Radar Stand-by / Instant On Detection

[Stealth Stalker]

In the past, I have heard talk about being able to detect radar guns that are in the stand-by mode if you are close enough, implying that even in that mode, they still emit some amount of radar energy. However, I have noticed that, even if it is sitting right on top of my Stalker Ka gun, my V1 does not pick up anything when the Stalker is in stand-by mode.

Are there guns that do emit detectable signals in stand-by mode? Perhaps older guns did it, but it has been worked out in newer units?

[djrams80]

Nope, no such thing as stand-by mode. Just like your Stalker ATR, it's either on or off, that's it.

[ELVATO]

I think there were some K band units that had 2 antennas. One was for the patrol speed, one was for checking traffic. The patrol speed antenna still transmitted a weak signal even though the main one was off... or something like that. I think it's Mem-tek who has mentioned them before.

Either way, probably all the new guns probably don't transmit anything.

[KnightHawk]

Are there guns that do emit detectable signals in stand-by mode? Perhaps older guns did it, but it has been worked out in newer units?

As far as I know, there is none even when the antenna's for both radar and detector are touching each other face to face. I can be wrong and maybe Jimbonzzz can answer you on that.

[MEM-TEK]

Jimbonzzz posted an answer to this question a while back. The old Kustom KR-11 (or was it the KR-10?) K band gun had a second separate low power auxiliary K band transceiver which was mounted underneath a patrol car to measure the patrol car's speed. Really good X-K radar detectors back then could detect this transmitter while the patrol car was in moving mode. Jim mentioned that this was the only model radar gun ever produced which used a second transceiver to measure the patrol car's speed. All other radar guns are tied into the patrol car's speedometer.

[spankyaf]

I think you mis spoke there Memtek... radar guns are not tied to the vehicle's speedometer.... they read the scatter of signal returning from stationary objects to calculate patrols speed......

Having done a couple of searches I'm now confused whether there is a connection or not.... Jimmmmm?

[edweird]

KR-11 worked as described above, although I'm not sure if the weak signal for measuring the patrol vehicle's speed came from a second antenna, or the main one, but there was a low level signal and then when they used the control to read your speed, you'd get a stronger blast of RF(from the detector's point of view). At the time I recall it being described as pulsed radar, which made things confusing when other radar models that truely cut the signal off when in stand by mode, were also called pulsed, meaning the pulse was when they went instant on.

As far as On, Stand By, and Off go, that's the settings that are on my K-55's remote control and front panel. Off meaning no power to any of the unit's circuits, standby meaning that it's ready to take a reading once the RF part is fired up, and ON meaning it's taking readings based on the RF it's sending out. Standy By mode is the mode used when operating in Instant On Mode, and not clocking a car at that moment.

Most units measure the patrol vehicles speed by detecting the "ground wave return" or something similar, that is the doppler shift of all of the stationairy items that indicate the speed of the approaching patrol vehicle. The other RF returns are the other approaching(greater velocity than ground wave) or receeding (less velocity than ground wave) targets.

My understanding is that the design of the KR-11 was to keep current info on the patrol vehicles speed, so that the identification, and computation of target speed could be made easier and faster for that era's electronics. I saw a lot of these on the dashes of Georgia State Patrol, and South Carolina State Patrol vehicles in 1981-83 when I had a job where I was driving hundreds of miles a day, and parking next to these cars when stopping at hospital emergency rooms.

Some newer radar units allow for vehicle speed input to thier CPU's by use of a reading from the car's own computer's VSS (vehicle speed sensor) or an optional sensor mounted typically down on the car's driveshaft. Using this non-RF based method of getting the patrol vehicles speed is supposed to allow for quicker and more accurate processing, and eliminates some of the errors radar systems can make.

So yes, some radar systems have(can have optional) connections to the vehicle for speed. The Stalker series comes to mind.

[KustomEagle]

KR-11 worked as described above, although I'm not sure if the weak signal for measuring the patrol vehicle's speed came from a second antenna, or the main one, but there was a low level signal and then when they used the control to read your speed, you'd get a stronger blast of RF(from the detector's point of view). At the time I recall it being described as pulsed radar, which made things confusing when other radar models that truely cut the signal off when in stand by mode, were also called pulsed, meaning the pulse was when they went instant on.

As far as On, Stand By, and Off go, that's the settings that are on my K-55's remote control and front panel. Off meaning no power to any of the unit's circuits, standby meaning that it's ready to take a reading once the RF part is fired up, and ON meaning it's taking readings based on the RF it's sending out. Standy By mode is the mode used when operating in Instant On Mode, and not clocking a car at that moment.

Most units measure the patrol vehicles speed by detecting the "ground wave return" or something similar, that is the doppler shift of all of the stationairy items that indicate the speed of the approaching patrol vehicle. The other RF returns are the other approaching(greater velocity than ground wave) or receeding (less velocity than ground wave) targets.

My understanding is that the design of the KR-11 was to keep current info on the patrol vehicles speed, so that the identification, and computation of target speed could be made easier and faster for that era's electronics. I saw a lot of these on the dashes of Georgia State Patrol, and South Carolina State Patrol vehicles in 1981-83 when I had a job where I was driving hundreds of miles a day, and parking next to these cars when stopping at hospital emergency rooms.

Some newer radar units allow for vehicle speed input to thier CPU's by use of a reading from the car's own computer's VSS (vehicle speed sensor) or an optional sensor mounted typically down on the car's driveshaft. Using this non-RF based method of getting the patrol vehicles speed is supposed to allow for quicker and more accurate processing, and eliminates some of the errors radar systems can make.

So yes, some radar systems have(can have optional) connections to the vehicle for speed. The Stalker series comes to mind.

not quite...

ALL

YES ALL

of the manufactures that use a VSS input on the radar do NOT use that as a speed reading; they use that so the DSP inside the radar knows where to look in the doppler shift for the ground speed echo...

In other words the VSS is shoing the vehicle is going ~ 42mph so the radar knows to look between XXhz and YYhz for the ground speed echo. Normally if the ground speed echo is too low (nothing to reflect off of or antenna pointed up slightly) then it'll read wrong or not at all; with the VSS input if it sees any kind of echo there it will lock onto it and know that is the patrol/vehicle speed and then proceeds to process all the other echo's finding out whos fastest; going the same direction; opposite blah blah and report back to the operator