Need help solving my 35.5 woes...

[snowman017]

So I was driving down a crowded street near my house the other day and my v1 alerted to a week ka... having experienced ka on the road before, I figured it must be far ahead. Two seconds later, I drive by a cop parked on a side street pointed at traffic with his radar on. Even when I was right on top of him the V1 never alerted above half bars. I know that had that road been empty I would have gotten a ticket... I suspect it was 35.5 because I know the V1 (mine is 3.872) can't pick up 35.5 for nothin. That being said I want to get one that does but keep my V1. Should I wait for the STI-R to come back out or go for a redline now. Also does anyone run one of these detector combinations? does the redline or sti-r interfere with the v1 or vice versa?

[snoopyc4]

I suspect it was 35.5 because I know the V1 (mine is 3.872) can't pick up 35.5 for nothin.

Possibly. However, just because detection range was short doesn't mean it was Ka 35.5. It may have been forward facing radar which will cause range to go down. Was the LEO perpendicular or parallel to the road? This can factor in as well.

Even when I was right on top of him the V1 never alerted above half bars. I know that had that road been empty I would have gotten a ticket.

Ok, this tells me that the source of the Ka alert may not have been the LEO that you spotted. From my testing with my Kustom Golden Eagle Ka radar unit (Ka 35.5), the V1 should go full blast when you are on top of the Ka 35.5 source. Did the arrows flip around after you passed the LEO? If not, it sounds to me like the source may have been farther ahead.

Escort Redline does a great job against Ka 35.5:



So, if in fact Ka 35.5 is used in your area, Redline would be a good choice.

[snowman017]

The arrows flipped right when I passed him and he was perpendicular to the road. The speed limit was 35... and there was pretty heavy traffic on the road... I was in the left lane on a two lane each side road and passed him on my right... and out of curiosity do you run your v1 and redline together?

[snowman017]

it was almost exactly like the vid you posted

[snoopyc4]

The arrows flipped right when I passed him and he was perpendicular to the road.

Ok, this explains alot. Range can be shorter than normal against a perpendicular radar source (regardless of whether it is K, Ka 34.7, 35.5, or 33.8). So, the encounter you had was an off-axis Ka encounter. Just for future reference, a LEO cannot acquire a vehicle's speed if his radar antenna is perpendicular to the road.

And out of curiosity do you run your v1 and redline together?

No. But, I can still gauge how my Redline compares with both of my V1s using my 9500ci.

[North Alabama]

It would be nice if all radar went everywhere like X band. I to had a scared moment when a strong Ka signal was indicated from the rear to the side on a dark morning when a C/O radar was sitting in a country parking lot pointed across down the road. Or even not seeing a Leo sitting in the medium with his radar off in the dark untill you are upon him. It will happen and scares one because you know that the Leo's eyes sees you speeding but you have no alarm from the RD, but he does not have that magic number on his display either. Then the disco dance happens. Oh crap! Can't detect something that is not there. Happy motoring (with the windows rolled down to let the smell out and the brake pads replacement needed sooner).....

[Swamp]

I had a similiar encounter a few minutes ago. I was on a side street at a T-intersection with a divided 4-lane and got a tiny blip of Ka on my V1, first forward, then rear, and that was all. The Redline was silent. I scanned around me (it was dark) for a few moments, and then the light turned green and I made a left turn onto the 4 lane. About 1/2 way through the intersection both RD's went to almost full alert; as soon as I was through the intersection, I saw two LEO's parked window-to-window, and as I passed them the V1 switched to the rear arrow and went to full strength, indicating that (1) that was the radar source and (2) he had his radar pointing in the direction I was going, so when I was at the intersection it was pointing away from me.
Total distance from the intersection to where they were parked was 200-300 yards at the most.

I have my RL on the far left top of my windshield and the V1 is on the far right, so they are almost 5' apart. I get the same response from the RL regardless of whether the V1 is on or not. When I mounted them 6" apart, the RL went completely silent and wouldn't alert to anything except the strongest signals, and even then it alerted a long time after the V1 did.

[CJR238]

V1 is fine with 35.5 when its an immanent threat. Off axis (like perpendicular) is where some of the V1' 35.5 range drops off, i had some bad ones but non would result in a ticket even if i was 20+ over because the LEO radar is effected by cosine error or too off axis to matter.

Cosine-Error.gif

[GTO_04]

V1 is fine with 35.5 when its an immanent threat. Off axis (like perpendicular) is where some of the V1' 35.5 range drops off, i had some bad ones but non would result in a ticket even if i was 20+ over because the LEO radar is effected by cosine error or too off axis to matter.

Cosine-Error.gif

That's a good illustration. IME, the V1 (3.826) and RL have similar range when the 35.5 radar is 90 degrees off-axis. However at lesser angles, say 15 degrees, the V1 has much less range than the RL on 35.5 Ka. And at 15 degrees off-axis, the radar will read better than 95 percent of your actual speed. This can be an issue when you encounter 35.5 around a curve, especially so if it's moving radar, where the closing speed is even higher.

GTO_04