V1 (3.854) V.S. RX65 (6.1)
Well here goes the report. I went out hunting CHP's today and here is what I found out!
First, I have been E free for count 'em 2 whole days!!! Second, I was able to find a volunteering CHP trying to hide and knab people with constant KA. Third, I went up and back again 3 times for a total of 6 passess all together. Here is what I found: Everytime the RX65 alerted seconds before the V1 did. The difference was less than .1 miles. But here is the good news for the V1 fans. The V1 stayed alerted a good .5 miles after the RX65 stopped! I was coming up behind the CHP who was running a rear antennea meaning the front antenna picked it up first. Also, he was parked right as the Highway went around a slight bend (turn). The V1 jumped smack dab to 6 then right to 8 as soon as I was coming into view of the CHP which was about .2 miles from where it was parked on the side. So total warning was .3 up to where he was and about .5 after I passed him.
The RX65 alerted first (by about 2-3 seconds) but as soon as I passed it drop it. On the return direction (rear antenna facing away) Both detectors gave .3 mile warning. Still the RX65 alerted slightly first then the V1, but the V1 stayed on for .2 after I passed only because after you passed you went around the bend. Now given the fact that it was a bend .2 in my opinion is still good. Both detectors were ran independently and not at the same time. Also, on a sad note the CHP did get somebody in a RED CORVETTE!!! :twisted: I know picture perfect :lol:
Alright now for grand totals. Coming towards the CHP with the rear ant. ON the Bel gave a .4 mile warning and the V1 gave a .3 mile warning. The RX65 dropped the KA as soon as I passed, the V1 stayed on for .5 past (moving away from the rear ant. ) This was steady for all 3 times in this direction. Coming back (rear ant facing away) the Bel gave a .6 and the V1 gave a .5. Again the Bel dropped as soon as passed and the V1 alerted for .2 miles just as I was going around the curve. Now just to clarify coming back it is a straight highway until the curve. and coming to the bel alerted right as I came around. The V1 alerted no more than .1 miles difference, but stayed on the KA alot longer than the RX65.
I feel that the RX65 is good for alerting to KA first giving its rider more time to get to the PSL. The V1 isn't bad either, but it quickly went from nothing to six LED's just like that then to eight. I am still happy with the V1 just as long as I remain E free I'll be OK. And also NO I WASN'T SPEEDING I WAS GOING 55 which was the PSL!!! :lol:
Alright I am trying to see if this video I took works.
Please post your reactions. Every bit helps!!
Sincerely,
Ace_Racer
Nice try but it means nothing!
Your testing and results mean nothing if you had both the RX65 and V1 running at the same time!!
http://valentine1.com/lab/DoItYourself.asp
First Problem: Detectors hate each other - Every superheterodyne receiver—that includes all of today's radar detectors—receives and transmits during normal operation. As you probably know, these detector signals sometimes set off other detectors. Out on the road, other detectors are the most common nuisance signal V1 has to deal with.
What's not so obvious is this. Even if a detector isn't set off by another one, it's internal defense system maybe be affecting its radar sensitivity. This problem compounds when you bring two operating detectors into the same car. Up close, the transmitted signals become much stronger than a normal design would anticipate, and the weak signals that wouldn't bother at normal distances can send the defense system into hyperdrive.
V1 inspects every signal it receives and decides, Is it really radar? Is it maybe radar? Is it not radar. But it isn't designed to operate within a few feet of another detector, and we know of no other detector designed for that high-stress condition either.
Here's the irony: If you put two detectors together and one of them seems sluggish, you might decide that one is inferior. In fact, it may have a superior defense system, and the detector that appears to work better may be a grotesque polluting transmitter.
http://guysoflidar.com/twodetectors.html
Why it's a Bad Idea to Run Two Radar Detectors in the Same Vehicle
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Just because two detectors don't set each other off doesn't mean that they arent interfering with each other. Here are a few resons why you shouldn't run two together in the same vehicle.
