Another plus is that Las Vegas is only an hour and a half flight in my Cessna 182 from our home in Arizona. So on Tuesday, opening day, my wife and I jumped into our bird and headed out.

We lifted off at 7:30 am and with the one hour time change landed at the Henderson Executive Airport at 8:00 am. We tied down the plane, got a rental car and I was at the Las Vegas Convention Center just before the nine o’clock opening.

Blinder Laser Jammers

Outside the convention center I met with Leon Gruner and his wife Bonnie of Blinder USA. Blinder manufactures a device designed to jam police laser.
For those of you not familiar with police laser enforcement let me explain the technology.

Police laser is a very narrow beam of light that of course travels at the speed of light, it is INSTANT!

At 500 feet the beams width is only 18” and when police shoot your car with laser, they normally aim for a reflective area of your car like your front license plate or your headlights.

So if you only have a radar detector mounted on your dash, chances are that your detector will never activate unless it picks up “scatter” and if it does, it’s too late, the officer already has your speed.

I explain laser jamming this way, “Let’s say someone shoots your car with a 5 watt flashlight, you respond by shinning a 50 watt flashlight at them, your flashlight is more powerful and would over power the other flashlight if it had a receiver to calculate speed”

Earlier this year Blinder released their new laser jammers the M-27 and M-47. Modifications included using brighter LED lights and also an interface where you can download the latest software for any new laser guns.

Coyote Interactive Photo Enforcement Detector

A comment I heard at the SEMA show this year was that new photo enforcement cameras are spreading faster than the H1N1 virus, as many cities and states have found a quick way a new to generate money without increasing taxes.

Several years ago the stand alone GPS photo enforcement camera devices hit the market place and then two years ago radar detector manufactures included this technology into their radar detectors. These devices would warn you as you approached a fixed photo enforcement camera such as photo radar or red light cameras with an audible and visual alert.

The one major drawback with these devices was the mobile photo radar vans that are moved, sometimes on a daily or even hourly basis.

Trapster then emerged on the scene, building a social network of users that would notify each other via their iPhone or Blackberry of photo enforcement locations or other high enforcement locations.

Coyote is NOW coming on the scene, merging these two technologies into one device, an interactive GPS photo enforcement detector. Coyote’s system is due to launch February of 2010.

Escort Redline Radar Detector

This summer I had the opportunity to take the Redline for a 8,000 mile cross country review testing the unit against the New Jersey X band radar guns, to Sturgis South Dakota mounted on my “Stealth Hog” Harley Davidson motorcycle, and in my RV across the southwest.

The Redline was developed to take over the long range category that has been dominated by Valentine One.

During a Speed Measurement Laboratories long range test that was held this past summer the Redline outperformed every radar detector in this class.

The one thing I liked about the Redline was the units ability to sniff out the mobile Redflex Ka band mobile photo radar vans that have overtaken Arizona and a few other states.

Passport SC55 GPS Photo Enforcement Detector

Do you have a Valentine One, Escort 8500, Whistler Pro 78 or any other radar detector that you would want to integrate a GPS photo enforcement database into? If so the new Passport SC55 will allow just that.

Designed to integrate into virtually any radar detector on the market today, you simply plug the two units into each other, turning your Escort 8500 X50 into an Escort 9500i or your RX65 into a GX65.

You instantly give your detector a brain so it can now alert to these deadly photo radar and red light cameras.

Passport QI45 Remote Mounted Radar Detector

The Escort Passport QI 45 is a new remote mounted radar detector based upon the design of the Escort 8500 X50.

Unlike more complex remote mounted radar detectors, the QI45 is very simple in its design in that it only has three modules, the antenna that is mounted in the grill, the controller that is mounted under the dash and the display that mounts on the dash.

There is only one wire that you need to feed through the firewall and install can take as little as 30 to 45 minutes!

If you want to install their laser jammer; no problem, the laser heads plug into the rear of the antenna and each head could be installed in under 5 minutes.

As a motorcyclist, I thought of how simple this set up could be to set up a remote mounted radar detector and laser jammer to your motorcycle.

Rocky Mountain Radar

What would a SEMA show be without me poking a little fun at Rocky Mountain Radar?

