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Tech Mode
Well, I just go the v995, and I just have a quick question. Is there a practical purpose to the tech mode?? What I mean is, does knowing the exact frequency of the radar that you are being hit with give you an advantage??Are there some frequencies that are only radar, and not door openers, alarm systems, etc??? Or is tech mode just for "fun"??
It is mostly for fun. But there are a couple of potential uses...
Probably the most useful purpose is to help determine what model of Ka is being used in your area. For example, it it is around 33.8 GHz, that indicates a unit made by MPH industries, and might indicate that there are POP capable units around, in which case you might think twice before disabling POP mode on the detector.
A secondary use might be to help determine if a Ka alert is false. If the alert isn't in the bandpass of one of the Ka radars used in the USA (33.8, 34.7, or 35.5 GHz +/- 100 MHz) then it is more likely to be a false alert. But before you stomp the gas again, be very cautious about relying on this: Tech Mode has been known to be wrong before. Though it is great for a feature in a detector, it isn't a precision frequency counter. Under normal operation, testing has shown that the frequency displayed can be up to 30 MHz off from the actual frequency of the radar source. Two detectors often display a different frequency for the same radar source. And sometimes the detectors can lock on to an image frequency inside the detector instead of the actual radar source, occasionally it even displays a frequency that is completely outside of the superwide police Ka band.
X and K Band police radar uses the same frequency range as microwave motion sensors. So, Tech Mode won't help you too much on these bands. A few users have mentioned that they attempt to learn the displayed frequencies of X and K false alerts on the normal driving routes, so they can tell if something is different. But IMHO this is a risky proposition because the reasons above. Using threat display for this type of driving condition should work great.
Remember: anything the detector alerts to is potentially police radar. Your best bet is to be cautious and identify the source (if possible) before resuming speed.
Around here in the next county the K band sets used by the LEO's are about 200-300 Mhz higher than the usual K band intrusion alarms. I can tell if it is a county Mountie by looking at the display.
The Ka band signals from the state police are also somewhat higher than the infrequent falsing from another radar detector. I am talking here about an STI.
If I am going above 20 mph over the speed limit I don't even look at the display, I just slow down. At 10-15 I usually look before doing anything which is usually nothing as the locals don't bother you on the open highway for 10 over. On city streets it may be a different ball game as a lot of places are 25 mph and no one goes less then 35-40 which presents a really target rich environment for revenue enhancement.
my spec display on the x50 is usually very accurate on Ka at least. It display's the correct frequency of the radar gun (i see mostly 35.5ghz the hardest gun to detect!), but one time i've got a 34.9ghz and thought it was a false until I spotted the LEO shooting diagonally across the road hidden between two buildings, so be careful of any Ka alerts
Are you sure you don't mean 20-30 MHz?Originally Posted by ronsc1985
If it was really 200-300 MHz, the detector shouldn't even alert to one of them, because the K-Band bandpass is only 200 MHz wide.
Maybe 100-200. I usually only see the first digit after the decimal point ie. 24.something GHZ. The LEO's are something like 24.5 and the other stuff is in the 24.3 range
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