quick question

**theguysaid038** · 12-19-2007, 06:02 PM

lol.

that good.

sweet.

thx!!

oooh.. uhh

do u guys "calibrate" ur detector?

i am going to go on a 1150 mile trip in about a week or so..

so if u have any tips for long trips dont sharing!

thx again!

**jdong** · 12-19-2007, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by theguysaid038

do u guys "calibrate" ur detector?

short answer is you don't. A lot of people believe (and certainly it does happen and get reported here a noticeable amount) that over time detectors drift from their tuning and need a tuneup to function at peak performance -- this can only be done by the manufacturer.

If you have good solid reason to believe your detector isn't performing as well as it used to, or as good as it's realistically supposed to, contact the manufacturer to get their recommendations on whether or not a checkup/tuneup is necessary.

i am going to go on a 1150 mile trip in about a week or so..

so if u have any tips for long trips dont sharing!

thx again!

In new areas, I highly recommend keeping X-band enabled, it's definitely still around more than one would expect and it'd suck to get a ticket for a signal your detector can pick up from 3+ miles away.

Also, IO is alive and well, be cautious with speeding without a rabbit. Keep rabbits just out of your line of sight -- if they are shot your detector would know but at the same time your car cannot be targeted by the officer till you enter his line of vision.

Laser's popular in some areas too and no detector can provide advance warning to this threat when used at close range. Keep eyes open for cars parked on the side or median or when the cars in front of you tap their brakes for inexplicable reasons.

**theguysaid038** · 12-19-2007, 06:12 PM

sweet. thx.

umm what is IO? =D

and by calibrate i meant like i think i read some previous post where u drive ur car to an empty parking lot, and face the RD at the auto. door and adjust angle to get best distance.

you think that will help?

thx a whole lot man..

**jdong** · 12-19-2007, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by theguysaid038

sweet. thx.

umm what is IO? =D

IO means Instant On. Basically, the officer sits waiting for speeding traffic while keeping his radar gun on hold. During this time no signal is transmitted so a detector would not alert. When he wants the speed of a car he flicks a switch and it instantly blasts his victim with radar and obtains a reading far faster than he can react. If you are his first target, you're dead meat. Of course your detector will go off immediately at full-blast but by that time the cop has your speed.

The strategy for dealing with IO is to have a rabbit that is traveling at a speed you like. You follow him far behind such that you can barely see his car just so you know whether or not he's still there. You have a top-notch detector. If a cop radars him with an IO blast, your detector will comfortably pick it up from this trailing distance, but at the same time you're too far away for the cop to see you or his radar to clock you. This strategy works fairly well but it's really easy to forget this and be caught off guard. Most detector users that get tickets are victims of either IO or laser.

and by calibrate i meant like i think i read some previous post where u drive ur car to an empty parking lot, and face the RD at the auto. door and adjust angle to get best distance.

you think that will help?

thx a whole lot man..

You can certainly do that but IMO it's a pretty useless/redundant thing to do. You'll also hear people telling you to level your detector with a laser level or bubble level. It's all under the category of obsessive-compulsive. True, a bad mount can severely impair performance, but bad mount is like dangling the detector by one suction cup, or angling it to point at the sky or dashboard. As long as your detector is looking reasonably forward with no solid objects in its way, that's all that matters for *real world* scenarios.

P.S. Another note related to IO, always keep your cool and respond rationally to threats. If you are unfortuante enough to be targeted with IO or laser, don't knee-jerk slam on the brakes without looking behind you -- you can create a road hazard. Plus, if a cop sees that your car dips from braking just as he clocks you... well.. cops aren't exactly idiots

**theguysaid038** · 12-19-2007, 06:48 PM

lol. thanks a bunch!

u pretty much answered all my Qs.

xD

i am going to give my radar a real test during this trip that i am going to take from Phoenix AZ to San Fran CA

fun fun.

;D

**djrams80** · 12-19-2007, 09:42 PM

CHP uses 90% C/O 34.7 Ka and about 10% laser. I suggest spec mode to help you discern between leaky detectors and CHP.

**theguysaid038** · 12-19-2007, 10:14 PM

will do.

this 1150 mile trip is gna tell me the real performance of the x50

and i hope i dont get screwed over xD

thx thx thx.

**speed-dreams** · 12-19-2007, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by djrams80

CHP uses 90% C/O 34.7 Ka and about 10% laser. I suggest spec mode to help you discern between leaky detectors and CHP.

bad thing about spec is that you cannot detect multiple radars and there's no visual display that tells you the proximity of the source...

**djrams80** · 12-19-2007, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by speed-demon

Originally Posted by djrams80

CHP uses 90% C/O 34.7 Ka and about 10% laser. I suggest spec mode to help you discern between leaky detectors and CHP.

bad thing about spec is that you cannot detect multiple radars and there's no visual display that tells you the proximity of the source...

The X50 can only track up to 2 Ka sources so expert mode on the Cali freeways is not that useful, unless you immediately speed up after passing a speed trap. CHP uses nothing but Stalker 34.7 so there are no K or X to worry about on the freeway. The visual display is not necessary since the ramp up on the X50 is perfect.