False Laser alert on a Navy base

[F18Sim]

Saw an old thread thats closed, but thought I'd add 2 cents in case anyone still wonders..

Is there an air field at that base?
Our radar isnt far from the back fence, and the county road along that fence most cars get a laser hit as they go by... Its an RF flood from the air search radar... Its overpowering the units and pushing them into a laser positive.. I've borrowed three different detectors and tried it myself.. 2 high end and one Walmart cheap-o... They all went laser positive, just at varying ranges from the radar. And I can verify that the base MPs dont have laser (and they were no where near the radar when we tested this, we asked them). Also checked with county and CHP, county didnt have a laser, and CHPs only laser was 30 miles away during the test.

On another note, when the search radar is on full power, it also tends to knock out cell phone calls on CDMA network as they drive by... They are building a new radar farther in and on a taller base, so it probably wont occur too much longer around there.

[North Alabama]

What were the RD models and makes? The Walley World one has to be a Cobra. My old V1 would alarm to weather radar (North of Nashville and NW Alabama) everytime the radar would make its round. About as bad as cell phones, these strong waves are not good for one.....

[suntzuaow]

Same thing happens on the NJTP while passing Newark Airport.

[PshoootR]

Happens on perimeter road at Orlando International Airport too. Caused by the "Clear Air Turbulence" warning system in use. It will trigger both Valentine One and Laser Interceptor, but V1 is more likely to false than L.I. is.

[WDG]

Same with my Passport 8500 X50 around the north end of DFW Airport, on 114. It doesn't always do it, but often enough to be expected. Their radar is near the southeast corner of the airport, so I'd assume it's caused by wind-shear detectors.

[Buckdarma]

Happens on perimeter road at Orlando International Airport too. Caused by the "Clear Air Turbulence" warning system in use. It will trigger both Valentine One and Laser Interceptor, but V1 is more likely to false than L.I. is.

I believe that the Clear Air Turbulence system uses a laser to detect turbulence.

Exactly. How did you know/

[bart99gt]

What were the RD models and makes? The Walley World one has to be a Cobra. My old V1 would alarm to weather radar (North of Nashville and NW Alabama) everytime the radar would make its round. About as bad as cell phones, these strong waves are not good for one.....

I'm going to guess you were around Haleyville, AL and Joelton, TN? If so, those are actually long range ATC radars.

Around runways, it is likely RVR, visibility and ceiling measuring equipment.

[Laser-InterceptorUSA]

The unknown gun alerts near and around airport(s) are completely normal. 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 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.

Jimbonzzz

[jimbonzzz]

Here's a video that Outrun made back in 2005:

http://www.guysoflidar.com/files/laserradar.wmv

[nr2d]

Same thing happens on the NJTP while passing Newark Airport.

The radar your getting a false laser on is most likely the ASDE-3 radar which is on the east side of the NJTP. It is the tall tower with the white rotating dome at the top. Newer ASDE-X radar systems may have a radar antenna that looks like the radar antenna found on larger boats and ships, a long narrow width looking antenna.

The "regular" search radar is across the airport from the NJTP close to the FEDEX facility just a couple hundred feet off of rt 9.

I tried to find a picture of an ASDE radar but I couldn't but here is a brief description for Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASDE-X