It Could "Fool" the False Alert Filtering
Many people familiar with detectors know that false alerts can sometimes be caused by other detectors operating nearby. What is not so obvious, is during their regular sweep, most detectors are also scanning for other non-police radar frequencies that, if detected, could BLOCK or PREVENT an alert.
Superhetrodyne radar detectors contain "Local Oscillators" (or LO for short). LOs create a radar signal that is utilized to "mix down" the incoming radar signal for detection. Although the LO is only used inside the detector, in many cases because of the design etc the LO is actually "leaked" or "transmitted" from the radar detectors (this is the signal RDDs detect to know if a radar detector is being operated) Many detectors on the road have a 1st LO that operates in the 11-12 GHz range. The problem is, that these LOs also produce "harmonics" at multiples of the LO frequency. So, in once classic example, an LO operating at 11.55 GHz would produce a harmonic at 34.65 GHz.
This poses a problem for detector makers. They need to suppress false alerts from other detectors, while allowing real police radar through. So here's what they do: they take advantage of the fact that if another detector is producing a 3rd harmonic harmonic in the Ka band, the fundamental or 2nd harmonic will also be present. But with police radar, no harmonics with these characteristics would be present, since the fundamental frequency of these is in the Ka band.
So, per the above example, if Ka radar was detected at 34.7 Ghz, the detector would also check the LO fundamental at 11.558 GHz, or the second harmonic at 23.116 Ghz. If one or both of these were present, the detector would know that the Ka radar was a false harmonic from another detector and would suppress the alert. So in addition to looking for police radar, most detectors also look for these LO frequencies or ther second harmonics. If the LO frequency, the 2nd harmonic, or both are present. they can tell that the detected radar signal is not police radar and can suppress the false alerts from other detectors.
So, what if a leaky detector is nearby at the same time as police radar is?
Some of the high-end detectors also put fail-safes in place for this: they will examine the signal levels of the harmonics and the Ka radar. If the Ka signal is much stronger than the harmonic, the detector will alert anyway, just to be safe. This works great, except when another detector is operating in the same vehicle. Because the two detectors are close to each other, if one detector sees a harmonic from another, that harmonic will always be strong compared to any real police radar that is detected.
In some cases, the harmonic doesn't even need to be detected at the same time as the Ka radar for the alert to be suppressed, as long as it falls into a "time window" specified in the detector's software.
The whole thing gets pretty complex:
-there are countless frequency schemes used by different detectors, in addition to the 11.55 GHz example above.
-the oscillators are sweeping
-the oscillators in some detectors will "park" to get a closer look at suspected police radar.
All it takes for one detector to suppress a Ka alert on another is for the wrong frequency from the other detector to be detected at the wrong time.
It might cause a detector to "park" often during it's sweep
Some detectors operate by sweeping quickly to look for police radar, and when they see a signal, they "park" their LO to get a closer look at the signal to see if it is really police radar. With another detector operating in close proximity, it might see leaked oscillator interference from the other detector and "park" on different frequencies in order to get a better look. Even if it determines that it isn't police radar that caused the "park" and suppresses the alert, it will still have the effect of unnecesssarily slowing down the overall sweep, reducing the effectiveness to real police radar. This can be especially critical to POP performance.
It could raise the "noise floor"
With a microwave oscillator operating in close proximity, it likely raises the "noise floor" in different bands. The detectors use singal averaging between multiple sweeps to identify a threat-level signal, so raising the noise floor would have the effect of making it so that a stronger signal would be necessary for the detector to be able to pick out radar signals from the noise.
Even enclosing the detectors in metal isn't going to prevent this, since a lot of the leakage comes from the antenna.
It might be OK on some bands/frequencies but not others, it might work just fine until the sweeps of the two detectors coincide with each other in a certain way. But there's just no way to be sure when it is a problem and when it isn't.
You'll hear some people say that they've done run two together for a long time with no problems, but how do they know for sure?
So bottom line: to be safe, don't run two detectors in the same vehicle, especially if you are comparing performance.
-jimbonzzz
