Few Questions on Police Detection Range & Instant-on

[niko303]

How far can a general stationary radar gun achieve a lock on a car's speed? Moving?
Also, say I get instant on'd, how long does it take for the speed to show up? Is it like LIDAR, am I screwed when the V1 blasts? Thanks!

Yesterday, undercover charger maybe 1/2 miles back on a clear road. V1 goes to full alert instantly then trickles off 5 seconds later, Instant on or quick trigger? Gracias

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[snoopyc4]

The range of radar unit all depends on the terrain. Also for QT, it takes the LEO less than a second to acquire your speed. Treat QT just like laser.

[<<JAZZY>>]

Jimbonzzz said it best.

To plagiarize one of my previous posts:

The maximum possible target range will vary from vehicle to vehicle depending on the radar cross section. For example, here's a Car & Driver test from way back in 1979(!). They used a Kustom KR-11, results are in feet.



But of course, different models etc will have different maximum ranges against the same vehicle.

A more recent study against some current guns can be found HERE. (It might be wise to take the absolute results in this with a grain of salt, considering who the author is.)

The target vehicle for the Stationary-Mode Maximum Range test was a Special Service Package Ford Expedition. This vehicle was otherwise used as the radar vehicle. For the Moving-Mode Maximum Range and Same Direction Maximum Range tests a Nissan Maxima was used as the target. All guns were Ka band except the Genesis II Directional which was K-Band.



To sum things up, it is generally a couple thousand feet to over a mile depending on the vehicle, the mode, and the circumstances.

On the other side of the coin, Speed measurement Labs testing has indicated that todays high-end detectors can alert to the radar at over ten miles away from the radar source, on straight, flat, line-of-sight terrain.

So, just about any modern radar detector is technically capable of alerting to police radar at several times the distance at which the radar gun can acquire your speed.

Now, some people might look at this info and conclude that any detector would be good enough, since it has the ability to alert farther away that the radar can acquire a speed. Nothing could be further from the truth. You just don't see such extreme straight, flat, line-of-sight, constant-on situations much in the real-world. Generally, the range is limited by terrain obstructions, aiming, instant-on, etc. Having a sensitive detector isn't about getting a three mile alert where another detector would have only given two miles. It's not about getting a 30 second alert while another detector would only provide 20 seconds. It's about getting that 1-2 bar alert over a hill, or when instant-on is being used up ahead. The point of having a sensitive detector is that there will always be situations where the more sensitive detector is capable of providing advanced warning, where a less sensitive detector would not.

[North Alabama]

Welcome to I/O! It sucks! That is why I run my V1 in a 2 volume alarm setting to scare the crap out of me when hit with I/O. No time to think but react, that is the only hope. You might get lucky and not give the Leo enough time to track you. But if he has a 'Fastest setting', it will remember the fastest speed. Might be a slim chance to beat it if you are fast enough to brake and other cars are around. Also if the Leo cannot be sure which car it is. Sounds like you had an instant-on hit from behind? You might not have been the target. You will learn in time which car the target is. I have been hit 2/3's of a mile out (a 2 LED) with I/O Ka, that is being late night and no traffic. Danger if you are the only one out there, use a rabbit.

[bart99gt]

I've clocked average sized cars at roughly 3/4 mile with a K band MPH Python II in stationary mode. I was able to get just slightly over a mile of range with larger trucks at the same spot.

[niko303]

Interesting thanks for the info... The unmarked Charger's around here just got LIDAR and I/O! WTF!

Anyways from my encounter, LEO was half a mile back (moving), I was the only one on the road (I had already seen the charger in the mirror and adjusted accordingly) and I got a full KA from behind for 3~ish seconds. I'm pretty sure nobody was on the opposite side of the road. We went from C/O KA to I/O and LIDAR. This sucks.

[category4]

Interesting thanks for the info... The unmarked Charger's around here just got LIDAR and I/O! WTF!

Anyways from my encounter, LEO was half a mile back (moving), I was the only one on the road (I had already seen the charger in the mirror and adjusted accordingly) and I got a full KA from behind for 3~ish seconds. I'm pretty sure nobody was on the opposite side of the road. We went from C/O KA to I/O and LIDAR. This sucks.

There is no moving lidar, LEO must be stationary to use lidar.

[Amadauss]

I was recently pulled over for doing 84 on a 6 lane highway, 3 going each way, posted 65 mile speed limit. A van was used parked on the side of the road, which would radio a line of state police cars pulling people over. I was in the passing lane following another car and traffic was very heavy with all three lanes being occupied with cars and trucks and the three lanes heading the opposite direction also very crowded. Their is a small airport about a 1/4 mile from where the van was parked. I know I was not doing 84 because my cruise was on and set at 71. I was following another car and the cars around me where all doing about the same speed limit of about 70 to 75 and we were all coming down a steep hill. On the ticket it states radar was used and serial number of the radar gun is GHSZ463. I think it is a genesis radar gun after doing a search with the first 3 letters of the serial but not sure. I was very surprised how the radar could have picked me up because like I said all lanes had very heavy traffic. I told the officer who pulled me over their is no way I could have been going that fast because I had my cruise on but the officer said the corporal doing the testing had me at that speed so they could not change it when I asked to at least write me up for the 71 that my cruise was set at. My issue is I am sure the radar gun picked up someone else, even a car across the median going the other way, but it was not me going that fast. The Median is 3 ft high separating the traffic. I want to fight this but need some help on how best to proceed. On the ticket it states under the box Station equipment tested R8 and under Date Equipment tested 10/26/09. I got the ticket 2/17/2010 I have uploaded a picture of the van parked on the side of the road. Is it possible for their radar gun to have picked up someone lese and how sure can they say it was me speeding even though it was not me? Thank you very much for any response.

[SpeedUp]

I was recently pulled over for doing 84 on a 6 lane highway, 3 going each way, posted 65 mile speed limit. A van was used parked on the side of the road, which would radio a line of state police cars pulling people over. I was in the passing lane following another car and traffic was very heavy with all three lanes being occupied with cars and trucks and the three lanes heading the opposite direction also very crowded. Their is a small airport about a 1/4 mile from where the van was parked. I know I was not doing 84 because my cruise was on and set at 71. I was following another car and the cars around me where all doing about the same speed limit of about 70 to 75 and we were all coming down a steep hill. On the ticket it states radar was used and serial number of the radar gun is GHSZ463. I think it is a genesis radar gun after doing a search with the first 3 letters of the serial but not sure. I was very surprised how the radar could have picked me up because like I said all lanes had very heavy traffic. I told the officer who pulled me over their is no way I could have been going that fast because I had my cruise on but the officer said the corporal doing the testing had me at that speed so they could not change it when I asked to at least write me up for the 71 that my cruise was set at. My issue is I am sure the radar gun picked up someone else, even a car across the median going the other way, but it was not me going that fast. The Median is 3 ft high separating the traffic. I want to fight this but need some help on how best to proceed. On the ticket it states under the box Station equipment tested R8 and under Date Equipment tested 10/26/09. I got the ticket 2/17/2010 I have uploaded a picture of the van parked on the side of the road. Is it possible for their radar gun to have picked up someone lese and how sure can they say it was me speeding even though it was not me? Thank you very much for any response.

Make a thread in How to beat your ticket section, and talk to the other members in PA, they have beaten many speeding tickets from what I have heard.

[stealthfz1]

said the corporal doing the testing had me at that speed so they could not change it when I asked to at least write me up for the 71 that my cruise was set at

You already admitted to speeding when you said this since the speed limit was 65.