RX-65 K & Ka audio alert .... weird

Happy New Year everyone.

Yesterday I picked-up a Ka band alert in a city where only K band is used so I figured "it's 2006 so they must have made a purchase". A mile + down the road was a city police car and, as I approached the signal changed from Ka to K band as signal strength increased. I approached until I had a full audio & 9/9 bars K band alert.

I turned the corner & changed from Ka Intl to Ka USA to see if the RX-65 behaved any differently. I drove through the trap again and, from the get-go, I picked-up K band only and ... here's the weird part .... when it went to full 9/9 bars and max K band audio alert I heard a noise underneath the K band audio alert that sounded like a geiger counter.

It didn't sound distorted and was not "clicking" as fast as the full K-band alert was beeping but definitely there.

I turned around, set the RX-65 back to Ka Intl and drove through the trap a 3rd time. This time no Ka alert, only K, and at full strength I had a full K band audio alert with no "geiger counter" clicking underneath the alert.

Any one else experienced this? Any thougths?

RX-65 was purchased from Roy & is rel. 4.5

hmmm...intresting post, i am intrested to see what others have to say...


Ive been using Ka in USA mode.....

but the more i read the more uncertain i become if this is a good idea.

I think I know what you're talking about with the clicking. I never noticed it until I went to 4.5, and it seems to happen only at mid-volume settings. Not sure what it is, but I doubt it's a problem.

and to Eddieth3king, I wouldn't worry about the USA/INTL thing, mjlbda posted

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I turned the corner & changed from Ka Intl to Ka USA to see if the RX-65 behaved any differently. I drove through the trap again and, from the get-go, I picked-up K band only and ... here's the weird part .... when it went to full 9/9 bars and max K band audio alert I heard a noise underneath the K band audio alert that sounded like a geiger counter.

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and

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I turned around, set the RX-65 back to Ka Intl and drove through the trap a 3rd time. This time no Ka alert, only K, and at full strength I had a full K band audio alert with no "geiger counter" clicking underneath the alert.

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so the same thing happened in both USA and INTL.

Detectors can mis-identify bands from time to time. Whistlers and BG tech units (Cobra, Radioshack, etc) are known for it, but I suppose it could happen with any of them.

hmmm..yes you right.....

maybe he got a bad one too.. his problem was odd.. is odd rather..

I've never heard of a Bel mis id-ing the band, but I suppose it's possible. I know that my Whistler has a tendancy to identify K as X and i've had other models that like to ID K as Ka.

One thing to keep in mind about the RX65's alerts - If there is a K and a Ka signal being detected, no matter how strong the K signal is, the audio alert is for the Ka signal. You can have a K signal at full alert and the Ka at one bar, it'll still alert to Ka. It's possible that he had a coincidental Ka false from another detector and when that went away it switched to the K alert from the officer.

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Originally Posted by compu44

I've never heard of a Bel mis id-ing the band, but I suppose it's possible. I know that my Whistler has a tendancy to identify K as X and i've had other models that like to ID K as Ka.

One thing to keep in mind about the RX65's alerts - If there is a K and a Ka signal being detected, no matter how strong the K signal is, the audio alert is for the Ka signal. You can have a K signal at full alert and the Ka at one bar, it'll still alert to Ka. It's possible that he had a coincidental Ka false from another detector and when that went away it switched to the K alert from the officer.

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very true, especially if he had it in standard mode...you should try to switch to threat mode so you can see multiple bands at noce..that way you can see if this is what was happening...the rx 65 manul says that it will try to see what band is more important in the event if there are multiple bands detected on standard mode..

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Originally Posted by Eddieth3king

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Originally Posted by compu44

I've never heard of a Bel mis id-ing the band, but I suppose it's possible. I know that my Whistler has a tendancy to identify K as X and i've had other models that like to ID K as Ka.

One thing to keep in mind about the RX65's alerts - If there is a K and a Ka signal being detected, no matter how strong the K signal is, the audio alert is for the Ka signal. You can have a K signal at full alert and the Ka at one bar, it'll still alert to Ka. It's possible that he had a coincidental Ka false from another detector and when that went away it switched to the K alert from the officer.

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very true, especially if he had it in standard mode...you should try to switch to threat mode so you can see multiple bands at noce..that way you can see if this is what was happening...the rx 65 manul says that it will try to see what band is more important in the event if there are multiple bands detected on standard mode..

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Well from what i've seen, the importance is just by band.

