I/O Incident & General Questions...

[D_MAC_84]

Hello everyone, I am new to RD.net and RDs in general. For those of you who do not check the Introduction board, I recently received a Cobra 9970G as a gift. I've been using it for about a week now, but due to weather conditions and I guess just general things I really haven't been able to test it a lot. Only around the local area. I travel a lot. I stay on I-26 and I-95 constantly with a lot of backroad highways in the great state of South Carolina! I have only received 3 tickets for speeding over, granted one was dropped. All 3 were for 15 and under and were written for 9 over. So I am a casual speeder for the most part. Although it is not rare to see me going upwards of 20 over on the interstate. (I.e. 90 in a 70 depending on area and traffic around me) Although I do try to keep a 15mph over max. I am currently in school to become a rotary wing pilot.

Here's an I/O incident that actually happened a few nights ago, and I have some questions about I/O in general. Was making a turn onto a two-lane road and saw a pair of headlights coming my way maybe a mile out. RD was not sounding off and it was around 2am so I figured any cop at that hour would be using C/O just because it's easier? Sure enough, within maybe 50 yards of me, my RD Ka-band went crazy and it was a county! Good thing I had just turned onto the road because I was only doing 5 over when he clocked me and was accelerating so I let off. My question is, do I/O-hungry LEOs always wait until they're within 50 yards to clock you or is it usually done with more time to react? Is there really any way to beat an I/O? Once your RD goes off, do you slam on brakes and try to slow or what? I've also heard that sitting LEO's who I/O are the most dangerous. I've never seen a sitting LEO who I/O's. Seen a few that C/O and there's always those trooper units who sit on the side of I-20 with lasers.

I've turned off X-Band in the city, and make K-Band auto mute after one hit in the city as well. X-Band wasn't really a problem, but EVERYTHING sets off this K-Band. Is there any way to find out what band my local units use? Is that public information? I read that Lexington county uses X-Band, but I've yet to see one. (Then again, I've only been past a few) Haven't passed by a Richland county yet.

POP Detection....I turned this on for the first time yesterday. While sitting at a redlight, POP went off at max strength yet there was no LEO around. Odd? What exactly is POP and is it a type of radar? Is it similar to I/O?

False Ka-Bands. What would cause an RD to read a false Ka hit? Theres one spot that always hits Ka, but nothing's there!




Thanks for everything guys. I did look around before posting this, but didn't find answers. I did find answers actually, lots of good stuff, just not to these. Thanks again!

[Buckdarma]

sure they often do it up close and personal depending on the traffic ahead of you and if your one of the few on the road.

Do you know WHY?

Often to scare the sh-T out of you that's why !

If your the only person on the road and a leo has decided to I/o you there isn't much one can do. Slamming on the brakes just makes it that more obvious you have a detector.

Better to let off the gas and coast down to a more reasonable speed.

sound more like as you turned ONTO the road you detector picked up the on-coming leo

Not I/o

were your traveling straight down the road when your detector went off or making the turn at the time ?

turn off POP as it's a rare as a virgin in a truck stop diner and just leads to random off falses

I sent you a Pm did you get it yet ?

BTW many store door openers are now k-band.

[D_MAC_84]

Right, I learned after my first speeding ticket never to slam on brakes. No, it had to have been an I/O hit. Once I turned onto the road, the LEO was still a mile or so down the road heading straight at me. It was not until he was <50yards away did my Ka-Band sound off at max strength.

So POP is rare? Yeah, it was off by default when I started up the unit. I just turned it on...well...I'm not sure why I turned it on. :P

Yes I got your PM, thanks.

[Buckdarma]

Right, I learned after my first speeding ticket never to slam on brakes. No, it had to have been an I/O hit. Once I turned onto the road, the LEO was still a mile or so down the road heading straight at me. It was not until he was <50yards away did my Ka-Band sound off at max strength.

So POP is rare? Yeah, it was off by default when I started up the unit. I just turned it on...well...I'm not sure why I turned it on. :P

Yes I got your PM, thanks.

yes, no worry about POP whatsoever. turning it on just leads to many false alarms.

leos just LOVE to mess with your head.

They know very well many motorists pack detectors and have many ways to drive you crazy.

one is what you experienced which they love to do AT NIGHT most of all.

another is turning on their radar as they just start to crest a hill or go around a blind curve

they catch many a unwary detector user there.

[D_MAC_84]

Which is why I was even skeptical on getting an RD. I researched quite a bit before asking for one, and saw that I/O is so easy for LEO's to use now that that's what is catching people. That being said, I feel as if until RD's are able to detect radars on "stand-by" mode alone, there's still a pretty good chance at getting caught speeding, even with an expensive V1. Or is my thinking off?

[Buckdarma]

Which is why I was even skeptical on getting an RD. I researched quite a bit before asking for one, and saw that I/O is so easy for LEO's to use now that that's what is catching people. That being said, I feel as if until RD's are able to detect radars on "stand-by" mode alone, there's still a pretty good chance at getting caught speeding, even with an expensive V1. Or is my thinking off?

oh don't get me wrong detectors can be very useful indeed but they have a whole lot of limitations too.

One can mitigate these limitations to a certain extent with proper, eye ball first, driving techniques that give one some advantage but a police officer that knows how to properly wait with his radar on stand-by for the best pray will still get his man.

fortunately most leos are lazy in this regard as they have more speeders then they can shake a stick at and are not very interested in ambushing us detector users.

But this isn't always the case.

[D_MAC_84]

So in your opinion, LEOs that use C/O (or C/W, whatever y'all call it here) outweigh the tryhards that use mainly I/O?

