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  1. #1
    Good Citizen
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    106

    Default Heavy Rain and Radar?

    Hey all,

    I'm wondering if heavy rain effects radar signals. Last night I drove through a down pour and noticed a Mercedes with blind spot monitoring didn't give me a K band false. Also does anyone know if mounting location effects the rate of false alerts? I noticed when I had my RD mounted low it would pick up a lot more cars with lane assist/blind spot monitoring. When I have it mounted high up, it seems to generally cut down on K false alerts.

    -Thanks

  2. #2
    Lead Foot
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    470

    Default Re: Heavy Rain and Radar?

    Rain will reduce the range not so much the accuracy. Having said that, if it is really pouring and the LEO doesn't have that wire that goes from the speedometer to the radar, I wouldn't use it. Golden eagle 1 was so brutal in the rain I couldn't believe how useless it was. In the rain, the patrol speed check is absolutely critical as that's how the LEO would notice if something is wrong. With stalker in heavy rain, I was noticing that it was about 5 mph off for about 1 or 2 second, then the speedometer wire would kick in and give me the accurate speed so no very fast I/O shot there.

    For the blind spot, as it is really low powered K band stuff, I would assume that the range of the device was cut down and it didn't get to your RD but that's just a guess
    Last edited by AvsBest; 07-16-2012 at 11:18 AM. Reason: typo

  3. #3
    Good Citizen
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    North Carolina
    Posts
    165

    Default Re: Heavy Rain and Radar?

    I believe the operator manuals note to not use radar in rain.
    That said Ka band is horrible in the rain,range and accuracy are lost.
    I'm told X band works 10x better than Ka in rain

  4. #4
    Advanced Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Heart of Dixie
    Posts
    1,963

    Default Re: Heavy Rain and Radar?

    X3. Lower freqs are not effected as bad by water vapor. Higher the freq (like Ka), it acts more like light (like lidar), thus you can guess the results...

  5. #5
    Good Citizen
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Puyallup, WA
    Posts
    134

    Default Re: Heavy Rain and Radar?

    Well, I guess that gives us all 2 choices. Move to Washington where it's rainy every day. OR move to Florida where the rain moves faster than the cars :P

  6. #6
    Good Citizen
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    North Carolina
    Posts
    165

    Default Re: Heavy Rain and Radar?

    I try to keep the speed down a bit in the rain. Never know when you might find some puddled on the road.

  7. #7
    Experienced
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    316

    Default Re: Heavy Rain and Radar?

    Yeah, the higher the frequency the less penetrating power it has to any structure most notably water. Subs can only communicate under water using ultra low frequencies, which has the ability to penetrate water, of course this requires an incredibly long antenna.

  8. #8
    Advanced Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Upstate New York where the Stalker Dual is King
    Posts
    1,533

    Default Re: Heavy Rain and Radar?

    X-Band is the best foul weather radar, then comes Ka-Band.........K-Band is THE worst being centered in the water absorption region of the microwave spectrum.

    Ka band does well enough that it is also used in satellite and cell phone tower communications.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

 

 

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