^ See, that guy's nuts.
Now
THAT is enough power to jam most 3-rd world countries' entire air-force!
RN and
cVr -
I thank you for your mentions, but honestly, my setup pales in comparison to many others' in the community.
RacerX is only one example, as there are others out there who also run some *serious* combos, be it for detection (
ProSpeeder's V1/SR7) or jamming (
HappyA$$ on RD.net, if memory serves, is on a combination of Blinders, ALs, and LE10s on his various vehicles, and there are others out there with Blinder/LE30 [ apologies, but the name of this particular enthusiast eludes me at the moment ], LPP/ZR3 [ the infamous
Noory ], as well as LPP/Mimic [
LOPSL ] combos, too).
I'm not going to lie and be falsely modest, I do have what I would think is a pretty decent setup. But at the same time, I'm not going to brag about it, either - seeing how there are many others who are at least on the same level as I am, or are even more well-equipped.
In any case, here's my setup:
Up front, it's a CR8APL8 fiberglass replica plate, along with LaserShield, with non-metallic mounting hardware. Ohio mandates the use of a front plate on passenger vehicles, and as my goal is to, first of all, NOT get pulled over, this is not only precaution against a "Fix-It" citation, but also serves as good "bait" to encourage center-mass shots.
At the top corners of the upper/main grill, directly inboard of each headlight, highlighted in yellow, you'll find my two front LPP heads. As with my rear LPP, my control-boxes are CAN/AU versions, updated for the 100-PPS UL. These heads are mounted true-level, and point straight out.
Drop a vertical line to just below the bumperline, and you'll see my two front LI heads. These are also mounted true-level, and are flush with the bumper's forward plane. I try to park "nose out" whenever I can, so bumper-lot taps are not as much of a concern to me.
Just under the LI heads are my two front ZR3 heads, which serve as both supplemental jamming/backup as well as, in their primary role, as directional LIDAR receivers, so that my 9500i - to which the ZR3 is integrated to - can give me a clear, quickly-referenced,
directional threat indication (in conjunction with its rear head, on my vehicle's back-side). These heads are actually angled "out" a bit, to help catch off-axis shots. I figure that with the "tripod" positioning of these two low-mounted detection points and my high-mounted 9500i, this gives me increased odds of "catching" incoming - here, no consideration is made for jamming power/effect.
My front setup may change after (when) I get a chance to get in some quantitative testing - but other than that, I'm pretty satisfied with how it sits in a "theoretical protection" sense.
Out back ->
A single LPP (red highlight) above my rear plate - which is also a CR8APL8 fiberglass replica, albeit "un-dressed" (so far, I have not been harrassed about this plate, and for any given week, I run in to about 2 or 3 enforcers who may sit right on my tail or off to either side, in-traffic, in my mainly in-city commute) - with the ZR3's rear head below (yellow highlight).
The ZR3 is angled extreme "up," to hopefully give me some warning of reception from a high-positioned rear-enforcement scenario (i.e. from an elevated, descending, on-ramp). Again, "jamming power," here, to me, is totally a non-consideration - I know how ineffective the ZR3 is, in this respect, in-particular - I simply want to capture off-axis shots.
The LPP is only slightly bubble-positive (shimmed). Again, my goal here is to protect center-mass, selectively, from the above-cited "elevated" scenario. My personal view of rear-protection is quite pragmatic, to the point that many feel it is rather pessimistic....I honestly don't expect my single rear LPP to offer too much protection, particularly given my vehicle's widely-spaced rear hard-points (read: tail-lights). Still, this is definitely decent defense, particularly with center-mass shots being the most common. However, I do plan to beef-up my rear-protection by either adding another LPP head (I still have one blank port on my second LPP control-box; and relocating the heads more outboard - however, here, as you can see from the pictures above, I will run-in to a mounting-depth issue at the plate-recess "overhang," since I do not wish to cut bumper skin nor trunk-lid) or completing my LI setup with two UltraSlim rear heads, mounted as outboard as possible.
And yes, I know there's external conduit that makes the rear setup even more visible than it already is. This is inconsequential to me, as my vehicle's rear-end is already rather visually cluttered (hey, I like big butts, OK?), and again, I currently have no wishes to cut into the bumper skin or trunk-lid.
Inside:
The 9500i is placed so that its laser sensor peeks out just under the tint band (and yes, before you say anything, it *is* level, and it is also looking "straight" ahead - I have absolutely *no* camera-skills, as you can no doubt tell by now, and this picture makes the setup look all sorts of crooked). The hardwire joins my inside RVM (that auxiliary mirror you see to the right is used to keep an eye on my baby-girl - but I've got it set-up so that it also does well as a supplemental blind-spot mirror) and then runs up its base-stalk, where I've "safety-tethered" it with a small Zip-Tie. This hardwire cord is actually the integration "Link" from my ZR3, and thus runs around the border of my headliner and driver's side A-pillar, and down through the dash and into the center console.
