Concerned with my 9500ix performance today

[thestaton]

sounds like it might have been forward facing. I've had similar encounters with the v1 and 9500i. Not the 9500ci though it's been dominating forward facing.

[TSi+WRX]

Yeah I never understood the fascination for the 9500i. Everyone is raving how quiet it is but then again so are the lower end RD's, quietness usually mean lack of sensitivity 99% of the time. Now the 9500CI has KICK BUTT sensitivity plus the GPS to keep it quiet. If you think about it the 9500i is really nothing special other than having GPS. I mean take a look at the horrible audio ramp up and bad sensitivity! Does this make it an elite RD? I will say it again as far as dash mount RD's there is only one that stands on its own and has since 1992.

^ I don't know....

What were the manufacture dates of your 3 i models, happy ?

I'd gather that by your ramp-up comments, they were all pre-fix?

My 4307 seems to be a significant sensitivity improvement over my Rev5 x50 - so I'm happy with it, on that front (since I was never unhappy with the old x50).

What really drew me to the i was the ability to truly make my daily commute, through Warrensville Heights, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights - as well as Highland Hills, Orange, and near-east Solon, much, much quieter.

And honestly, although the ramp-up is different from my Rev5 x50, I don't think that it's worse....it's still decently linear, albeit with a much more aggressive ramp scheme when the threat is, itself, closing range - which I've learned to really appreciate.

[CJR238]

We seem to be forgetting that poor detection range like above rarely has a definitive answer (and can even hapen with the V1) but these examples below are usually the case:

-KA is a very narrow beam so unless he’s actively seeking speeders, range is diminished dramatically. The 9500 sires is designed to be sensitive to direct threats and yet be farley quiet.

-LEO has customer so the radar is not aimed at catching speeders.
-Radar gun is facing off axis or another direction.
-LEO put gun on his seat and left it on.
-I/O was used.
-LEO's radar was ion moving mode.

I have had short detection range with all 3 of my 9500I's but in every case it wasn’t a real threat and no ticket was given (LEO wasn’t monitoring speed and had gun on off axis). On the other hand when I have seen LEO's actively looking for speeders in a normal fashion my range has been up to 2+ miles. Plus i have had very acceptable 1/4mi alerts too.

[happya$$]

^ I don't know....

What were the manufacture dates of your 3 i models, happy ?

I'd gather that by your ramp-up comments, they were all pre-fix?

My 4307 seems to be a significant sensitivity improvement over my Rev5 x50 - so I'm happy with it, on that front (since I was never unhappy with the old x50).

What really drew me to the i was the ability to truly make my daily commute, through Warrensville Heights, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights - as well as Highland Hills, Orange, and near-east Solon, much, much quieter.

And honestly, although the ramp-up is different from my Rev5 x50, I don't think that it's worse....it's still decently linear, albeit with a much more aggressive ramp scheme when the threat is, itself, closing range - which I've learned to really appreciate.

All three were before the ramp up fix. I tell you one thing though it is hard to go back to current dashmount sensitivity when the 9500CI has me spoiled

[CJR238]

BTW off axis (90*) sucks! I was hit yesterday by RRPD that keeps theirs on full power and it did not make a peep until he began to turn the corner (this was out in the open very little to reflect off of).

90* for any RD sucks, and they cant get your speed at 90 anyway or even realy 40*. Especially if there is nothing for the radar to reflect off of.

[TSi+WRX]

All three were before the ramp up fix. I tell you one thing though it is hard to go back to current dashmount sensitivity when the 9500CI has me spoiled

^ Sucks to be you!

[statusquo]

One thing I've noticed with Ka around the CA CHP cars is that some seem to leak Ka for some reason - even while parked and idling. I can pass their office building and invariably pick up some Ka from cars out front. Signal is very weak though.

I did have one tail me for about 50 miles once on a remote highway (ugh!). He would speed up to get behind me as if to hide from oncomng traffic and I would pick up a weak Ka signal until he hit the IO and it would blast my detector. Then it would fade back down to a weak signal when he got off the IO. If he fell back 100 yards or so, it would not show any bars on my detector until he sped up again and I would pick it up, or he hit the IO button.