Well after being successful at getting Michael Churchman kicked out of Best Buy I made a promise to myself that I would lay low.

When I arrived at the SEMA show I was approached by several of the other manufacture reps that Michael Churchman was present at this year’s show and that he was asking if I was going to show up.

Mike had missed the last two years at both SEMA and CES after I sat down with him at a bar at the Stratosphere three years ago and he made the comment that he didn’t care if his C-450 radar jammer worked or not and that he didn’t have the balls enough to take me up on my $50,000 challenge.

So this year I had only planned to take a quick peek at what new devices RMR was scamming the uninformed corporate buyers with and then follow-up with our online campaign to educate these potential new clients.

I noticed that the RMR booth was still missing the Plexiglas display with the police radar gun and the little car with their radar scrambler attached. This had gone missing after I approached Rual, their head engineer, a few years back with cash in hand in challenging them to my test with TV cameras from the UPN network rolling.

During their segment, they proved that Michael’s little display was misleading and potentially defrauding the public as the Plexiglas display did not allow anyone to move the scrambler more than a few inches from the feed horn of the radar gun. In other words the RMR radar jammers would not work against any police radar gun, unless the officer was literally sitting on the hood of your car, with the feed horn of the radar gun against your windshield and the detector within two to three inches from the gun.

With our economy appearing to being on track to recovery, I was pleased to see at this year’s SEMA show that the Speed Counter measurement Industry was strong and developing new products.

Flight Home

Margie and I spent the night catching “Jersey Boys” and flew out the following morning.

A cold front came beat us to our airpark with winds gusting to 25 knots, so we had to divert to Wickenburg Airport (E25) and called a friend to pick us up.

A few hours later I returned when the winds calmed down and flew our bird back to its nest here at our home:

I first want to thank all of the users of RadarDetector.net and my followers on Twitter, FaceBook, and RadarRoy.com who joined me in my crusaded in boycotting Best Buy and for writing and emailing letters to the Best Buy management team, to the Federal Communications Commission, to the Federal Trade Commission and to other government agencies.

Chalk one up for the Good Guys!

Now I’m off to Best Buy to buy some stuff!

On July 31, 2009 I received my first response regarding my complaint that I had forward to the Federal Communication Commision regarding Best Buy marketing and selling illegal radar jammers/scramblers on their website from United States Senator John McCain in where he thanked me for brining this violation to his attention.

Then today I received a letter from Jamie L. Friede a Customer Relations Specialist from Best Buy.

Mr. Freide writes “As I’m sure that you understand, radar detectors are not illegal in all states that while we most certainly respect your position as well as your cause, we will be able to sell these items legally on BestBuy.com to customers”

I assume from Mr. Freide’s response that he didn’t take the time to read that my concern as it was not that BestBuy.com was selling radar detectors, but devices manufactured by Rocky Mountain Radar and marketed as radar scramblers.

The Federal Communications Act of 1934 as amended makes it illegal to market/sell/advertise devices to jam police radar and other RF devices.

Infact, the FCC had cited numerous other retailers for selling the exact same items.

In response, I wrote the following letter in which I outline

1. I agreed that radar detectors are not illegal in all fifty states; however the item(s) that he is selling on his BestBuy.com website is advertised as “Radar Scramblers” which IS illegal in all fifty states!
2. Other retailers who have sold and/or marketed these devices have been cited by the Federal Communications Commission for selling these identical products under Section 503(b)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C 503(b)(5) the marketing in the United States certain police radar jamming devices which include;Buy.com, RadarJammers.com, the Twister Group, Hoeffener International, Hilton AG, LTD, Global Trade Group LTD and Electronic Retail Solutions.
3. That El Paso Better Business Bureau lists an unsatisfactory record against Rocky Mountain Radar based upon a total of 21 complaints filed during a 36 month period.
4. The slews of complaints filed against Rocky Mountain Radar and President Michael Churchman with the US Federal Trade Commission, several of which address the deceptive advertising Rocky Mountain Radar uses.
5. The numerous television news reports about Rocky Mountain Radar’s deceptive advertising practices that have aired on ABC’s 20/20, CBS Good Morning, Extra, WREG-TV, KWWL-TV and the UPN Network.
6. That I personally offer a $50,000.00 reward to ANYONE that can show me a product from Rocky Mountain Radar that works as they advertise in jamming/scrambling radar.

