon to control the other side. This war has nothing to do with Arabs or Ayatollahs or Soviets or any other far away people from Never-Never land. This is serious. This is Us vs Them. Cops vs. Speeders. Can’t get any closer to home than that.
First off, let’s dispense with the horse pucky. Articles about radar detectors invariably begin with the magazine telling the reader that it doesn’t condone or encourage illegal activities like speeding. Bull s**t. The double niekle is a farce designed to make Us think They are doing something about fuel shortages or safety. Strange, isn’t it, that no other country in the w'orld (save those behind the Iron Curtain) enforces such a ridiculous speed limit.
No one drives (and few' ride) at 55mph across the Mojave desert or the Great Plains or on any wide open long stretch of highway. Some, however, are sacrificial lambs that must be offered to the God of Slow by his agents, those using radar guns. A radar gun sends out a stream of microwaves, usually in the 24.05 to 24.15 GHz range (X-band) or 10.5 to 10.55 GHz
(K-band). The microwaves are bounced back by oncoming vehicles, but the moving vehicle bounces the frequency up a tiny bit, depending on the speed. (About 31 Hz for each mile per hour on the Kband.)
When the higher frequencies are returned, accompanied by reflected signals of the original waves, the radar gun picks up the signal and calculates the speed from the frequency of the waves picked up. It’s a good system for determining speed, but it’s not without flaws.
Electrical interference from CB radios, automobile electrical systems or aircraft radar units can fool radar guns. So can objects along the road like trees or buildings. Despite the likeliness of improper speed reading by the radar (estimated by some at up to 25 percent of all readings), courts seldom question police radar.
Motorcyclists come into this with an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on whether they speed or not. It’s all because of the small size of a motorcycle. Big objects bounce back radar waves from a greater distance than small objects. That means a large truck can be picked up by radar from nearly a mile away, while a motorcycle isn’t generally picked up until it’s within about 500 ft. from most radar guns. That’s great for a motorcycle going faster than traffic, because the traffic speed will be shown on the radar unit while the motorcycle goes much faster. But if the motorcycle is in front of a truck that’s speeding, a policeman might not know that a more distant vehicle’s speed is being shown on the radar rather than the closest vehicle’s speed.
This brings us to radar detectors. Simply put, they are receivers that pick up radar waves and alert the rider when radar waves are picked up. Because the detectors are sensitive and pick up the waves sent out, they can have a greater range than a radar gun that needs to send out the signals, receive the same signal bounced back and get a strong enough signal to figure out the frequency.
But radar detectors aren’t fool-proof either.
They can be triggered by microwave security systems in stores or airplane radar or even police radios. And police radar is designed to fool radar detectors. Often the police radar will have a narrow range (6° on good X-band detectors) that is hard to detect and the radar will be set up in a trap around corners or over hills. The latest advance in radar units is to have them operate from a moving patrol car. so the closing speed is greater.
While there are a great number of radar detectors on the market, there’s one that stands out for motorcyclists, because it’s designed for motorcycle use. That’s the Gypsy Scout from Highway Drydock Corp. (94B Galli Drive, Novato, Calif. 94947. (415) 883-2496). Chuck Fowler (the fellow who came up with the “Have you hugged your motorcycle today?” bumper sticker) is the boss at Highway Drydock and the man who sent us a Gypsy Scout to test.
The Gypsy Scout is obviously designed by a man who rides motorcycles. It’s sealed from moisture, even the switch on back, and it’s protected from vibration. There’s also a 7 in. long arm the detector can be attached to that clamps to the handlebars. The basic detector is about 6 in. long, 4 in. wide and 3 in. high, so it can even fit inside the pockets of most fairings, where it still works. It comes with a sturdy 4 ft. long cord that plugs into a cigarette lighter and is shielded from interference. There’s an external speaker that’s waterproof and it chirps loud enough at the scent of radar waves that a motorcyclist can hear it at 90mph with the wind blowing. (Go “brrrrrr” in a high tone and roll the R's to duplicate the sound.) There's a green light on back that lights up when the unit is on, a red light that lights up when radar waves are detected and a switch that turns the uniton or selects full power or a half power setting that can be used when near interference.
Best of all, it works. It can be made to mount on nearly any motorcycle. It’s also easily detachable. And it is sensitive to both K-band and X-band radar at a goodly distance. Exactly how far depends on conditions. While coming over a hill just outside of Las Vegas it gave us enough warning to brake from 75 and avoid one sure ticket, though the warning was only about a half mile away. In Utah it detected a moving radar unit (the most deadly kind) a mile away on a straight, open highway and had the rider slowed from 90mph down to a sedate 55 in time to wave at the approaching policeman. It announced the welcoming radar at the edge of a tiny town in the middle of the Mojave desert from a distance of a mile and a half. Never, during the time the Gypsy Scout was mounted on a motorcycle, did the rider get a ticket for speeding while once, when it wasn’t mounted on a test bike, a rider who normally uses the Gypsy Scout was ticketed when caught by radar in Maine.
This is not to say, however, that the Gypsy Scout will eliminate tickets.
It’s possible for a narrow angle radar unit to be placed around a tight corner and to catch speeders even equipped with the best radar detectors. Some new radar units use an intermittent beam that is hard to detect. And it’s also possible for a radar unit to give a false reading when you’ve braked to a safe speed.
Still, the Gypsy Scout gives a ridpr a fighting chance. It’s well made, durable and sensitive. Chuck Fowler tells us his unit stacks up against the best radar detectors. Although we haven’t tried all the detectors on the market, we’re inclined to believe him.
Radar detectors are not thought of with much kindness by police who use radar. Indeed, there are a few places in this country where policemen will confiscate radar detectors, even though the Communications Act of 1934 expressedly guarantees every citizen the right to own any radio receiver, and that includes radar detectors.
Not every enemy of speed uses radar. The California Highway Patrol is one notable exception, and they manage to be as tough on speeders as any police force in the country.
The Gypsy Scout isn’t cheap at $169.25, but it’s not the most expensive unit either. Rather, it’s a good quality product with a reasonable price for those who need it.
Our Gypsy Scout doesn’t get put on all test bikes, but it does go with us outside California and, so far, it’s done its job.
