what causes sudden short K band alerts?
First, I have a V1 3.872. The unit is about a year old.
Here's what's happening. My commute recently changed. I began using 480 in Cleveland, OH after not using it for years.
There is a stretch a few miles long, where I will be driving along and get sudden blasts of K band alert. No ramp up. They last 1-2 seconds and the alert is gone. They are usually FULL strength, but even when they are only 4-5 bars, they are still sudden. Never a ramp up/ramp down.
When I leave that area, the K band falses go away. I have encountered two real LEO using constant on K in the past few weeks. On one encounter, there was a small bend in the highway, I got about 1 mile of warning I'd say. Second encounter had a severe bend in highway plus a valley, and I got maybe 0.3-0.4 miles of advance warning.
I posted about this on the regional forum, and one person suggested maybe it was the Safety Warning System. Is that how SWS works? Short K "blasts"? Any way to confirm it's SWS? Since this is a common area for me to drive, does it make sense to consider a detector that can decode SWS instead of making me think its an LEO doing an Instant On attack on my car from close range? Like maybe a 9500ix?
I've really loved the V1, this has been my 3rd one over the years, but with the change in commute it might no longer be the best choice. K band is used around here, and right now I have it turned off because its just too annoying to get blasted every 30 seconds. Useless.
Could it just need a tune-up by VR???
Thanks!
Brian
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
If it is on the same spot every time you drove by, it could be a drone.
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
Most likely K-band drones............
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
Ive heard cleveland has started using the drones too.
You may or may not get an alert in the same spot because it only fires radar every 30 seconds or so. It IS truely annoying. I like my TSR =)
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
It happens every 30-60 seconds. Full strength many times, no LEO anywhere. Last 2-3 seconds, then nothing.
I read up on what drones are. Sounds like that is the problem. I assume drones are programmed to only go off as a burst and then to be quiet for a while????
Which means I will have no luck using a 9500ix to lock-out the problem areas. I'd have to lock out most of Interstate 480. :(
What's a TSR?
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
Belscort has algorithms programed to detect these k-band drones, called Traffic Signal Rejection. Most new Belscorts have TSR, which effectively delays k-band alerts. These drones only transmit for less than a second. TSR delays the alert that if it longer than half a second, it alerts. If not, it does not. I had to get a Belscort because my 695SE was good enough on QT to detect these bursts all the time, to the point where it got annoying. If possible, the best way to get around it is to just turn K-band off, but that isnt an option for me since a lot of local PDs still run K near me (had a hit yesterday, but wasnt a save)
You can try programming auto-mute on your V1 to see if that helps....
EDIT: You CAN use a 9500ix and just turn on TSR. But I would not advise the 9500ix for 20+ PSL highway driving in rural areas.
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
Definitely sounds like drones, very annoying. Hopefully Mr. V will have a fix one of these days (Please Mike?). Also caused by some cars with that stupid active cruise control. Even more annoying than laser falses in my opinion.
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
my redline picks up some radar guided cruise controls. god damn is it annoying.
Re: what causes sudden short K band alerts?
Drones for analyzing traffic flow so they know the average speed traffic is flowing. That way they can post all those nice charts on the news showing where the congestion is located!!