And that;

• Marketing/selling the RMR-C435 and RMR- C450 on their web site, listed as a “fully integrated scrambler” Best Buy is in violation of 47 U.S.C. 302(b) and SS 333 as your company is marketing for sale the use of RF devices designed to intentionally jam and/or interfere with licensed radio services or other RF devices, specifically law enforcement radar equipment.
• And by continuing to market the RMR-C450 and RMR-C435 Best Buy has certainly lowered its concern for its customers by partnering with a company with such a mired reputation.

My family and I are continuing our boycotting of their stores and we asking for your help!

Jamie Friede can be reached at:

Best Buy Customer Care
P.O. Box 9312
Minneapolis, Mn 55440
888-237-8289

My family and I have such loyal customers of Best Buy that they rewarded us with a Premier Silver RewardZone card. But tonight I came close to shredding it when I found that they were selling Rocky Mountain Radar’s products on their website, therefore I’m boycotting their stores and asking for your help!

Evidently the buyers for Best Buy never performed their due diligence on Mr. Churchman because if they did they would had learned about slew of complaints filed against him with the Federal Trade Commission and the El Paso Better Business Bureau.

They may had also found television news documentaries such as ABC’s 20/20, CBS Good Morning, Extra or the WWOR-TV news story where I issued my $50,000.00 challenge with cash in hand.

During the WWOR report I approached Raul, the head engineer of RMR at their display booth with a wad of $100.00 bills in hand. With cameras rolling I challenged Raul to prove to the news media and I that their product worked as advertised in the parking lot where off duty Las Vegas Metro police officers were set up with radar guns. Raul stated “Our product will not work in a parking lot”! I then offered to do the test on any street in the Las Vegas area he shook his head no!

My first cause of action tonight after confirming that Best Buy was selling these illegal devices was to write and mail the following letter to Michael Carowitz, the Chief of Staff of Enforcement at the Federal Communications Commission.

In this letter I reminded Mr. Carowitz of our nine year crusade, his agency’s enforcement actions and how we’ve had enlisted the help of Senator Kay Hutchison of Texas to take up our cause.

I also commented on how our supporters took action when Radio Shack decided to carry the Rocky Mountain Radar products and a wave of complaints and boycotts followed suit that overwhelmed the customer service department.

Therefore I’m begging anyone that is reading this post to take the following action to encourage Best Buy to reconsider their decision and remove the Rocky Mountain Radar products by:

1) Contacting Best Buy Customer Support alerting them of this post using these venues:

a) Their Community Forum:

b) By telephone; 1-888-237-8289

c) Website Contact Page

2) Alerting your friends and family through social media and posting a link to this article on;

a) Twitter

b) Facebook

c) MySpace

3) Bookmark, Digg, post information about this post with;

a) Digg

b) Stumble

c) or any other forum or social media properties you maybe active with

4) Contact United States Senator Kay Hutchison of Texas letting her know that the Federal Communications Commission has failed in its follow-up against Michael Churchman and Rocky Mountain Radar: http://hutchison.senate.gov/contact.cfm

5) Email your complaint to the Federal Communications Commission with a link to this post at; fccinfo@fcc.gov

6) And last, but not least contact Rocky Mountain Radar and let Michael Churchman know that OUR crusade continues:

a) Email Form

b) Telephone: 915-587-0307

c) Fax: 915-587-6408

ALSO PLEASE ADD YOUR COMMENTS BELOW!

I also discuss the the Phantom RCD active radar jammer and the Veil Stealth coating.

A few weeks ago RMR released their new radar and laser scrambler, the RMR C-475 so I ordered one unit online from their distributor.

Over the past several days I have been testing the unit against several of my own radar and laser guns and this unit had no affect what so ever in scrambling and/or jamming.

In one of my prior testing videos of the RMR C-450 where I pitted this unit against one of Kustom HR-8 radar guns, I shot the video during the daytime and the detector/jammers LED display was so weak it was washed out in the video.

