How does elevation effect radar guns/radar detectors?

[Cips]

Today I saw a LEO that was sitting off the roadway by about 20-25 feet, paralell to my direction of travel, possibly angled AWAY a bit. He was also about 10 feet below my traveled road way parked on level ground. The V1 picked up his Ka but it only went up to four dots or so, it never maxed out but did have good ramp up.

So, just how badly does elevation effect the way radar travels?

[stevo1569]

Radar is not necessarily line of sight but it works on the same principle. If you were traveling in a different lane than he was sitting it would be difficult for you to get above a 4-5 dot reading because his antenna would not be aimed in the general direction of your car (and V1). Elevation plays a significant role in radar reception. It could be the difference of detecting an instant on hit or getting a ticket.

Hope that helps

[Stealth Stalker]

I can park on the road and aim my Stalker 45 degrees away from you and still get your speed almost instantaneously. If you figure that elevation is nothing more than an upward angle, then you realise that the principle is the same, up, down, right, or left. It's not going to have a significantly adverse effect on the reading until extreme angles are achieved. I can often get a reading -- albeit an erroneously low one -- at close to a 90 degree angle on you with radar.

[Cips]

Thanks.

[rocky2]

That was good info I thought the antenna had to be pointed at the traffic coming or going. I didn't know you could still get reliable readings at a 45 degree angle.

[Stealth Stalker]

Not only does the beam spread out pretty wide quite quickly, but you also have the bounce factor that will channel the waves downrange off of surrounding structures. For instance, if I am shooting radar on the freeway access road, it can be difficult to get the speed of the access road traffic without the faster freeway traffic blocking them out. But if, instead of aiming down the access road, I aim at the residential fence line alongside the access road, I will get the speed only of the access road traffic. I suck at teh Photoshop, or I'd illustrate that, but hopefully you get what I'm saying.

[chop]

thanks for the info...i was actually in the same situation as the OP earlier this week. came up a hill probably doing 20 over the PSL, and low and behold theres a cop midway on the hill's descent. i didnt pickup the usual CHP Ka 34.7 til a good 50 feet from the actual car and was wondering why i didnt pick anything up sooner as i saw it visually before i got the RD's alert. ive noticed alot of CHP stopping people leaving their radar on C/O

[Stealth Stalker]

What RD are you running? Just wondering if he actually I/Od you that close, or if it was just a delayed alert from your RD.

[djrams80]

Agreed, probably I/O(instant-on).

[chop]

What RD are you running? Just wondering if he actually I/Od you that close, or if it was just a delayed alert from your RD.

9500ix. couldnt have been I/O. he was outside of his car peering through the driver's passenger side window and i didnt notice anyone else in the car.

also yesterday on my way home i was going up a hill again (north) and got a Ka 34.7 hit prolly 100feet from the summit and i see another CHP unit on the side of the road going south at the top of the summit. luckily it was a hill and my anemic 4cyl doesnt climb hills quickly.