This position is my personal preference - it places the detector right in my main sightline, without actually infringing on my view of the road. I've often thought about (and have placed my past detectors, as well as other electronics) even closer to the headliner, above the RVM, on my side - but I've never liked how far "up" I had to look to see it. YMMV, this is just my personal preference.
I do keep the main display module of my ZR3 visible, mainly because it does visually show the start-up self-check process, something that the integration through the 9500i fails to visually note (i.e. the separate front and rear checks). Located in this area, it's pretty much out-of-sight and out-of-mind, since it blocks no dash warning lights nor gauges.
[
For those who are curious, the chrome-looking "tube" to the left is my TurboXS Knock/Shift light - it's an idiot-light for knock events (feeds off the stock knock-sensor), and also a shift-light. ]
Continuing to work "down" the interior....
Unlit:
Lit:
In the "Lit" picture, in my upper "cubby" - the space between the vents and just above the temperature/clock/trip-computer - sits an AEM UEGO wideband O2 gauge, to the left of which you'll see a yellow highlight oval. In this picture, I was able to capture the LPP's indicator blinking "on." If you look closely, you'll see that this is one of two such LEDs, and this one sits on the bottom of this twin-stack. This corresponds with my rear LPP.
Although it is easy to see that this is the "rear indicator" when you truly look at this area, under stress (i.e. encounter) situations, it is virtually impossible to distinguish this LED from its sister above. This is why I so love my 9500i/ZR3 integration, as it gives me a clear and easy visual reference that's unmistakable.
In the lower left corner on both pix above, near a knob labeled "AUTO/OFF," you'll see a yellow oval highlighting the ZR3's remote mute/function button. When tied into the 9500i, it also assumes the role of the 9500i's SmartCord, and is used in the exact same fashion. This button, however, is neither pilot nor alert-lit, and as-such, I've chosen to locate it in a spot that's easy to reference via simple body proprioception (since this is literally adjacent to my right knee), and is also co-located with the backlit HVAC control knob directly above it.
Below this highlight is yet another yellow highlight oval, which corresponds to what used to be my ashtray, and is now the main control panel (cut from a simple project enclosure from
RadioShack) that houses my LI (left) and LPP (front, rear, respectively, left-to-right) controls.
Note that I prefer the controls on my off-hand. Since I drive a manual transmission, this allows me to keep one hand on the wheel at all times. Furthermore, the proximity of the main controls to the stick allows me to easily reach them, without telegraphing such motions outside the vehicle.
As with my center cubby above, which houses two ancillary gauges and the aforementioned LPP indicator LEDs, the cosmetic door/covering to this area is retained, and swings over/up, respectively, to cover these areas from sight in an OEM manner.
In the "Lit" picture, you can also see that I've embedded an LED strip (OPTX brand - the usual generic stuff you can get from any auto-parts retail chain) to serve as pilot/reference lighting for these controls. While the LI on/off button also serves as its own visual locator under dark conditions, the LPPs' controls are not lit (and when off, the LI's indicator is, of course, also off, and thus offers no visual reference). In both the cubby as well as the ashtray, there's a secondary light, and I've deactivated both.
The same areas are again highlighted below, in this "night" picture:
In the following picture, taken from the back-seat of my vehicle, I've again highlighted the 9500i as well as the main jammer control area (ashtray):
And to also answer
Anonymous's question of
RacerX, as to whether there's any undue cross-talk.
The only problem I have is with my front LIs "seeing" the LPPs' "parking beams," and engaging the former's "Unknown Gun Jamming Sequence." This only happens if I close to within one car length to the vehicle in front of me (slightly variable, depending on the "reflectivity" of said preceeding vehicle), or if I'm in an IR-pulse reflective confine (i.e. garage space, against the wall).
Currently, yes, there's been documentation of various IR-LED as well as laser-diode based jammers incurring cross-talk with each other - i.e. one firing causing the other to fire in sole response to the original - albeit on a "benchtop" basis.
There's as-yet no confirmation whether or not such cross-talk can be elicited in a real-world encounter scenario, and also no evidence as to whether or not the elicited cross-talk will cause untoward jamming behavior/degradation in jamming performance. So far, it's speculated that, if anything, the only worry from using such multiple-layer active jamming combinations would be eliciting jam-codes (in a situation where, otherwise, via a single jamming solution, no such - or different - codes would be generated), but again, there's just no solid proof at this point.
Currently, we only have rather subjective and/or non-quantitative data - and to be fair, they are rather "strong" data - to indicate that there's no "performance" problems to be had via such layering.