RMR then fired back at me on their home page of their website saying that I had fabricated my testing video because you couldn’t see the display.

So this test of the new RMR C-475 I decided to shoot the testing video at night, so you could clearly see that the display was on and the unit was powered up.

As I am certified to instruct police radar training and I’m familiar with all of the equipment that is owned and operated by my local police agency, I chose to test RMR’s C-475 against a speed trailer that has a Kustom HR-8 radar gun.

This radar gun is one of the most popular stationary hand held radar guns used by police in use today.

You can see and hear in this video that the RMR C-450 is operational and that it had no effect in jamming this K-band radar gun at all.

Therefore I will continue to offer my $50,000.00 reward to ANYONE that can show me a RMR scrambler/jammer that works as advertised!

There have been countless times where I was contacted by a misinformed consumer who purchased what was advertised as being an Escort, Beltronics or Blinder product for half price and received a “knock off” packaged in fancy box with a fake operators manual with the manufactures name and product proudly displayed.

Then several days or months later they get pulled over for speeding because their counterfeited device didn’t alert or the product totally failed and then they call for warranty repair and find out they’ve been taken.

During this year’s CES show I scanned the outer fringes of the floor to seek out one of these manufactures and to my surprise found Tommy Chen from Rayee Technologies in China, who had an entire display booth filled to capacity with his counterfeit wares.

As I began questioning Tommy about his products he recognized the word “Radar” on my id tag and asked me if I sold radar detectors. Jokingly I replied that I used to, but I never sold “Cheap Ass Radar Detectors”. Tommy replied “Yes, we make cheap ass radar detectors”.

At this time I waved over to my partner and asked him to begin taping an interview with Tommy and asked him about his products.

As Tommy introduced his products to me in the video I glanced over into the display and to my amazement observed products clearly labeled as “Blinder” (Blinder is a registered trademark in the USA for Blinder USA who manufactures and sells laser jammers and is not affiliated with Rayee Technologies)

On another shelf I observed knock offs of Escort’s/Beltronics GPS based radar detectors such as the Escort 9500i, Escort 9500ix and the GX65. (Beltronics owns the patent for Radar Detectors equipped with internal GPS and Rayee Technologies is clearly violating this patent).

Then on another shelf I observed knock off’s of the Cheetah GPS Mirror and their new C-100 Speed Camera Alert system.

Then in my amazement in another display they had knock off’s of Rocky Mountains Phaser – C-450 scramblers (Mike Churchman would had been proud).

During my interview with Tommy and in literature he later provided from the company, the radar detectors are advertised as all being able to defeat the Spectre III radar detector detector, along with being X, K, Ka and Ku band and POP equiped.

During the second half of the video Tommy hands me an Escort 9500i/9500ix knock off and I flip it over to see the FCC type acceptance tag. With none being affixed (as required by law) I ask if his products were FCC type accepted and he related that they were.

At the closing of my interview I asked Tommy if he would be willing to send me samples of his products for testing and he related he would.

After my taped interview with Tommy I pressed for more information as where you would download the database for the GPS features, who made the database or if it was a “hack”, and if he was aware of his products infringing on trademarks and patents of US companies.

Tommy related that you had to go to their website in China to download the firmware/gps upgrades and yes that he knew that his 9500ix was infringing on Escort’s patent (however in all honesty, I cannot say that he understood a word I said, he would often say yes and repeat my question)

During this entire process I watched as other dealers/distributors who were making deals with other reps from the company making commitments for orders. Who these dealers/distributors were I have no idea, but I’m sure that you’ll be seeing these same knock off’s soon being sold on Ebay/Amazon and some of the rip off websites that target the uneducated consumer!

Buyer beware…..

Several of the speed counter measure manufactures attend this week long event to show off their new wares and to network with others in the automotive industry.

Yesterday was opening day for the 2008 event and I felt that this would be a great opportunity to interview the CEO’s and/or engineers of the various radar detector and jammer companies to discuss their various products and their commitments to the industry and customer.

