Radar Detectors FAQs - RadarBusters.com

	FAQ Pages
1	General Information
2	Detectors
3	The Stop

FAQ 2 : Detectors

Which one of your detectors is right for me?

Why don't you sell the combo detectors/jammers other website's sell?

What is radar?
What frequencies are used?
What is instant on radar?
What is the "Super Bee"?
What is laser?
Which of your detectors is right for me?
Click here to visit Radar Roy's Buyer's Guide.

Why don't you sell those "all in one passive detector/jammers" I have seen on other websites?
Radar Roy tests all the products that he offers for sale and he has never found a passive radar/laser jammer that works! More information

What is RADAR?
Radar stands for Radio Detection And Ranging. In 1925 two American physicists Gregory Greit and Merle Tuve introduced the theories of radar by bouncing short radio pulses off the ionosphere.

During World War II radar becoming more advanced and the Unitized States, France, Russia and Germany began developing counter measures to defeat it (first radar jammers)

There are two general types of radar, PULSE RADAR and CONTINOUSE WAVE RADAR.

Pulse radar sends out radio waves in bursts or pulses. Pulse radar measures distance by measuring the time it takes to reach its object and then return.

Continuous Wave Radar sends out a continuous radio wave and there are two different types, Doppler and FM Radar.

Doppler radar is used to make exact speed measurements. This signal at a consistent wave of frequency, when it strikes a moving object the frequency changes and returned to the transmitter/receiver and the change in frequency is converted to speed.

What frequencies do the police use?
With police radar, there are all different types operating on different frequencies.

X band operates in the frequency of 10.475 to 10.575 gigahertz. This was the first microwave band used by police.

This band is also shared with many other devices in the same band including your garage door opener, the door opener at your grocery store and the banks security alarm system. Because of all these other devices sharing the bands, there are allot of false alerts.

Many detectors come with the option of turning this band off to reduce these false alerts as only 20% of all the radar guns out there on the street operate on this frequency.

K band was developed for police use in 1976 and currently over 60% of all the police radar guns use this frequency. This band is in the 24.0 to 24. 25 gigahertz spectrum. There are also other devices that operate on this band such as garage door openers, but the chance of false alerts are much lower then X band.

Ka band was developed for police use in 1989 and is used by the other 20% of the police radar guns today. This frequency is in the 33.4 to 36.0 gigahertz range.

This band is the cleanest band and false alerts are rare. The range of Ka is also much shorter then X or K band.

What is POP Radar (Super Bee)
MPH has developed POP mode for use in their police radar guns. POP mode allows an officer to send a quick "burst" to allow an officer to get a quick and accurate speed checks without alerting approaching vehicles. MPH claims that 95% of all the radar detectors in use today cannot pick-up their radar guns while being operated in their POP mode.

However when an officer uses this POP mode, he is unable to lock a violators speed into his gun, nor is he able to establish a tracking history of the target vehicle, until he switches over to conventional mode.

Many radar detector companies have been discounting the importance of POP radar because of the officer's inability to lock on or to establish the tracking history. However POP is gaining in popularity as evidenced with the Nevada Highway Patrol now outfitting their patrol cars with POP radar.

To view Radar Roy's testing of radar detectors abilities to detect POP Radar, click here

What is instant on radar?
Many of the radar guns in use today are instant-on. This means that the police officer puts the radar gun into "standby" mode and waits for a speeder that is in range and then pulls the trigger.

However, most police officers do not use the instant-on feature as it is time consuming and they become "lazy" and keep their gun mounted on the dash in full operation.

If they are using the instant on feature, you want to have the best radar detector that you can buy, to detect this officer while he is aiming the gun at other motorists before you get into his range of approximately 1500 feet.

To view the 2006 Radar Detector Shoot Out testing of radar detectors abilities to detect instant on radar, click here

What is laser?
The new dog on the street is police laser guns. These guns transmit a beam of infrared light at a frequency of 330 terahertz. It is estimated that there are over 50,000 police laser guns in use today in the USA.

The good news is that you can easily jam their guns with a laser jammer such as the BLINDER, the Escort Shifter, or Beltronics LaserPro. Laser jamming devices are also not regulated by the FFC but by the FDA and there is no federal laws regarding the jamming of police laser guns.

However three states have enacted laws banning the ownership, sale and use of laser jammers they are Minnesota (Minnesota Statutes 2002, 169.14) California (Sec. 1, Ch 493.28150, effective January 1999) and Utah (C. 41-6-52.7, 1998)