Radar Detector Guide to avoid speed ticketsA Radar detector is probably the only counter surveillance gear all people can benefit from. That is because there is one type of spy equipment we are all "victim" of one day or another... Yep, that omnipresent police radar, what else! If government agents can track us with radar, we can use countermeasures to detect this surveillance. Simply put, a radar detector looks for signals in specific frequency ranges andsounds a warning when said signals are detected. Police radar operates in three bands:
The X-band is no longer used exclusively by any state police agency and is generally being phased out in favor of K-band and Ka-band radar. X-band can still be found in use but suffers from interference problems caused by other things operating in the 10-Ghz range. To be effective, radar dectors must give you a sufficient warning to allow you to adjust your speed and thus avoid becoming another unwilling contributor to the state coffers by means of a traffic fine. The officer must first establish visual contact and identification of a vehicle. He then confirms his opinion that the vehicle is exceeding the speed limit by activating his radar. The police radar will only be triggered for a couple of seconds in order to get a lock on the vehicle in question.This is known as "Instant-On-Radar." Now, if the vehicle the radar gets a lock on is yours, you radar detector will certainly let you know about it, but it will also be too late to do you much good. A good radar detector should hear "Smokey" track somone else with radar and sound a warning before he has the chance to do the same to you.(More Info) A trick used by police to fool detectors is to sit at the bottom of a hill and track vehicles with radar as they come over the crest of the hill. (More Info) The better-quality radar detectors will still give some warning despite this police trick.Note So...just how accurate is police radar anyway? Radar decter, like police radar itself, are subject to certain errors, but generally work well. If you do alot of driving, a radar detector is certainly a worthwhile investment.
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