For the electronics geeks (jimbonzzz, mem-tek, etc.)... DIY a RD?

[Eloi]

Excellent idea .

So you dont need the laser part , neither X .

I was thinking a module for each frequency desired .
It could be large as portable computer.

The best person would be a retired engineer ....one can build
anything as long it is not commercial .

There is a guy in Germany building his own rd ...seems ultra-sensitive
for the k 24.150 photo-radar ....but lost the contact

I bought years ago an X band emitter from the net made by an hobbyist ...
still working great and only few parts on a card a transistor and few resistors ...someone wants pictures ?

[swarga]

I was actually thinking about how i would go about extracting/modifying the firmware on my v1 yesterday, but then i thought it would be too much work lol. Software programming, especially firmware, is pretty intense.

You have no idea.

Lots of embedded microcontrollers have built-in security features to prevent you from reading the flash and extracting the code. Some will even self-destruct (become unusable) if they detect tampering. Other security features prevent you from reprogramming the device unless you have the correct security keys.

I have never tried to reverse-engineer the firmware of a radar detector, but assume that both Valentine Research and Escort employ these and probably other techniques to keep their secrets secret.

[kpatz]

I was actually thinking about how i would go about extracting/modifying the firmware on my v1 yesterday, but then i thought it would be too much work lol. Software programming, especially firmware, is pretty intense.

You have no idea.

Lots of embedded microcontrollers have built-in security features to prevent you from reading the flash and extracting the code. Some will even self-destruct (become unusable) if they detect tampering. Other security features prevent you from reprogramming the device unless you have the correct security keys.

I have never tried to reverse-engineer the firmware of a radar detector, but assume that both Valentine Research and Escort employ these and probably other techniques to keep their secrets secret.

There's nothing to stop you from unsoldering their MCU and replacing it with your own. Well there is that issue of creating new firmware from scratch that can "run" a V1.

But, my idea is more along the lines of using the (analog) front-end of an existing RD, and interfacing it to our own MCU, display, buttons, speaker, and firmware. That would minimize the amount of reverse-engineering needed. You'd just need to find out what wires power the horn, which wire(s) sends the signal to the MCU, and which wires the MCU uses to control the horn (LO sweep etc.)

[nyjason13]

Careers - Escort Inc.

Need some job descriptions and qualification listing! I wonder my current college major would give me the qualifications for a job at escort.

[swarga]

There's nothing to stop you from unsoldering their MCU and replacing it with your own.

Nothing except physical footprint, pinout, voltage requirements, and those sorts of things. You would pretty much have to replace their micro with the exact same part number in order to have a chance of pulling this off.

Well there is that issue of creating new firmware from scratch that can "run" a V1.

Yeah, that's a bit of a hurdle, as well. Do you think it could be done in Visual BASIC?

But, my idea is more along the lines of using the (analog) front-end of an existing RD, and interfacing it to our own MCU, display, buttons, speaker, and firmware. That would minimize the amount of reverse-engineering needed. You'd just need to find out what wires power the horn, which wire(s) sends the signal to the MCU, and which wires the MCU uses to control the horn (LO sweep etc.)

OK, so which micro do you intend to use?

[kpatz]

Nothing except physical footprint, pinout, voltage requirements, and those sorts of things. You would pretty much have to replace their micro with the exact same part number in order to have a chance of pulling this off.

That's basically what I was saying, get an identical unprogrammed MCU and program it with our own firmware.

Yeah, that's a bit of a hurdle, as well. Do you think it could be done in Visual BASIC?

I was thinking VB.NET. I program my PIC micros in assembly. I'm using one in the jammer auto-kill I'm making.

OK, so which micro do you intend to use?

Whatever one serves the purpose. But since we're speaking hypothetically at this point (I'm not about to build an RD from scratch quite yet), we can use hypothetical parts too.

[bart99gt]

Re-design the horn to emphasize K/Ka detection and de-emphasize X and I think you'll have a winner. There is just no need to be able to detect X band radar from 3-4 miles away any longer.

[swarga]

But since we're speaking hypothetically at this point (I'm not about to build an RD from scratch quite yet), we can use hypothetical parts too.

In that case, I would use the (hypothetical) RADAR-Detector-on-a-chip that includes everything you need all on one piece of silicon.

[Divewjason]

A couple of my friends and I have talked about doing the same thing. The firmware will be the toughest part.

[EscortRadar]

Re-design the horn to emphasize K/Ka detection and de-emphasize X and I think you'll have a winner. There is just no need to be able to detect X band radar from 3-4 miles away any longer.

X band is very important in Ohio, at least here in southwest Ohio. I get X alerts almost daily from Ohio state highway patrol (some are in new vehicles too...). This is a great place to test a detector because between the state patrol and the locals we get it all on a daily basis.

Good luck with the project!