Weird Encounter I35 near Liberty MO

[Longsnowsm]

Well I just came back from a trip to IL. The V1 as usual saved my bacon several times. I had my first J encounters on this trip and it worked very well. 3 encounters and 3 junk detectors... Funny how 18 wheelers are not allowed to have detectors yet my V1 told me otherwise

Now for my wierd encounter. I was south bound on I35 near Liberty. The grassy median is approximately 40-45' across. I was in the right lane and traffic was rather spread out so I was basically by myself at the time. It was about 1pm and the glare from the sun was pretty bad. I saw a car in the passing lane on the north bound side and it looked like a Crown Vic, but I wasn't sure until he was pretty close. There were no alarms, beeps, or sounds from the V1. As I approached close enough to make out the unmarked HP car I start scrubbing off speed. I was doing approx 77 in a posted 70. Just as I make him he slams on the brakes, signals and flips a U turn in the median and comes back at me in a hurry. Again not a peep at this point from the V1. Once he gets turned, moves over into my lane, and approaches me fast. The V1 starts screaming. It was a very low power K band instant on. He rides my bumper and is on the radio. I can see him the whole time. I figured he must have gotten a lock and I was going to see the cherries lit up any moment. I set the cruise at 70 and wait for the bad news... Nothing. This cat and mouse went on for 15 or 20 minutes. He then pulled out moved along side me, gave me a dirty look, and then began clocking oncoming traffic. Again when he was clocking traffic as I was next to and then behind him the V1 only showed 3 bars.

So I am wondering just what might have happened. Since I was in the right lane and the median was so wide was it impossible for him to clock me that far over? I am just wondering why he didn't have me dead to rights as he approached in the north bound lanes instead of flipping the U turn before trying to get the lock. Very interesting, but I am still not sure why that encounter went down that way... Any ideas?

Longsnowsm

[TeamQuack]

wow u are a very good writer because that story brung back some chilling memories of similar experiences......... yikes!!!

i honestly dont know why he did that but it souds scary just reading about it. hopefully someone can add a few cents and make light of this!! ill be reading ^^^

:shock:

[GTO_04]

Is your K band working normally otherwise? Could it be out of tune?

Maybe his radar is not working right. He thought he had a speeder, he hit the RF hold and..........nothing. His radar did not transmit so you picked up nothing. Maybe he thought you had a jammer, or that you beat him with your superior reaction time.

At any rate he did not make his quota at your expense, hence the dirty look.

GTO_04

[Mackid343]

maybe he didnt see your v1 and thought because you slammed on the breaks that you were speeding and he could somehow get you and make his quota

[V1 Dave]

I'm guessing that since your speed wasn't that much over the limit it was just time for him to turn around in his beat zone.
Since you were right there a highway patrols favorite thing to do is check registration stickers and also see if your vehicle is on the stolen vehicle list. Once you were clear he left.
Also the older radar guns would still emit radiation even if they were not being fired, that might be the case here and since the median was very wide you never picked up the small scatter when he went the other direction.
When he left you and started clocking oncoming traffic you would not get a strong signal unless you were in front of him.
When you said that the V1 started screaming you also said low power K band, so did you mean that the V1 ramped up to rapid or full tone gradient audio when he caught up to you?

[Longsnowsm]

Dave,
When he slammed on his brakes and did his Dukes of Hazzard imitation I didn't hear anything. As soon as he got swung into the southbound lanes I got a 3 bar signal, then some ghosting on the bogey counter and then a full strength signal that stayed locked for a minute. After that I as getting varying 3 bar to full, but mostly 3 bar signal...

At this point I don't think there is anything wrong with my V1. I am wondering if there is a limitation to the angle and width distance that the radar can get a lock. I am thinking I might have been too close for him to clock me by the time he figured out how fast I was going. That is a heavily patrolled area and speeds are pretty strictly enforced as some of our members on this board can attest. Just makes me wonder if anyone else has seen something like this.

Longsnowsm

[guardian]

Here's my guess... he hit you with POP, got an inaccurate reading (there's a shocker) or was hoping to make a quota and nail you for 7+ over, when he was travelling in the other direction- he swung around, and then used real K band, as they are supposed to.. and that's what you picked up.. you got lucky that you saw him visually..

From what I've read here, the Valentine 1 doesn't detect the 16ms POP from the MPH Z-35 , and according to the GOL (Guys of Lidar) test, out of 10 hits, it only picked it up once, from 500ft..

So that's my guess for your situation...

** EDIT ** OR --- you had your V1 set to L or l mode, and it didn't pass along the 16ms POP.. and/or you have the initial K band muting on?

Dave,
When he slammed on his brakes and did his Dukes of Hazzard imitation I didn't hear anything. As soon as he got swung into the southbound lanes I got a 3 bar signal, then some ghosting on the bogey counter and then a full strength signal that stayed locked for a minute. After that I as getting varying 3 bar to full, but mostly 3 bar signal...

At this point I don't think there is anything wrong with my V1. I am wondering if there is a limitation to the angle and width distance that the radar can get a lock. I am thinking I might have been too close for him to clock me by the time he figured out how fast I was going. That is a heavily patrolled area and speeds are pretty strictly enforced as some of our members on this board can attest. Just makes me wonder if anyone else has seen something like this.

Longsnowsm

[o2bad455]

The "low power K" that showed 3 bars was probably his moving radar's second emitter determining his patrol car speed (usually aimed towards right ditch). Only the 5 bar alert was when he was actually trying to get your speed.

If it was a POP mode, it was an error on his part not to use real mode before the U-turn. You might be right that he got too close (cosine error, etc.) The only thing about POP mode is I thought that it could only be used when stationary (not enough time for gun to subtract patrol speed)... It's possible that he was using a stationary POP mode while moving, and manually subtracting Patrol car speed (possibly from speedo). That's one that would never stand up in court if he was properly questioned. Maybe there's a newer gun that does moving POP mode. Anyone know?