How to Set Up Custom Sweeps

[Mr Q]

There is a new horn antenna and PCB filters in the works that will eliminate these falses
Patent Assignment Alerts-Simple Search.

Patent application 20120171981

~18dBi Gain on 35.5

How can it? The antenna is not able to single out certain signal sources on any one band of frequencies. If the "trash" signals are on the same band as the radar signals, they have to be detected along with the radar signals. The ONLY way to ignore these trash signals is with a GPS assistance program that remembers the trash signal's location and ignores it the next time you pass by it.
Changing the antenna design to ignore/decrease trash signals will not work. If this new antenna design is of a higher gain, its beam of reception will be narrower - not only decreasing trash signals from the side areas of roadways but the radar sources as well. You can't have just one way - one comes with the other.
AS for the "DBi" gain figure, this measurement is used by antenna designers and the "i" refferes to "isotrophic" - meaning an antenna in space with no surrounding objects (including atmosphere) to interact with the antenna. The much more practical measurement is "DBd" (d for dipole) that is the true gain in actual use. These gain figures are much lower than the DBi figures so for sales purposes, DBi is used to falsely describe an antenna's gain because the number is much higher than the DBd (d for dipole - a unity gain antenna that all other antenna gain is compared to).
Another problem with increasing any antenna's gain is that in doing so will narrow its beam width (in this case, making the antenna LESS sensitive to signals from the sides of roads - both trash and radar sources from parked LEOs). Narrowing any RDs beam is only good for straight ahead reception of radar signals, such as om long straight highways. So using a higher gain horn (that will have a narrower beam width)antenna is counter productive for increased sensitivity of signals from radar only. You can't have one without the other.
In the case above, this antenna would benifit long, straight highway use but NOT urban use with curves.
Why DBi use in ads instead of DBd? DBd figures are always much lower - consumers want to see higher numbers regardless whether they understand the systems or not.
Any company dealing with antennas that use "DBi" should be avoided like the plague since they are trying to make their antennas LOOK better than they actually are.

[Mr Q]

There is a new horn antenna and PCB filters in the works that will eliminate these falses
Patent Assignment Alerts-Simple Search.

Patent application 20120171981

~18dBi Gain on 35.5

How can it? The antenna is not able to single out certain signal sources on any one band of frequencies. If the "trash" signals are on the same band as the radar signals, they have to be detected along with the radar signals. The ONLY way to ignore these trash signals is with a GPS assistance program that remembers the trash signal's location and ignores it the next time you pass by it.
Changing the antenna design to ignore/decrease trash signals will not work. If this new antenna design is of a higher gain, its beam of reception will be narrower - not only decreasing trash signals from the side areas of roadways but the radar sources as well. You can't have just one way - one comes with the other.
AS for the "DBi" gain figure, this measurement is used by antenna designers and the "i" refferes to "isotrophic" - meaning an antenna in space with no surrounding objects (including atmosphere) to interact with the antenna. The much more practical measurement is "DBd" (d for dipole) that is the true gain in actual use. These gain figures are much lower than the DBi figures so for sales purposes, DBi is used to falsely describe an antenna's gain because the number is much higher than the DBd (d for dipole - a unity gain antenna that all other antenna gain is compared to).
Another problem with increasing any antenna's gain is that in doing so will narrow its beam width (in this case, making the antenna LESS sensitive to signals from the sides of roads - both trash and radar sources from parked LEOs). Narrowing any RDs beam is only good for straight ahead reception of radar signals, such as om long straight highways. So using a higher gain horn (that will have a narrower beam width)antenna is counter productive for increased sensitivity of signals from radar only. You can't have one without the other.
In the case above, this antenna would benifit long, straight highway use but NOT urban use with curves.
Why DBi use in ads instead of DBd? DBd figures are always much lower - consumers want to see higher numbers regardless whether they understand the systems or not.
Any company dealing with antennas that use "DBi" should be avoided like the plague since they are trying to make their antennas LOOK better than they actually are.

[raytx]

There is a new horn antenna and PCB filters in the works that will eliminate these falses
Patent Assignment Alerts-Simple Search.

Patent application 20120171981

~18dBi Gain on 35.5

Stealth

[GTO_04]

There is a new horn antenna and PCB filters in the works that will eliminate these falses
Patent Assignment Alerts-Simple Search.

Patent application 20120171981

~18dBi Gain on 35.5

Stealth

Very possibly. Here are two more related patent applications.