Somewhere I heard it was because the patrol cars with moving units use two Ka signals: one (stronger Ka) for the speeder and one (the weak Ka) to determine the patrol car's speed to subtract from the speeder's speed reading if the patrol car is moving. Dunno?


sq

[MEM-TEK]

One thing I've noticed with Ka around the CA CHP cars is that some seem to leak Ka for some reason - even while parked and idling. I can pass their office building and invariably pick up some Ka from cars out front. Signal is very weak though.

I did have one tail me for about 50 miles once on a remote highway (ugh!). He would speed up to get behind me as if to hide from oncomng traffic and I would pick up a weak Ka signal until he hit the IO and it would blast my detector. Then it would fade back down to a weak signal when he got off the IO. If he fell back 100 yards or so, it would not show any bars on my detector until he sped up again and I would pick it up, or he hit the IO button.

Somewhere I heard it was because the patrol cars with moving units use two Ka signals: one (stronger Ka) for the speeder and one (the weak Ka) to determine the patrol car's speed to subtract from the speeder's speed reading if the patrol car is moving. Dunno?


sq

According to Jimbonzzz, there was only one radar gun (the old Kustom KR-11 radar gun I think) which used a separate radar transceiver to measure the speed of the patrol car.

Yet your observation that some Ka radar guns apparently emit an extremely weak Ka band signal even when in standby mode is very interesting. We need Jimbonzzz to get on this! I've read that a few radar guns use a phase locked loop (PLL) circuit to allow the radar gun to get a vehicle's speed after the vehicle has moved just one foot in distance compared to other radar guns which require that the target vehicle has moved at least 20 feet in distance. Jim is the Professor, and hopefully he can shed some light on this!

[CJR238]

I did have one tail me for about 50 miles once on a remote highway (ugh!). He would speed up to get behind me as if to hide from oncomng traffic and I would pick up a weak Ka signal until he hit the IO and it would blast my detector. Then it would fade back down to a weak signal when he got off the IO. If he fell back 100 yards or so, it would not show any bars on my detector until he sped up again and I would pick it up, or he hit the IO button.

sq

My guess would be that he had a hand held unit that he left on and put on his seat so 90% of the radar was blocked. When he picked up the unit to shoot oncoming cars it gave you a full blast.

[jimbonzzz]

According to Jimbonzzz, there was only one radar gun (the old Kustom KR-11 radar gun I think) which used a separate radar transceiver to measure the speed of the patrol car.

Yet your observation that some Ka radar guns apparently emit an extremely weak Ka band signal even when in standby mode is very interesting. We need Jimbonzzz to get on this! I've read that a few radar guns use a phase locked loop (PLL) circuit to allow the radar gun to get a vehicle's speed after the vehicle has moved just one foot in distance compared to other radar guns which require that the target vehicle has moved at least 20 feet in distance. Jim is the Professor, and hopefully he can shed some light on this!

It's understandable that people might think that radar units could emit weak radar when in standby. But like MEM-TEK alluded, there was only ONE radar unit in history that had a separate radar antenna to get the patrol car speed, and that was the Kustom KR-11, circa 1978.

NO modern radar units emit ANY radar when in standby. They're either transmitting or they're not, there's no "in-between".

I think one main reason why this keeps coming up is because is says it right on the Escort AND Beltronics websites!
And I quote:

"The other possibility involves "mobile radar" and instant on. So radar can be used in a moving patrol car, they use a separate, low powered radar gun underneath the patrol car aimed at the road to clock the speed of the patrol car. This is a very weak signal and is difficult to detect because it is aimed down at the road instead of in the direction of oncoming traffic. When the patrol car wants to clock the speed of a target vehicle, they use the stronger radar gun you may see mounted on the dash."

What I don't understand is: why would they have something so misleading on their website?

Anyways, if you pass by a patrol car and get a weak Ka alert, it is most certainly because of another reason, since no radar units "leak" Ka when in standby.