I do not know about on line stuff but the only two places I know of scanners are Uniden bearcat and radio shack.

 

damn i didnt know they actualy use planes in every day patrol... i thought they only used those for gumballers and ****.

 

wow i'll have to check the skies more often

 

Other's experience w/ scanning in order to avoid speed traps may differ, but I've never had much success with it in the 15 years I've owned scanners.

Traffic cops DO NOT announce over the air where they are located - unless there's a shooting or some other big event, then you'll hear it all. You'll never hear them say, "HQ, this is unit 234, I'm setting up a speed trap at mile marker 305 on I-20 east." And when they pull someone over, the plate checking is done via voiceless data terminals - unless they are out of data link range. So you usually won't hear registration/warrants info either.

But let's say you do hear some chatter, which somehow, you've been able to determine originated from traffic cops. Problem is, where are they? Behind, in front, another road all together? You may have to slow down for miles and miles, and then you'll never know when it's safe to speed up again.

In addition, you can forget about listening to your tunes while you're tooling down the road. You'll have to pay close attention to what's being said on your scanner.

Although it's fun to listen in w/ scanners, if your goal is to avoid speeding tickets, you're much better off with a V1 or Escort radar detector. Except in the case of these airplane traps, since there is no radar, a detector is no good either. So, I bet having a CB would be a big help here and better than just having a scanner. This will alert you to the fact that a ground unit has been spotted - and pretty soon word will get out that a bird of prey is working with him.

The aircraft traps work by the pilot or a passenger clocking the amount of time it takes for your vehicle to pass between two objects of a known distance using a VASCAR (Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder) unit (though this timing method may be illegal in some states, so the less accurate "pacing" method is used). These are usually large markers painted over the top or on the shoulder of the highway (several of them in a row a half or full mile apart so that the plane doesn't have to loop around as often). If you drive past one of these, start looking for a bird in the sky (if you pass the second marker and haven't slowed yet: toast) - but they won't make it easy for you to spot them. He'll keep well off the highway until the ground unit is ready, so even if you see him off in the distance to the left or right, you may not assoctiate him with danger. Then, he'll loop around and come in behind his victims, more than likely flying near directly over the highway so you'd really have to **** your neck up to see him (oh, don't forget to watch the road ) - then he'll loop back off until the next round. Or, using a pair of binos, he could visually clock you from the side of the highway from a good distance away, and then come in closer to obtain a positive ID to relay below. Pretty dang effective method, but luckily it's quite expensive to deploy, so it's not widely used.

Remember, a regular patrol car can have a VASCAR too and they can be deadly because there's no radar or laser involved. His timing marks can be anything, a tree, a shadow across the rode, etc. He can time you using his VASCAR while driving several cars in front or behind you or while stopped in hiding. Your only hope here is that someone spots him and puts it up on the CB (keep in mind, he's got a CB too) - but at night - forget it.

Just my experience.

-tom