Right. Of course, I couldn't afford the expensive directional detectors. Had to get a cheap one that pretty much only looks forward (BEL 916), which is fine for my purposes.

I'm currently stealth-mounting it, hence the question.

I think it's going to come out quite nice. I've already got the thing dismantled down to just the PCB board, and desoldered the display and got it to work at the end of a short bundle of wires. Next step is getting the buttons to work at the end of some short wires, and it'll have all the bits in place for a really awesome stealth mount.

The detector will be mounted just inside the headliner at the top edge of the windshield. I'm reasonably sure its main antenna isn't blocked by anything in that position, it faces forward out the front edge of the windshield with only the glass and the fabric of the headliner between it and the smokies. So I don't think its range will be compromised.

The display will be showing just underneath the clear plastic bit that covers the map lights, just above the rearview mirror. When it's off, you could be literally sitting in the car and not know it's there. When it's on, it's very readable and quite visible.

The control buttons will be hidden inside the area where the sunglasses-holder resides. This is all part of the same plastic assembly that contains the map lights. I only need to open the sunglasses holder to get to the buttons.

Why go to all this trouble when there's no laws against detectors in California? Well, the reason is that I don't think I'd be able to talk my way out of a ticket if the cop sees I've got a detector. I've talked my way out of a ticket before, and I think that in that situation, I would probably have been written up if he'd seen a detector. Also, there's the theft thing. I don't want even the mounting bracket for a detector visible when the car is parked.

Photos to come when the project is done.