Well I guess titanium sounds really cool and the STi is just about the coolest detector out there.
Well I guess titanium sounds really cool and the STi is just about the coolest detector out there.
cheap detector leak a lot because well crappy shielding, but they all leak certain amount because they're heterodyne, they transmit their own signal and "listen" for it's own reflections through the antenna
Couldnt have written it any better!Originally Posted by Ace_Racer
Yes Sir, I know that DC stands for District of Columbia, that's the OFICIAL terminology, but in reality, real life, how it looks like it's just a city with its own City Hall, PD, transit system, auto licence plates (Taxation without Representation), etc., and of course the capital of the USofA...Originally Posted by Synbios
STI is always in the car, well hidden all the time, manual in the car as well, and the box is already gone... the computer I'm using is pretty much far from the interior of my car so I trusted my memory... titanium, magnesium, steel, iron, any other strong metal or mineral object, my point was that it's made out of something strong, different than a regular RD, or at least my S2...Originally Posted by SmaartAasSaabr
The v1 is magnesium too. Just... the LO leaks...Originally Posted by Synbios
Yes there are other detectors with magnesium construction as well. Although the magnesium certainly helps, it of course is not the only reason why the STi is so stealthy.
If the case was entirely magesium, it wouldn't leak... but it wouldn't detect either The front is plastic and so is the display end of course. The V1 is magnesium and so were many other detectors, even my 1994-vintage Uniden "stalker" POS. But magnesium casing feels much better in your hand than cheapo plastic 8)
The STi is near %100 stealth because of its high quality filters and because of its dual antenna design.Originally Posted by Synbios
Radar detectors are superhetrodyne receivers. They operate by receiveing the microwave radar signal at 10s of gigahertz then it mixes a second signal into the mircowave signal to down the frequency to a which the radar detector's internals can analyze. The second signal which is mixed in comes from the LO or local osicllator. The radar detector's electronics can only analyze one frequency, called the intermediate frequency, and bandwith. Therefore, the local osiclaltors and can be varied and filters can be used to adjust the bandwith of the signal.
The STi's IF is, I think, around 432MHz. If the radar detector wanted to pick up a 36GHz signal, the local osicllator will have to send a singal, to the mixer, that will reduce the 36GHz signal to a 432Mhz signal.
The problem with this design is that the local oscillator will not only mix down the signal but will also go the other way and leak out through the RF amp and the antenna then out the detector. This will allow other devices to detect the radar detector.
To help fix the problem, band pass filters are added to filter out the leaking signal from the LO. The STi uses high quality filters.
Another way the STi deals with the problem is by using a dual antenna design. By using two antennas, the antennas are more frequency specific and will resonate or leak less of the LO's signal out.
The magnesium case helps shield the electronic noise from the device, but it is not the major reason for its stealth capablilites.
One main reason the STi is stealthy is the use of low-noise amplifiers in the front end. Prior to the release of the STi, only the V1 had this.
These LNAs, in addition to performance advantages, also have very low reverse isolation = radar gets in, but not much LO noise etc gets out. The LNA's are probably the main reason why the V1 does so well against the Spectre.
Bookmarks