Experience with electromagnetic weapons?

I was wondering if anyone here has built any type of electromagnetic weapons either microwave or EMP pulsed that could be used to disable those annoying tailgating drivers. I found all kinds of info on the web and a super high power directional microwave burst generator seems like an easy project. The question is will it fry a cars electrical system and stop its engine? Any thoughts?

Woooah! I can understand anyone being annoyed at tailgating, but are you sure you want to do something that would harm people or property?

They are breaking the law by following to close anyway and could potentially cause a serious accident ( I have already been wiped out once by some idiot that slammed into me, nearly killing me) it won't kill anyone, it just disables their vehicle. I think a destruction of property fine is only 200.00 bucks anyway. If you have a ham radio licence you can beam your neighbors with 2000 watts of RF at microwave freqs. and if its through a gain antenna it could end up mega-watts and thats totally legal so whats your point?

Don't bother with those electromagnetic weapons, they are illeagle and will put you in more trouble than those tailgaters.

I'm not trying to make a point. Just asking a question. You have answered. Thanks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I used to go to lunch with one of the company attorneys. Someone was tail gating our car and the driver asked if I had any ideas about how to make them back off. After outlineing a half dozen (ranging from the old spark plug in the tailpipe flame thrower to a mace ejector in the trunk medalion) I glanced back at the attorney who by now was white as a sheet. The rest of lunch was given over to a long and detailed explanation of why I shouldn't do any of them, the various conditions in the local hoosegow, lengths of sentences and amounts of fines.

Seems like most of my really good ideas are felonies now.

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whiskypapa3 said:
Seems like most of my really good ideas are felonies now.


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And shouldn't they be? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

The electronics question here is beyond the scope of the General Flashlight section of this board. As near as I can figure, it's beyond the focus of any other forum on the board. I'm moving it to the Cafe

I think this forum may be a better place to ask your question.

I knew this would get everyone stired up. I woulndn't do it but other people might try something like this and how do you know if your being bombarded right now as you sit there?
I use to be into ham radio for a short while hell I even work for a military contractor for a while on radar until I found out that alot of hams die of all kinds of weird diseases, in fact I recall when I had first got my hand held radio I was on it for a couple of hours straight talking, the next day I was sick as dog ( headache, nausea, and diarrea). That was only with 5 watts of power! I don't own a cell phone, and I stay clear of radio towers and microwave towers, I leave the kitchen when I use the microwave oven believe it or not those things leak radiation and the further away (Inverse Square Law) the better. Cataracts are the first symptom of exposure. With a simple field strenth meter you would be suprised at the amount of radiation thats bombarding you right now, not to mention a so called hot spot. And I see more towers every day, I wonder how much power in radio waves is being pumped out every second of the day, it might be a stagering amount! As far as tailgating goes I just start gradually slowing down util the idiot either hits me or goes around me, it would be nice to disable his car somehow though wouldn't it! Maybe it would help also if the police would ticket more, I don't know what kinds of questions they ask you these days to get your licsense but how far you are supposed to be doesn't seem to be one of them ( by the way it's one car length per 10mi/hr). Now don't even get me started on riding a bicycle on the road!

I worked as an installation engineer on a pulse propelled sorting system for a warehouse, then the largest ever built. We played around with "firing" things. Lot of fun and we got to the point we could produce some incredible speeds out of projectiles. You pretty much have to have a huge power source and a long, long "power track" to produce real results. People are working on this all over the place, it is a long way from producing results on the scale of a modern firearm. Probably just a matter of time.

Good way to find out how serious the new Homeland Security Act is.

The simplest thing to do for tailgaters is to dump some caltrops out the back of your car. Let him run over 'em and flatten his tires. I don't care much about tailgaters, I slow down and let them get close.

The time a weapon like this would be nice is for folks that cut you off, merge in 2 inches in front of you. But then you can't safely disable their car without it becoming an obstacle in your path. I figure the best thing in this kind of situation is a wired probe with electromagnetic head. You fire it at them, it attaches to their car, and then you deliver a nice jolt thru the wires, then kill the current, the electromagnet detaches, and you reel it back in. The key point is that you move out of the way after launching it so you don't run into them after disabling the car...

I have a couple of receivers (wideband scanners) but I don't use any transmitters. (Except for the wireless mic for my fiddle.) It's certainly a sobering thought to think of how much radio energy is whipping around out there all the time now. GPS, cell, AM/FM, all kinds of junk...

Get an 'old school' VW diesel, no electronics, heck make one mod to the fuel pump & no electricity required to run at all...then mount a big honkin' Tesla coil on the roof /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif
...or just turn the fuel delivery screw way up on the injection pump...when you floor it, tailgaters are engulfed in a black fog! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
Perhaps not the most environmentally sound solution /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

MacGyver,
That's the old trick I used with my 88 Sub diesel way back when. It worked especially well going up hills because it would keep my speed down. I would drop the tranny into second (no torque) and push the pedal to the floor. It only took about 3 seconds to get ANYONE to back off and my speed would only increase about 5-7 MPH. I had forgotten all about that. If they had the AC on fresh air you knew it immediately as you saw them rolling down all the windows. We have guys like Darell to thank for wrecking the fun with all their "low emission" stuff.

Tailgating is my worst peeve. I abhor tailgaters. What I do is subtly speed and slow, until they tire of adjusting their speed and go around.
I think tailgaters are fundamentally stupid individuals. Anyone that feels safe following a car too close, must think that they can stop in time, if they had to, when in reality, at the distances and speeds that I have been 'gated, they would only get their foot off of the accelerator before they hit me.

*Mastershake* I think there is a mistake in your stated rule of (1) car-length per 10 miles per hour. At 70 MPH, that is only 7 car-lengths. That doesn't sound like nearly enough to me.

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DieselDave said:
We have guys like Darell to thank for wrecking the fun with all their "low emission" stuff.


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And surprisingly, I charge nothing for my efforts. Pissing off guys like Dave is thanks enough. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Now, if you had an EV, you could simply step on that same accelerator, and actually go way FASTER. Nothing I like better to see in my rearview mirror than an empty lane and clear air.

I had a friend in college who had an old beater Toyota LandCruiser with 4 aircraft landing lights on a roof rack pointed forward and 2 pointed aft. He lived in the boonies in Alaska for three years and that is why he had the lights. Anyway if he were tailgated at night, on came the rear facing landing lights followed quickly by the offender's brakes. Not legal and likely not safe but dang efffective!!

- Don

I go way out my way not to p!ss people off in traffic even if they are in the wrong...but I ain't perfek. If the speed is 55+ mph I might turn on the windshield washer/wiper for several seconds. It just slows the tailgater down enough for me to make a decision on my next move. Sometimes the move is no move at all.

On the RF damage, my cell phone has a speaker phone setting but I rarely use it because the quality to the caller is poor. I keep meaning to try an ear bud/mouth piece rig.

Why not put up one of those LED flasher panels you can get to use on t-shirts and have the message "stop tailgating me!" scroll by when they get too close? Shouldn't be that hard to create, all you need is the panel, some wire and a switch on your dashboard.

McGizmo, what are the rules about those extra lights? I had thought that you could have as much light as you wanted, but during normal street driving they had to be covered? Is that true, or is it a state issue and different everywhere?

I've been behind people that turn on the washer, it sprayed a fine mist of water over their car and back onto my windshield, is that the effect that you were going for?