Oh god, I forgot to ask this in the OP. (So many acronyms on this forum! ) I've always used this rule of thumb when driving on the interstate. On all of I-26 and many parts of I-95 there are middle dividers. Most of which is that re-enforced wiring. I feel pretty safe doing 20 over during the day because I feel as if as long as I keep an eye out on my side of the interstate (looking for LEO's ahead and behind) that even if a passing LEO clocks me, he cannot do anything for he cannot cross over to pull me (on 26, there are NO cross over paths for LEOs) nor can he really call in a nearby unit because they are probably pretty far away. Is this a flawed way of thinking as well, and I've just been getting lucky the past few years?

[North Alabama]

......Leos always wait until they're within 50 yards to clock you......is it usually done with more time to react?........Is there really any way to beat an I/O?......Once your RD goes off, do you slam on brakes and try to slow or what?....sitting LEO's who I/O are the most dangerous......Is there any way to find out what band my local units use?.......read that Lexington county uses X-Band......POP and is it a type of I/O?......What would cause an RD to read a false Ka hit?.....

Leos can get you as far ways as they can see you in traffic with the fastest display, with the target display being the strongest/first in line target on a 2 display unit.....Your 100 yard hit was due to a slow RD that alarmed 2-4 seconds after he hit you, called slow RD filtering......Mostly to late to react with a Cobra, cannot turn off the filtering......One can have a chance to beat I/O under certain conditions mostly with an unfiltered RD helps........A full scale hit, you gamble (even with a slow Cobra) and hope leaving marks on the pavement only under safe conditions (nobody behind on a dry road), maybe the Leo will screw up someway (stay in traffic and use 2 rabbits)......A sitting Leo with lidar or I/O is almost deadly everytime if you are targeted........Does your Cobra have a freq meter? On the average, 34.7 Stalker is black face cans and mostly everything else is white face cans (33.8 MPH, 35.5 Kustom, 35.5 Decatur). Look in the area radar in your town secton and see what towns have what in SC......Reported Lexington and Greenville has X band. There maybe more. Use X band and see....POP is a sample mode by MPH models 33.8 BEE, 33.8 Enforcer, K band Z hand guns. No ticket can be issued by POP but it is a free warning that I/O is a couple of seconds away....A hit is an instant signal targeted for somebody. A weak signal is not a hit persay.....Cobras will false from several things......

[Buckdarma]

So in your opinion, LEOs that use C/O (or C/W, whatever y'all call it here) outweigh the tryhards that use mainly I/O?

Oh god, I forgot to ask this in the OP. (So many acronyms on this forum! ) I've always used this rule of thumb when driving on the interstate. On all of I-26 and many parts of I-95 there are middle dividers. Most of which is that re-enforced wiring. I feel pretty safe doing 20 over during the day because I feel as if as long as I keep an eye out on my side of the interstate (looking for LEO's ahead and behind) that even if a passing LEO clocks me, he cannot do anything for he cannot cross over to pull me (on 26, there are NO cross over paths for LEOs) nor can he really call in a nearby unit because they are probably pretty far away. Is this a flawed way of thinking as well, and I've just been getting lucky the past few years?

middle dividers are indeed very good and your right.

partially

Just be aware that police in these locations "may" sit on your side of the road on the shoulder behind a rise in the road or other obstruction with their back radar antenna clocking traffic coming up on them from the rear.

this depends.

In this area police may not use radar at all because of the divider and if the shoulder is a narrow one.

[D_MAC_84]

......Leos always wait until they're within 50 yards to clock you......is it usually done with more time to react?........Is there really any way to beat an I/O?......Once your RD goes off, do you slam on brakes and try to slow or what?....sitting LEO's who I/O are the most dangerous......Is there any way to find out what band my local units use?.......read that Lexington county uses X-Band......POP and is it a type of I/O?......What would cause an RD to read a false Ka hit?.....

Leos can get you as far ways as they can see you in traffic with the fastest display, with the target display being the strongest/first in line target on a 2 display unit.....Your 100 yard hit was due to a slow RD that alarmed 2-4 seconds after he hit you, called slow RD filtering......Mostly to late to react with a Cobra, cannot turn off the filtering......One can have a chance to beat I/O under certain conditions mostly with an unfiltered RD helps........A full scale hit, you gamble (even with a slow Cobra) and hope leaving marks on the pavement only under safe conditions (nobody behind on a dry road), maybe the Leo will screw up someway (stay in traffic and use 2 rabbits)......A sitting Leo with lidar or I/O is almost deadly everytime if you are targeted........Does your Cobra have a freq meter? On the average, 34.7 Stalker is black face cans and mostly everything else is white face cans (33.8 MPH, 35.5 Kustom, 35.5 Decatur). Look in the area radar in your town secton and see what towns have what in SC......Reported Lexington and Greenville has X band. There maybe more. Use X band and see....POP is a sample mode by MPH models 33.8 BEE, 33.8 Enforcer, K band Z hand guns. No ticket can be issued by POP but it is a free warning that I/O is a couple of seconds away....A hit is an instant signal targeted for somebody. A weak signal is not a hit persay.....Cobras will false from several things......

So as far as the I/O, it was more like he started tagging me much further down, but I did not receive an alert for Ka until he was right up on me? And this is due to slow filtering? Can you explain to me how much the time difference is between a Cobra and say a popular Escort? As far as how long it takes from the time the RD detects the signal to the time it alerts. No, my Cobra does not show what the frequency is. Exactly what is the importance of knowing the frequency anyway? That even sounds like an ignorant question, but I'm asking anyway! :P

I'm aware that the article says Lexington uses X Band. How old is that information though? Lexington has bought a LOT of new cars and equipment lately including 2012 Chargers and now a few traffic cops are driving Cameros around! I keep X and K on mute while in the city, but not disabled. Ka of course is always on, and Ka is the only hit I've gotten from Lexington LEOs.

So would you recommend keeping POP on? Just in case, yeah?