Official "Whacker" or "Screwed Up Install" Thread

Station 3 said:
I am starting to see a surplus of old retired new model Tahoes out on the streets driven by thugs... Its scary and I recently saw one today it was white with 24 inch rims and I drove up behind it in my personal truck and I got to see some vertex leds in the tail lamps that were off.. So that's even more scary knowing people are buying these PPVs and for some reason mostly thugs buy them the guy driving it had his windows rolled down blaring his Mexican drug cartel music and leaning back like a cholo in the seat.


here is one example from my local craigslist guy selling a old 2007 Tahoe fully equipped with red blues to any drug dealer with the cash.... thing has ballistic door inserts also...


----------police Tahoe 2007---------------

I'd love to have a Tahoe. They're all over the place around here, but sooo pricey. Midland and Odessa PD and FDs are using them, too. For $15 grand I could find something else....if I could afford it. :yes:
 
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I don't know why, but I'm kinda digging the antenna on the light like that. :undecided: As long as it was properly sealed, and not in the way of the LEDs. One less hole to drill/leave on the truck. :thumbsup:

lafd55 said:
 
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Strobe Craft said:
I don't know why, but I'm kinda digging the antenna on the light like that. :undecided: As long as it was properly sealed, and not in the way of the LEDs. One less hole to drill/leave on the truck. :thumbsup:
True, but IIRC most(if not all) manufacturers state to not mount anything to lightbars. This would void the warranty. Now a good idea would be to use a flat piece of metal, cut an antenna hole in one end, and drill two screw holes in the other and use the rail system underneath.
 
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Strobe Craft said:
I don't know why, but I'm kinda digging the antenna on the light like that. :undecided: As long as it was properly sealed, and not in the way of the LEDs. One less hole to drill/leave on the truck. :thumbsup:

Police at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station have the antenna mounted to the top of the lightbar.


P1010394t.jpg
 
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Strobe Craft said:
I don't know why, but I'm kinda digging the antenna on the light like that. :undecided: As long as it was properly sealed, and not in the way of the LEDs. One less hole to drill/leave on the truck. :thumbsup:

Where's the ground plane?
 
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shues said:
Where's the ground plane?

Touche. Forgot about that. Radio communications aren't my area..I was looking at it cosmetically.

lafd55 said:
Now a good idea would be to use a flat piece of metal, cut an antenna hole in one end, and drill two screw holes in the other and use the rail system underneath.

Good point. Still achieving the look, with better grounding.
 
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Granted you can order antennas without the need for ground plane but it's always good to use a good/clean metal surface.
 
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some antennas don't need ground planes.... on uhf the ground plane only needs to be like 5 inches... vhf is 19 - 21 inches depending on freq.


since the radio waves would be reflecting off the vehicle roof as well as the lightbar Id bet the ground plane is good enough for uhf


if RFI occurs with the lightbar, add a ground strap
 
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I don't know how effective this K-9 unit would be.


k-9.jpg


k-9a.jpg
 
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codycat91 said:
Really hope this wasn't posted before. I did search.



Those lights are probably Chinese ebay specials, either Gen 1 or not too bright Gen 3s - also he has the hazards flash with them. No undercover cop I've seen turns on the hazards and the lights at the same time.
 
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LAPDfalcon said:

For what it's worth, those guys have some nice equipment/cars. Don't know many rentacop agencies that would shell out for an SLR.
 
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txff914 said:
aimg.tapatalk.com_d_14_02_28_u5asa9u9.jpg

Those here in TX know that red is a no no on security vehicle's but how is this guy getting away with it? Also it has red to the front too.

Us here in Texas know that the blue and clear is illegal as well. Just as that car rolls, no matter if the lights are on or off. I've talked to many LEO's in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Grand Prairie, Arlington, and Dallas County Sheriff. While all agreed that red to the front was illegal, most thought that red emergency lights were ok towards the rear, almost all thought blue was legal for security guards, and none knew that clear was a prohibited color. In Dallas, if a DPD writes a security for equipment violations regarding colors, the city attorney usually dismisses the tickets. For some reason, in Texas, the majority of LE and courts either have no knowledge of the State law, or simply choose to ignore them. Houston/Harris County LE seem to cater to security guards and let them get away with major violations.
 
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Came across this the other day...


From their Facebook page: "First-of-its-kind non-profit 501©3 Emergency Services Unit and Weather Service. Staffed by highly experienced meteorologists & volunteers."


https://www.facebook.com/WXpatrol


841261_266456786851193_1017610467_o.jpg


1779040_264850573678481_713802307_n.jpg


1604717_264743797022492_1903641400_n.jpg


These guys claim to be Meteorologists, not really sure what they do though.


These are the only two vehicles shown on their page, but they are both "Incident Command". Who are they commanding?
 
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okc_f150 said:
Came across this the other day...

From their Facebook page: "First-of-its-kind non-profit 501©3 Emergency Services Unit and Weather Service. Staffed by highly experienced meteorologists & volunteers."


https://www.facebook.com/WXpatrol


View attachment 70192


View attachment 70193


View attachment 70194


These guys claim to be Meteorologists, not really sure what they do though.