I first met with John Larson, the CEO of Escort Radar Incorporated. Over the past year Escort/Beltronics  released three new GPS based radar detectors to the market, the Escort 9500ci which is high performance remote mounted radar detector and laser jammer combo; the 9500ix which is their dash mounted version; the Bel GX65 radar detector and their updated ZR4 laser defense system.

During our interview John stressed Escort’s commitment to the customer saying that they consider “the customer their boss” that they consistently seek input from the radar detector user to improve and develop new products. John revealed some of the new products that they are now working on saying they have several products in the works that will tie other automotive electronic devices into one central unit.

Next I interviewed Leon Gruner aka “Blinder Dude” the CEO from Blinder USA. Leon discussed their updated J16 version of the Blinder M-25 and M-45 laser jammer and their ability to remain strong in the speed counter measure market place for over eight years while others have failed. We also discussed our exploits during the Fireball Cross Country Rally and next year’s run from the west coast to east on Route 66.

Just prior to this year’s show, Don Norton the CEO from Cheetah USA gave me one of their new GPS based photo radar and red light camera alert units, the C100. I had an opportunity to test and review this unit in the Phoenix metro area just as the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Redflex activated sixty new speed enforcement cameras. Don and I discuss this new unit and how during a short eight mile trip it saved me from four of these new cameras and $600.00 in fines.

Cobra Electronics has also embraced GPS technology into their line of radar detectors. Tony, one of the lead engineers of Cobra introduces me to their 2009 line up. Tony who is a long time participant at the annual “Radar Detector Shoot Out” in El Paso, discusses their improvements in processing the incoming radar threats with their detectors and the free GPS update plan they offer.

Notably absent from this year’s show was both Michael Churchman, CEO of Rocky Mountain Radar and Raul Elguea their head engineer. At previous SEMA and CES (Consumer Electronics Show) I approached Raul with cash in hand and television news cameras rolling challenging Raul to demonstrate to me one of his radar jammer products in action in the parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center . During this interview Raul backed down saying “Our product will not work in a parking lot”.

During last year’s SEMA event Michael Churchman also was a “no show” at his company’s booth. However I did find him at a Las Vegas bar where we sat down to discuss my $50,000.00 reward that I offer to anyone that could show me a Rocky Mountain Radar jammer/scrambler that worked. When I asked why he and his company had refused to take me up on my challenge he first replied saying that my test was rigged. I reminded Michael that it wasn’t my test, that I (we) would higher off duty police officers to perform the test and if his product worked, he would receive $50,000.00. Again Michael refused to take me up on my challenge.

This video recapping Rocky Mountain Radar’s history in the radar jammer/radar detector marketplace was shot directly in front of their booth and their staff was invited to participate, but they refused.

Two years ago at SEMA I made a personal challenge RMR’s head engineer Raul to take me up on my $5000.00 challenge to demonstrate how their radar scramblers had any effect in jamming police radar to a network television crew that were present. I explained to Raul that we were set up in an outside parking lot with a crew of certified radar operators and if his radar scrambling equipment had any effect at all in jamming, that I would present to him on camera $5000.00. Raul declined the challenge saying “our equipment doesn’t work in parking lots.” I then invited him to choose any street in the Las Vegas area for the test and he declined on camera.

Last year representatives from Cheetah, Beltronics and I were at the Stratosphere lounge when Michael Churchman walked past our table in a somewhat inebriated state. We welcomed him to join us at our table and Mike sat down. Not missing a beat, Don the Cheetah rep, fired up the video recorder on his cell phone to record what he knew would be an interesting conversation. It was here when I told Mike that I was raising my reward to $50,000.00 to anyone that could demonstrate to me one of his radar scramblers in action in jamming police radar. Mike told me that my test was a scam, because it had to be performed by Carl Fors, another one of my cronies. I told Mike that this was not a condition of my challenge, that any certified police officer could do the test, however the radar guns had to be on the approved list of International Chief of Police and that the test had to be recorded.  Mike first stated “if that’s the case, then I may take you up on it” but   paused and said “no, I have nothing to prove to you, my customers and I know that the product works and that is good enough. You could raise the reward to a million, I don’t care, nothing you have done has had any effect on my operation and I’m not going to allow that to change.”

