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From: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Radar Detectors and Legality
Message-ID: <182@loral.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 10-Jun-84 23:50:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: loral.182
Posted: Sun Jun 10 23:50:34 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 13-Jun-84 02:29:37 EDT
References: <596@cca.UUCP>, <1903@sdccsu3.UUCP>
Organization: Loral Instrumentation, San Diego, CA
Lines: 20

The idea of using steel wool or aluminum foil to fool radars has
been around for a while, and it does not work.  Why?

When radar was first used for detection of enemy aircraft in combat,
the incoming planes would drop bits of aluminum foil or other metal
such as steel wool to form a cloud
of false targets, obscuring the radar images of the actual attack
aircraft.  This was essentially an early form of radar jamming.

Later, someone rather simplistically concluded from this that foil
and steel wool somehow upset radar; hence the myth.

In fact, steel wool behind hubcaps can't do anything since the metal
exterior of the car (including the hubcap itself) serves as a microwave
reflector, which is how radar speed dection works.
-- 
Ray Simard
Loral Instrumentation, San Diego
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