These are the only two vehicles shown on their page, but they are both "Incident Command". Who are they commanding?

They seemed to be owned by a Californa based weather company. With that said, in my area there are several private buinesses that have specialized equiptment that are on 24/7 stand-by for FD/PD/EMS to utilize if needed. A lot of them do have decked out vehicles, but nothing illigal and of course only amber lights. I think them having the decked out vehicles is mostly for PR and a way for them to get there name out more.


So if these guys are legit, I don't see to much of an issue with that they got. The "incdent command" may be a little over the top, but when theres 5+ "incedent comannd" vehicles on scene from 5 different agencies, it doesn't mean anything anyways.
 
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HILO said:
Us here in Texas know that the blue and clear is illegal as well. Just as that car rolls, no matter if the lights are on or off. I've talked to many LEO's in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Grand Prairie, Arlington, and Dallas County Sheriff. While all agreed that red to the front was illegal, most thought that red emergency lights were ok towards the rear, almost all thought blue was legal for security guards, and none knew that clear was a prohibited color. In Dallas, if a DPD writes a security for equipment violations regarding colors, the city attorney usually dismisses the tickets. For some reason, in Texas, the majority of LE and courts either have no knowledge of the State law, or simply choose to ignore them. Houston/Harris County LE seem to cater to security guards and let them get away with major violations.

I would agree that red to the rear is no problem. The radio station where I worked here just out of high school had red deck lights and amber grille lights on the station's news unit. I was driving the unit one day and got stopped by a city cop. He had seen the amber grille lights and at a glance thought they were red. But when he saw they were amber there was no problem, and they had no problem with the red to the rear. In fact some of the cops liked our red deck lights well enough, that when the new cars came out, they all had red deck lights until the late '60s when they went to lightbars in place of the traditional beacons.


As to clear, I had an unusual run-in with a rookie DPS trooper in 1971. Our first ambulance, a '63 Superior Pontiac Consort, had a manual backup light switch that Superior put on all of their coach-type vehicles to use as a loading light at night. One Friday evening we had made a run to the hospital from the local race track. After the races as we were leaving, I had just gotten on to the service road when a DPS unit pulls us over. My partner that night was also a Texas Tech cop, which made him a state police officer; but, of course, he wasn't in uniform. So this rookie trooper starts to jump all over me about clear to the rear being illegal; and of course, I had no idea what he was talking about until we walked around to the back of the ambulance. Sure enough, the backup lights were on. I realized what the problem was, so I reached in and flipped the manual switch and off they went. Should've been the end of the story; but the rookie just kept ragging on and on, almost to a fevered pitch. Suddenly his sergeant exited the cruiser and told the guy, "Ok, enough is enough. He saw what was wrong and corrected the problem. Now let them go and let's get out of here." So when I sat back in the driver's seat my partner says, "Wait a second you're gonna hear an ass-chewing." Sure enough, you could hear that sarge for two miles hollering at that rookie "What's wrong with you.......!". :p


Almost forgot to mention: one of the security companies that was in Odessa for a number of years ran all green VisiBars. Interesting, but I think that may have been before green began to be used for command vehicles.
 
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okc_f150 said:
Came across this the other day...

From their Facebook page: "First-of-its-kind non-profit 501©3 Emergency Services Unit and Weather Service. Staffed by highly experienced meteorologists & volunteers."


https://www.facebook.com/WXpatrol


View attachment 70192


View attachment 70193


View attachment 70194


These guys claim to be Meteorologists, not really sure what they do though.


These are the only two vehicles shown on their page, but they are both "Incident Command". Who are they commanding?

My guess is that they use those vehicles for storm watching/chasing, and with all the tornadic activity you see in OK, I'm not surprised at their being equipped that way. A few years ago there was a storm-chasing team that came through West Texas, and all of their units were decked out with various sorts of light bars. However, I didn't get to see any of them lit up to see what colors they had. I was in Lubbock when the "big'un" hit on May 11, 1970, and there were no storm chasers back then. They would've had their hands full that night, I guarantee!
 
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I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this link, but I couldn't resist. The person is selling "emergency vehicle roof mount lights". They claim it's a Mary Kay light bar. Wow!...we all complain about wackers and wanabees with emergency lights on their vehicles, but this is really over the top! I wonder what color it is - Pink?


Emergency vehicle roof mount lights
 
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Tristar said:
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this link, but I couldn't resist. The person is selling "emergency vehicle roof mount lights". They claim it's a Mary Kay light bar. Wow!...we all complain about wackers and wanabees with emergency lights on their vehicles, but this is really over the top! I wonder what color it is - Pink?

Emergency vehicle roof mount lights

Could be a nice bar with red, blue, clear and amber on it. But pink......naaaah! :D
 
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strobecrazy said:
Prefect example of fail.



What a waste! I can understand wanting lots of lights, but this is ridiculous. Take away the interior Cobra 600 rear, take out the Cobra in the grille. There, I saved him $400. #splitfailgalore
 
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