Originally Posted by
jimbonzzz
Falsing from airports isn't necessarily any kind of laser source, in fact most of the time it isn't. It's an EMI/RFI issue where high-power slow repetition rate air-search radars (commonly found in civilian aviation "center" traffic control sites and in military air-search radars) have the ability to overpower the ground shielding in detectors causing laser false alerts. People frequently cite wind-shear detection radar as the culprit.
LIDAR wind shear systems exist as well, though they are far less common than the radar systems. Some people on this forum like to cite LIDAR wind-shear systems as the culprit causing false alerts on the detectors, even though they operate on different wavelengths and different pulse durations than police LIDAR. I think the reason people cite the LIDAR windshear equipment so much is because they have difficulty wrapping their head around the fact that RADAR systems can cause LASER false alerts on the detectors.
If you want to know which it is, this might be a good indicator: cover your laser sensors with your hand, electrical tape, etc. If you still get the falses, you'll know it is from a strong pulsed RF source rather than a LIDAR source.
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