Radar detection

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T

tdg

Senior Member
Does anyone know anything about radar scanners/detectors?
Legality issues: I mean, they sell them at circuit city but I dont know what kind or whateve,r i just now started looking into them.
So, do they tell you basically if some police radar is scanning around you?

Does anyone have this application and if so can you give any sort of recommendation.
It would be useful to know when you need to slow down i guess but Im just wondering how these things work and if they are worth it.
 
um not really worth it unless the your in an area where cops just post up and scan a large group of traffic at a time. but if your just speeding then the cop points the radar gun at you and clocks you.. your radar detector will not help at all.
if you wana avoid tickets... drive slow and courteous
 
1. They do help a LOT if you know how to use them, even without huge groups of traffic
2. Radar detectors are NOT shields
3. Radar detectors ARE an "extra set of eyes and ears"
4. Valentine1 and Passport > * (but I prefer V1 over Passport)

Key- LEARN to drive with your radar detector and you will avoid many tickets... just don't drive like a dumbass.
 
i have the pasport 8500. It actually was rated higher than the val 1. I love it. It has saved my ass many times. what's best, is you can plug it in right out of the box and it is fairly simple to use and understnand. Then once you have gotten used to it, it has an expert mode where you can modify all the settings and it will aslo monitor 8 separate radar emmissions at the same time.
jon
 
I disagree... but the Passport 8500 / Valentine1 feud will never end. I'm a fan of more sensitivity and directional information over something that might filter out a real signal.

You can also reprogram the V1 however you want, and it will track up to 9 signals (or more) at a time.
 
Originally posted by tdg@May 5 2004, 06:08 PM
Does anyone know anything about radar scanners/detectors?
Legality issues: I mean, they sell them at circuit city but I dont know what kind or whateve,r i just now started looking into them.
So, do they tell you basically if some police radar is scanning around you?

Does anyone have this application and if so can you give any sort of recommendation.
It would be useful to know when you need to slow down i guess but Im just wondering how these things work and if they are worth it.
Click to expand...

scanners are detectors, in the sense you're thinking of anyway.
They're illegal in Virginia and the District of Columbia, the rest of the 49 states can use them legally. Check with a Canadian about their laws.
Basically they tell you what kind of radar band is hitting the sensors.

X band is rarely used by cops, mostly doors anymore.
K band is a wide band radar and is used by cops frequently
Ka band is a narrowed band of radar which cops can use to target cars, even hiding BEHIND a semi and get their exact speed. If you get hit by Ka band, you better hope you're doing the speed limit, or he's clocking the guy behind you.

LASER...well if you're hit by this you're toast...most police forces can't afford a laser radar.

Valentine One is numero uno, most effective, best range, highest price
Escort Passport 8500 is numero dos, effective, very good range, 2nd highest price

I shelled out 300 for my Escort Passport 7500 and I LOVE it. Very good range, very effective, decent price (with warrenty). Hell I was sittin in IdriveaTGL's driveway the other night and I was getting Ka band signals from two blocks away and behind a bunch of houses. That's how sensitive it is.

The best advice I can give you is drive at or up to 5-7 over the speed limit EXCEPT on residential roads (especially during school hours) and keep a constant eye on the detector, I moved mine from the center of my windshield closer to the driver side so I could see it out of the corner of my eye.
 
is there any way to modify the radar detector to essentially BLOCK the cops radar gun?

like it will intercept the signal, or put out a signal that messes with the cops radar.

yes, i know this is illegal, but i would totally do it, if it worked
 
Originally posted by Tonyd0821@May 6 2004, 12:15 AM
is there any way to modify the radar detector to essentially BLOCK the cops radar gun?

like it will intercept the signal, or put out a signal that messes with the cops radar.

yes, i know this is illegal, but i would totally do it, if it worked
Click to expand...

the only way to block the signal would be to keep it from bouncing off your car. If you can find a way to break into an army silo and get some of that radar absorbing paint/material, then yes.

Would it be legal? probably not.

Edit: I forgot about radar jammers as Calesta pointed out.
 
Yes- they're called radar jammers. Tons of people make them. I wouldn't want to get caught with one... I'd rather take the ticket from being stupid than try to blast by a cop who's going to ticket you anyway just from visual verification of 10 over the limit, then get searched for a radar jammer.