Laser - Highest
Ka - 2nd
K - 3rd
X - 4th

I don't know how Ku and POP fall into the mix though. I'm pretty sure that POP is above standard Ka though. I was never even able to find a Ku false to play with, so my knowledge of that is nil. I think professor Bonzz has a working Ku tester, maybe he knows.

yes exactly,

thanks for your input everyone.

I revisited the scene today and, with no LEO's around, the RX-65 was dormant. The night of the weirdness, I was alone on the road (straight 4 lane & dry pavement) so I don't think I was detecting another RD or door opener.

I generally use the RX-65 in City LoX mode in the city & I didn't think to put it in either tech mode to get the gHz read-out or thread display, I'm just pleased as hell that it appears to work very, very well.

I had a full Ka alert head-to-head encounter with moving NYS Police & I did not get the geiger counter clicking with Ka in USA mode so perhaps the noise was just an anomality .... you know ..... gremlins.

I have never experienced the RX65 mis-identifing a band either. Also, you mentioned that you had the RX65 initially in INTL mode, in which almost a years time that I have owned my RX65, I can count on 1 hand the amount of falses that I have received using the INTL setting. The RX65 just does not false on Ka band using INTL mode period. Are you sure that your town has not made a new purchase. Maybe a Statie was in the area.

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Originally Posted by aust3333

I have never experienced the RX65 mis-identifing a band either. Also, you mentioned that you had the RX65 initially in INTL mode, in which almost a years time that I have owned my RX65, I can count on 1 hand the amount of falses that I have received using the INTL setting. The RX65 just does not false on Ka band using INTL mode period. Are you sure that your town has not made a new purchase. Maybe a Statie was in the area.

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good question

This is interesting. I have noticed that with my RX65 too. Even some areas that are known K falses, my RX65 starts with a Ka alert and after three beeps or so quickly switches to K. I think I am in USA mode right now..........I will have to double check that. This has happened to me a couple of times though...........I thought there was a Statie coming and then all of a sudden it switches to K. Very weird. It is a bit annoying though as I take Ka alerts very seriously. Almost EVERY time the RX65 picks up Ka it is ALWAYS a NYS trooper ...........somewhere. Except for the one local SUV that is around that also has Ka.

I live in a rural county & I know that every county LEO that I've encountered has been carrying K-band, every NYS trooper has been carrying Ka with the exception of the Thruway cars which, when stationary, could be Ka or laser.

The city I was in has always given me K-band alerts & the Ka alert was a first but, like someone said, they could have added Ka to their arnesal.

If a NYS trooper had been in the area, I think I would have detected him on the 2nd or 3rd pass .... but I came up empty with only the K-band alert from the local LEO I had visually identified.

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Originally Posted by mjldba

I live in a rural county & I know that every county LEO that I've encountered has been carrying K-band, every NYS trooper has been carrying Ka with the exception of the Thruway cars which, when stationary, could be Ka or laser.

The city I was in has always given me K-band alerts & the Ka alert was a first but, like someone said, they could have added Ka to their arnesal.

If a NYS trooper had been in the area, I think I would have detected him on the 2nd or 3rd pass .... but I came up empty with only the K-band alert from the local LEO I had visually identified.

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At the barricks about 10minutes from my house (the one just outside the city I always talk about), the NYST's still have K-band in use in 2 seperate interceptors... The most noteable is the SUV which ALWAYS leaves its K-band on constant-on mode.
So just be careful in thinking that NYST's only carry Ka&Laser for enforcement (they carry the occasional K). For most any purposes though they love Instant-On KA and then Laser you are correct.

The CayugaCountySheriffs carry K band similair to your CountySheriffs.

It's quite possible that the RX65 is detecting the K band signal as a Ka initially due to something known as image detection. RX65s rely on harmonic mixing, 2nd harmonic mix for K and Ka. Even though the unit should know where in its sweep range it is, it is still a reality of the limitation of design that it may well be seeing an image mix of weak K band signals, after a couple of seconds the signal is large enough to overcome this image mixing issue and the correct band then sounds.

It would be wise to pay attention to any Ka alert in any event....! :idea:

airmoore: thanks for your input. I wasn't suggesting NYST only carry Ka and laser, just the units I've encountered locally. My bad: I reread what I wrote & I see where I didn't make myself clear.

Whenever I'm near a NYST barracks or on the Thruway, I never run rabbit for the pack.