K-Band signals

[Coldkiwi]

Ok, I know the X-Band radar units are only very very rarely pulled out for use (like Labour weekend!! Turn it back on in your detector boys and girls)

But what about K-Band? I routinely get K-band signals from all sorts of devices that are not police signals and its quite annoying (I run an Escort 8500, I hate to think how many the Unidens etc. get)

Do the cops still use the K-band units on a regular basis or are they only pulled out by the highway boys on odd weekends to help boost their quota on unsuspecting road users like myself?

 

[130wide]

There must be a cop amongst us in this group that can tell us? Come out we won't give you to much shit...........fingers crossed behind my back..

[k14]

Yeah, i have a bel 985 and K-Band is the only band that i get falses on.

The other day i think i got a cop signal on radar cause it went up to 6 for about 2-3 seconds then turned off, but i couldnt find any cops in the area. So i wasnt sure if it was a cop or something else.

But all the confirmed cops i have found so far have all been Ka or laser.

Anyone here ever picked up a K band radar?

[Marmoot]

Yep, me neither. Always on Ka or Laser (never even on X......?)
I'm running 8500 too

[Lou Girardin]

There are Hawk (K band) units in use around Thames and Te Kuiti, that I know of. There are no X band units anymore. Some people turn K band off in the city and on for rural riding.
Lou

[Coldkiwi]

cheers Lou.

Anyone know of any others?

[fritter]

Lou is bang on from everything I have heard.

I think it was supposed to be something like 40%K band, 40% Ka band, and 20% laser in use. Might be the radardirect site I read this... can't remember.

Some article in a car mag also said something about NZ using mobile cameras that operate in the 3rd harmonic of x band (so that clever detectors read them as a false alert, and therefore don't warn the owner), although one of the guys at work who is quite in the know with this stuff tells me that the 3rd harmonic of x band IS ka... something like that.

Can anyone verify the above? I can't be arsed actually looking it up

[Marmoot]

It's Ka.
And, yep, mobile cameras are Ka operated.

And, yep, the detection range of these are significantly lower than normal car-mounted radars since they operate on a beam aimed at an angle to traffic-flow (instead of radar broadcast method as used in patrolcars)....yaddayaddayadda.....
Practically speaking, cheap detectors are almost useless versus mobile camera (although they are quite easy to spot in the motorways. How many vans are normally parked beside the motorway anyway?)

[k14]

My Bel 985 seems to give ample warning of mobile speed cameras. Atleast 500m if not more.

What radars do you guys use?? Do any of u use headphones for them??? My radar doesnt have a headphone but i might make one for it. Not too sure. What do you guys think?

[wkid_one]

Use a headphone - works a treat.

[Marmoot]

Glen from Boyd Honda (Hamilton) had his Bel985 fixed with earphone plug done by Bel (the importer?) when he bought it.

I used Escort 8500 and have normally 500-700 m warning for mobile camera.

But, Bel985 does not actually belong to "cheap" detector class

[fritter]

I use an escort passport 8500, and one of those radar screamer things rather than headphones.

The screamer is like an external amp for the speaker out of your detector. Has three settings, high, low, and mute - it has a handlebar mounted switch. The high setting is LOUD... you can hear it at ANY speed. Everyone around you can hear it too

The passport 8500 detector works well with this, coz the detector has an auto mute - that means that the screamer only goes off once, and then shuts up until the next warning comes up.

[k14]

So where did u get that screamer unit from? Does it need any wiring into the radar or does it just use a microphone off the speaker.

If i have my 985 turned up to full volume i can hear up to around 80kph as long as there isnt a strong wind. If i have earplugs in it seems to let me hear it a bit clearer at higher speeds aswell.

Might just wire in an external headphone jack. Isnt too hard.

[fritter]

I got the screamer from motorcycleradar.com

Same place I got the detector (awesome deals there).

It just plugs in to the microphone jack from the detector, although the speaker is physically powered off a 12v source from the bike. I've wired it to the same 12v switched power source as the detector's hard wired cord (it's got a fuse built in to the wire too if that makes anyone feel better ).

You'd still hear this thing (on loud) at 200K+

Here is a link to a review on it... http://www.motorcycleradar.com/MCNp29A.jpg
http://www.motorcycleradar.com/radar_screamer.htm is the actual page with all the product info.

There are a few pics of how it can be mounted on the motorcycleradar web site.

It has 3 basic parts - the speaker, control switch, and power connector all plug into a commander unit, which you can mount wherever you like... the commander unit is smaller than a matchbox.

If you want any more info, let me know and when i get a chance I'll take some pics of how I have it set up...

[GPz]

Motorcycleradar.com has some good radar stands. Does anyone know if the stands are available in NZ?

My other option was to remove the daylight light and mount the radar in there. It could be permanently wired in, just have to waterproof it. Only problem being rear detection. Any thoughts?