United States Patent Application: 0120169437

United States Patent Application: 0120169436

GTO_04

[saabturbo]

Nice to see new things coming out of VR... can't wait to see what is to come

[kasher1979]

Hey nine_c1 thank you so much for this! This was very helpful in getting me started with the V1 custom sweeps. I actually created a 33.8 sweep even though you said it was covered in pop. By doing this I was hoping to overkill 33.8. Do you think it works that way. Since its covered in pop would creating a sweep double sweep this frequency?

Were you told at Valentine Research that the double sweeping actually helps or is this just your own theory? I am curious if it helps or hurts performance. But I did do double sweep on 34.7 even though it took 4 sweeps spots to do it. :-)

Also on the rare old stalker 34.2 band I left that out. I am in Kentucky do you know if those are used in my area? Or do you feel pretty confident that these are all retired by now.

Thanks!

[PointerCone]

Hey nine_c1 thank you so much for this! This was very helpful in getting me started with the V1 custom sweeps. I actually created a 33.8 sweep even though you said it was covered in pop. By doing this I was hoping to overkill 33.8. Do you think it works that way. Since its covered in pop would creating a sweep double sweep this frequency?

Were you told at Valentine Research that the double sweeping actually helps or is this just your own theory? I am curious if it helps or hurts performance. But I did do double sweep on 34.7 even though it took 4 sweeps spots to do it. :-)

Also on the rare old stalker 34.2 band I left that out. I am in Kentucky do you know if those are used in my area? Or do you feel pretty confident that these are all retired by now.

Thanks!

You're referring to the old Stalker ATR Handheld Ka that hasnt been made for years. I know that TX DPS used them until a few years ago. Large majority of Depts use Stalkers now OR KS.

[PointerCone]

Hey nine_c1 thank you so much for this! This was very helpful in getting me started with the V1 custom sweeps. I actually created a 33.8 sweep even though you said it was covered in pop. By doing this I was hoping to overkill 33.8. Do you think it works that way. Since its covered in pop would creating a sweep double sweep this frequency?

Were you told at Valentine Research that the double sweeping actually helps or is this just your own theory? I am curious if it helps or hurts performance. But I did do double sweep on 34.7 even though it took 4 sweeps spots to do it. :-)

Also on the rare old stalker 34.2 band I left that out. I am in Kentucky do you know if those are used in my area? Or do you feel pretty confident that these are all retired by now.

Thanks!

You're referring to the old Stalker ATR Handheld Ka that hasnt been made for years. I know that TX DPS used them until a few years ago. Large majority of Depts use Stalkers now OR KS.

[nine_c1]

Hey nine_c1 thank you so much for this! This was very helpful in getting me started with the V1 custom sweeps. I actually created a 33.8 sweep even though you said it was covered in pop. By doing this I was hoping to overkill 33.8. Do you think it works that way. Since its covered in pop would creating a sweep double sweep this frequency?

Were you told at Valentine Research that the double sweeping actually helps or is this just your own theory? I am curious if it helps or hurts performance. But I did do double sweep on 34.7 even though it took 4 sweeps spots to do it. :-)

Also on the rare old stalker 34.2 band I left that out. I am in Kentucky do you know if those are used in my area? Or do you feel pretty confident that these are all retired by now.

Thanks!

Yes, I did speak to a tech at Valentine about adding additional sweeps to maximize performance on a specific band......he chuckled but indicated it sounded logical, but they had not done any specific testing along those lines.

I will say that it's generally accepted that the V1's K-Band reception improves a bit with POP enabled which is effectively doing the same thing.....inserting more K-Band sweeps into the overall sweep cycle.

As for creating a 33.8 sweep in Euro Mode / Custom Sweeps......with Euro-POP enabled the V1 is sweeping 33.8 five times per sweep cycle. Creating a 33.8 custom sweep makes that six times. I doubt the difference could be measurable in actual performance, however, the custom sweep (depending on how you set it) may go lower in frequency than the POP sweeps and induce more falsing to other detectors spewing emissions in the 33.6xx range.

The 34.2-35.2 ATRs were rare to begin with and likely near to extinction in the field....but I can't say there isn't the possibility of a couple still in service. Best bet is to survey your area in USA mode (full Ka sweep) for a few weeks and pay attention to the frequencies registered by the locals. Then customize your sweeps accordingly.

[raytx]

I have also inquired about custom sweeps and never got a definitive answer regarding performance. Mostly general statements that suggest I can sweep whatever I like as long as I didn't bridge illegal sweeps. I also got the impression that there was so much over sweeping that it wasn't necessary to create a sweep for 34.774-34.800. However I added it only once to sweep 6.