my V1 completely missed a Multanova on EURO mode *WITHVIDEO*

[Dilip]

This is the 2nd time its happened.

first time was when i went radar hunting with nvr2fast. There was a multanova, his X50 alerted to KA 34.200ghz and my V1 did not alert at all on euro mode. When i switched it back to normal mode, then it alerted but very late, even later than the X50.

Today, i went past a multanova on the opposite lane, and i saw it flash a car that flew past it!!! Lucky i was on the opposite lane. My v1 didn't beep at all. This really really sucks!

The reason for this is the radar has drifted too far off it's normal frequency of 34.36 ghz.

I spoke to valentine tech....they said the V1 can detect from 34.200ghz up to 34.46 ghz.

The radar must have been just below 34.200 ghz so therefore i failed to detct it.

WHAT TO DO?!?!

[ReadyRadar]

Send your V1 back overseas for the all important 3.826 flash and to be retuned...

[Dilip]

No, thats not the issue. The issue is, V1 is only set to scan approx 100mhz +/- from 34.36 ghz which is the frequency of the radar. However some radars in HK fall so far out of tune that it fails to pick it up at all.

[V1 Dave]

I agree with ReadyRadar you really need to send your V1 back for a complete physical, you say the X50 is louder?
IMHO V1 is much louder.
The X50 owners manual states that the louder setting is not as pleasing, that's where the ear piercing comes in.
Since you cannot pick up the multanova your unit probably fell out of tune.
They do good work, you will even get those scratched antenna covers replaced without even asking!
It's either that or dump the V1, but I am guessing that you prefer the V1.

[brick]

Maybe time to have Roy send you a Bel 975R? I was looking at flitsservice.nl's tech section again yesterday looking at their enhanced feed horn for the 975's antenna. They were getting 200m ranges on low-powered photoradar (not sure what kind) and the feed horn bumped that up to 500m. I honestly don't think that any US-market dashtop detector is going to be able to match that. That's partially due to the fact that a remote antenna is unobstructed by windshield and takes fewer losses. It may also be the case that the beam is concentrated within a lower horizontal plane and a bumper-mounted antenna has more signal to work with. This applies mainly to small, mobile units as opposed to those mounted on poles or other structures. Maybe try mounting the V1 low instead of high?

The other trick they used was to rotate the antenna 90 degrees about its long axis. That works because whatever they were running against has a vertically polarized antenna wheras our RDs all have horizontally polarized antennas. I was reading about this stuff late last night and it turns out that non-matching polarity between transmitter and receiver can cause huge losses on the order of 3dbi depending on the antennas. Maybe next time you go radar hunting you should give that a shot and see what happens? Run at it once with the V1 normally and again holding the V1 on its edge. Check out the flitsservice.nl Techniek and look for "De Quintezz + Upgrade" and "De Remote +, de upgrade..." for some pictures.

[f_399]

its going to be hard for dilip, he is in HK

turnaround on his upgrade with shipping could take a month

i feel his frustration coz he spent so much money on this detector and it doesnt work like he would want it to

if you can afford to have it sent for an upgrade you should. email VR and tell them whats happening, they are usually very good about replying.

[happya$$]

Professor Jimbozzz can build some oscilators to test all of these European frequencies with todays detectors

[bogey]

I posted in the past that I my V1 3.825 was BARELY picking up KA signals not sure on the frequencey though? After I got my 3.826 back from VR I have had no problems at all. More V1 3.825 owners where I live have had the same experience. But you mention those MULTINOVAS being out of tune so out of the V1 freguency range......that sux!

bogey

[Dilip]

Brick:

Thanks for your replies, its very informative. How do you manage to read flitsserve.nL? It's not in english anywhere!!! That site is awesome with multanova info but i can't read it. Wow, from 200 meters up to 500 meters? I should ask Carlos....he really is the expert.

I also know already about mounting verticle instead of horizontal, i've tried this. It makes a minor differnce with the X50 but no difference with the V1. also, mounting high is sligthly better than low.

But u see......u guys are missing the point. there's nothing wrong with the V1. It can detect 90% of the multanova's with enough range for me, approx 100-150 meters. However, the problem is that some radars in HK are not tuned properly, they fall far out from the specs that they are supposed to, which means that The V1, or even the Bel 975R will NOT detect it because they all have a fixed +/- 100 mhZ threshold on detecitng the multanova frequency of 34.36ghz.

Sending my unit for upgrade will make no difference, coz its new.....it detects other multanova's fine. The problem is the scannig frequency range. I have made a long distance phone call to Valentine and spoke to a technician called Michael (he said he wasn't mr. valentine)

He told me there's nothing they can do about this.....they would inform their technicians to see any improvements they can make to widen the threshold in future revisions.

[o2bad455]

The other trick they used was to rotate the antenna 90 degrees about its long axis. That works because whatever they were running against has a vertically polarized antenna wheras our RDs all have horizontally polarized antennas.

Yes, polarization can be critical. With stronger signals it doesn't matter as much because they have so many chances to rotate during reflections. With very weak signals, the correct polarization can make a huge difference. A good compromise might be to put the V1 at an angle of 45 degrees (side-to-side, NOT front-to-back).