Why speed sensitive on X and K only?

[charlesml3]

I did a bunch of searches and couldn't really find an answer to this one. How come the 9500i is only speed sensitive on X and K? Why no Ka which I get all the time around town from the local PD?

Thanks!

-Charles

[Loiosh]

I did a bunch of searches and couldn't really find an answer to this one. How come the 9500i is only speed sensitive on X and K? Why no Ka which I get all the time around town from the local PD?

Thanks!

-Charles

Probably because Ka is always a cop (or cobra) so there is no reason to filter it.

[KnightHawk]

These bands are abundant in a lot of places because it is used for auto door sensors which then triggers your radar to go off. The auto feature is to minimize and suppress those annoying alerts. Ka band is mostly true radar frequencies used by law enforcement and it should not be suppressed.

[MEM-TEK]

I did a bunch of searches and couldn't really find an answer to this one. How come the 9500i is only speed sensitive on X and K? Why no Ka which I get all the time around town from the local PD?

Thanks!

-Charles

Hi Charles,

Welcome to the forum! Ka band is "always" police radar since microwave door openers operate on either the X or K bands. Auto Sensitivity mode adjusts sensitivity for X and K to help cut down on annoying false alerts from microwave door openers when driving less than 50mph around town. The reason that Auto Sensitivity does not reduce Ka band sensitivity is that you should always get Ka band alerts, no matter how weak the Ka signal is, since it almost always is police radar.

There are a couple of sources for false Ka alerts though. Many cheap import brand radar detectors such as Cobras can produce momentary false Ka alerts. Some home and military satellite dish systems can also produce weak Ka band alerts if your RD gets close enough to them.

[CJR238]

I did a bunch of searches and couldn't really find an answer to this one. How come the 9500i is only speed sensitive on X and K? Why no Ka which I get all the time around town from the local PD?

Thanks!

-Charles

Probably because Ka is always a cop (or cobra) so there is no reason to filter it.

x2, KA is always a threat with the 9500I, so no need to filter it. Also for Auto mode if it senses something that the 9500I thinks is a real K or X threat or is strong enough it will still alert.
Why would you want to filter out a real threat?

[charlesml3]

Hi gang,

I only want to filter it out based on my speed. I was sitting at a red light the other day and a local PD was behind me. My 9500i was screaming Ka because he was emitting.

I understand that Ka is always (or mostly always) a LEO but I sure wished it was speed sensitive then. I was most certainly under 5mph and there was no need for the 9500i to alert under that condition.

-Charles

[CJR238]

Hi gang,

I only want to filter it out based on my speed. I was sitting at a red light the other day and a local PD was behind me. My 9500i was screaming Ka because he was emitting.

I understand that Ka is always (or mostly always) a LEO but I sure wished it was speed sensitive then. I was most certainly under 5mph and there was no need for the 9500i to alert under that condition.

-Charles

Understandable, just hit the mute button. :wink: The mute button on the 9500I gets pretty lonely, so some attention every once in a while would be good for it.

[charlesml3]

Yea, that's what I did. I just muted it. Sure seems to me like this decision to never make any band but K and X sensitive to speed was a bit short-sighted.

I can't see why you would need ANY alert regardless of band when you're sitting still....

-Charles

[CJR238]

Yea, that's what I did. I just muted it. Sure seems to me like this decision to never make any band but K and X sensitive to speed was a bit short-sighted.

I can't see why you would need ANY alert regardless of band when you're sitting still....

-Charles

There is a lot more going on in Auto mode than what it seems. But the key is to alert if there is a LEO present running radar. We seem to be getting a bit spoiled with how quiet the 9500I is. Now it seems we want it to lock out a LEO if he’s not going to give us a ticket somehow.

Well hears a few reasons i want to be alerted at a stop (K & X will alert if its a LEO in your scenario):

1) When im stopped at a traffic light drinking my cold beer I don’t want the LEO next to me asking for one.
2) When I get some stupid kid wanting to race me I don’t want that LEO 1 car behind to bust my ass.
3) When a LEO is sitting out of my sight and i roll through the stop sign or traffic light.
4) Doing a break stand/line lock at 5mph while a LEO is coming.


Personally i love exactly how auto sensitivity works, doesint go off at falses but still alerts to real LEO threts. My only qualm is that I cant make the 15mph 25mph.

[Esoterica]

Ka is considered to be ALWAYS a threat, just wait till you experience Laser or POP, its also considered not only always a threat by Escort, but always an "Immediate Threat", so the tone doesn't even build up with signal strength, it just rattles out as a full alert blast.

The one time you didn't have a dead stop Ka warning would be the time you wished you did, then you'd be complaining about that, when you accelerate off a red light and get hit with Ka IO 1/4 mile up the road you would have likely otherwise had detected hitting another car ahead of you. If a LEO is in the area, you need to know about it at all times. Weak K and X band signals are usually either a false, or no immediate threat, so auto mode works well for them. On some occasions you may even notice a K alert while at a dead stop if a LEO is using K band and coming at you with a constantly increasing signal strength. Not sure what would happen if there was suddenly an IO K or X band signal while at a complete stop, I would imagine it would alert to this as well though.

The more you use it the more you'll learn to really appreciate the black magic that takes place with the 9500i's auto mode, it's unlike any other detector out there and oh so sweet.