On the other hand, infrared laser jammers are legal. Radar broadcast and infrared laser emission are regulated by two totally separate agencies. The FCC doesn't allow you to throw out radar signals, but the FDA allows the general public to have lasers below 5mW.

Radar jammers = illegal
Laser jammers = legal

There's a borderline product that's not really a jammer... it's more of a reflector that bounces the cop's radar back at him/her, but mixes it with some other information to screw up the signal and throw off the radar gun. I guess that would technically be legal, but I doubt that a judge or cop would let you go if you got caught using one.
 
yeah its called a radar jammer, they were legal in most states a few years ago but im sure its not that same now, I love my pasport, me and a buddy used my pass port and his V1 on a road trip and our detection times wen't back and fourth and only varied by like a second, passport is about 100 bucks cheaper, both are great assests
 
dammit cal you beat me a few seconds and had a better response!
 
Originally posted by Calesta@May 6 2004, 12:22 AM
Yes- they're called radar jammers. Tons of people make them. I wouldn't want to get caught with one... I'd rather take the ticket from being stupid than try to blast by a cop who's going to ticket you anyway just from visual verification of 10 over the limit, then get searched for a radar jammer.

On the other hand, infrared laser jammers are legal. Radar broadcast and infrared laser emission are regulated by two totally separate agencies. The FCC doesn't allow you to throw out radar signals, but the FDA allows the general public to have lasers below 5mW.

Radar jammers = illegal
Laser jammers = legal

There's a borderline product that's not really a jammer... it's more of a reflector that bounces the cop's radar back at him/her, but mixes it with some other information to screw up the signal and throw off the radar gun. I guess that would technically be legal, but I doubt that a judge or cop would let you go if you got caught using one.
Click to expand...

ok...i dont mean to be an ass....

but where could one start his search for a RADAR jammer?

conventions? online?

out of country?

sorry, cops are dicks in my area. they hide out in the most INCONSPICOUS places.

i cant afford to pay any tickets at this point. when I can, I will ditch the jammer hehe
 
Originally posted by Tonyd0821@May 6 2004, 12:25 AM
ok...i dont mean to be an ass....

but where could one start his search for a RADAR jammer?

conventions? online?

out of country?

sorry, cops are dicks in my area. they hide out in the most INCONSPICOUS places.

i cant afford to pay any tickets at this point. when I can, I will ditch the jammer hehe
Click to expand...

Not being an ass... just underinformed. :p :lol:

Radar jammers are all over every single auto performance magazine's advertisement pages. They're generally in the back, because the people selling them don't have enough money to buy the full page ads in the main meat of the magazine.

I don't know who all makes them and who is best because I honestly don't care. You can get them in the US, so just start looking and you'll find them. I would start by running a good detector first, then maybe stepping up to a jammer or reflector/scrambler if you think you still need it.
 
Originally posted by revolution8k@May 5 2004, 10:21 PM

the only way to block the signal would be to keep it from bouncing off your car. If you can find a way to break into an army silo and get some of that radar absorbing paint/material, then yes.
Click to expand...

Actually most of the "stealth" capability on todays stealth fighters comes from decreasing the aircraft's radar signature, and that comes from the geometry of the aircraft itself. You know the f-117? Well that aircraft was designed manually, without the aid of modern computers (it was designed and built in the mid 70's). You know all of that angular mumbo jumbo on it? That is the majority of what makes it stealth, it also has a low IR signature because the engines are BURIED in the plane and the exhaust exits are built to lower the temps of the air coming out. Radar absorbing paint is only an insignificant part. Even without the paint, the f-117's radar signature is about the size of a small bird. The B2 bomber's is even smaller, because the "angles" required to disperse the radar beam hitting it have been designed with modern computer technology. So I don't think the paint thing would work. As long as you were in a pack of cars where the cop wouldn't be able to figure out who had the jammer, a jammer would work. And in the event you got caught with one, the FCC would be on you like white on rice. I'd take a ticket over a felony any day. the things that are sold in magazine advertised as jammers are really just scrambers, they send out a signal different than the cops, and it confuses the radar gun into displaying weird numbers. It just jumps all over the place.
 
:werd: Bergy

I knew all that but didn't think it was relevant as his car wasn't designed by the same people who did the F117. :p
 
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