A few months after our meeting, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) began issuing citations against Rocky Mountain Radar and its dealer and distribution chain for improper FCC type acceptance, illegal marketing practices and their devices causing interference to properly licensed radio equipment. 

Almost immediately several of RMR’s long time dealers began dropping their products from inventory and radio stations stopped airing the “no more ticket” commercial. Most notable was Radio Shack’s decision to pull all of RMR’s products from their website only one week after they decided to carry the jammer product line.

Late this summer, I noticed a shrinking product SKU on their website(s) and in their distributor catalogs which to me was a flag that the company was in trouble.

But the single biggest red flag of RMR’s declining revenue stream was when I saw their 2007 SEMA display booth. Gone was the decorative display with shelves proudly showcasing the RMR product line with the Kustom radar gun shielded in plexiglass. Instead this year they had four roll up poster boards and a flat screen LCD with video clips of their products.

After noting my observations at the RMR booth I walked down a few booths to Blinder and began talking to their staff. A short time later I had a RMR rep standing in front of me holding a piece of paper and stated “Before you come over and harass us at our booth this year, read this notice from Mike and perhaps publish this on your website!”    

The notice read as follows:

Rocky  Mountain Radar
6469 Doniphan Rd
El Paso, Texas 79932

For our distribution and business partners:

In 2005 the FCC launched a destructive campaign to put us out of business prompted by our competitors in the detector industry. Familiar names like “Radar” Roy and Carl Fors, distributors and supporters of Escort/Bel inundated the FCC with complaints about our “jammers”. What is ironic is while they complained to the FCC that we were marketing devices that interfere with police radar they maintained websites that claim nothing we manufacture works.

In the process of the sham investigation by the FCC, they seriously compromised their offices and violated their own rules. They willingly and deliberately allowed themselves to be used as pawns by our detractors and the detector companies that they work for. As a result of the numerous citations issued by the FCC many of you have quit selling our products, or restricted sale to models not mentioned by the FCC. This has caused us considerable damage in the marketplace.

Rocky Mountain Radar has filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court, Western District of Texas, El Paso Division, case number EP07CA0344 with six claims for relief including prohibitory injunction and damages plus legal fees. We fully expect to get the injunction within the next 25 days prohibiting the FCC from any further contact with any of our distribution and prohibiting them from taking any action on actions already brought. This will give our distribution chain protection from further harassment by the Federal Government while we force the FCC to follow their own rules. As soon as we receive the Court Order, you will be alerted, or you can check our website , www.RockyMountainRadar.com for updates.

As we grind through the Federal courts we will keep you posted and we do expect to be victorious. No agency should be allowed to conduct its affairs in direct violation of its own rules and no agency is above the law. We will not rest until we make that point in this action. There is absolutely no question of FCC guilt in ½ of our claims as they proudly admitted what they did in complete ignorance of their own rules. This, after we repeatedly warned them that they were breaking the rules and in direct violation of the process. This of course, exacerbates their duplicity as they blithely allowed themselves to be guided by our competitors. Rest assured that Escort/Bel will cry foul and that they had nothing to do with this, but they knowingly assisted Fors an Roy through the process. We are not sure of Whistler (a dying brand) or Cobra’s involvement.

Sincerely,

Michael Churchman President

During the next several days I kept a look out for Mike at his booth hoping to catch a few minutes with him to get further details of his pending litigation but he and his head engineer Raul were no where to be found, which I found unusual from conventions past.

I did pass on Mike’s letter to other industry insiders and all sharing the same comment in that it appeared to them that Mike was grasping at straws to save his company from the onslaught of the FCC for his questionable if not illegal marketing practices.

I have not had an opportunity to read Mike’s pending suit but find Mike’s reference in his letter that this suit would prohibit the FCC from taking any enforcement action against his distribution chain ludicrous. It is my opinion based upon my training and experience on being on both sides of the speed enforcement industry for over 30 years and also being a licensed amateur radio operator for twenty five years, that marketing of any device as being capable of interfering with lawfully licensed radio operating equipment in the USA is illegal under the Federal Communications Act.

Regardless of the products ability or inability to jam police radar the law is still being violated by his company and distributor’s claims as witnessed still on their websites and at this year’s SEMA convention.