What is a Radar Detector?
Radar detectors are designed to intercept Doppler radar signals in some or all of the above mentioned frequency bands giving an audible and visual alarm to the driver. Radar detectors are passive electronic devices and use a superheterodyne receiver (a receiver designed to detect radio waves in the SHF range) to detect radio waves and can only intercept Doppler radar. A basic (inexpensive) radar detector can only detect radio signals from one direction – front – and are passive. So if the police officer drives up behind you, chances are your detector will not alarm until it’s too late. Standard radar guns have a cone, or dish-shaped antenna that concentrates the radar beam, but the electromagnetic wave quickly disperses over a wide area. This means that a radar detector will pick up the radio signal well before the radar gun recognizes the car, if of course you are moving towards the beam. More modern, sophisticated radar detectors actually take an active role in helping you slip out o
A radar detector is a small electronic device used by some drivers to detect the presence of police radar units. Ideally, the radar detector will pick up the radar gun’s signal before the driver speeds past the police officer using it. Use of a radar detector can best be described as tolerated, if not strictly legal in certain jurisdictions. Most drivers who use a radar detector keep it attached to the visor or other inconspicuous area. What a radar detector actually detects depends on the make and model of the radar gun used by law enforcement. A very basic radar gun sends out a radio signal at a specific frequency. The signal bounces off a targeted object (a car’s body, for example) and returns to the radar gun. This signal moves at a constant speed (the speed of light), so a computer unit can calculate the time it takes for a signal to return. If the target object is moving towards the radar gun, the frequency becomes higher due to a phenomenon called the Doppler shift. This means a
Radar detectors are devices able to detect traffic radar used by law enforcement to record your driving speed. A radar detector works by using audio and visual warnings, such as flashing lights and beeping noises whenever you’re approaching a law enforcement officer who is using traffic radar to control speeders. Most radar detectors are designed to be mounted to the dashboard of your vehicle, though you can also find models that can be clipped to your sun visor or the inside of your windshield. Some radar detectors can be put into “city” or “highway” mode, which communicates to the radar detector the environment in which you are driving. The radar will desensitize itself in city areas to prevent giving you a false alarm by detecting radar not associated with law enforcement. Simply put, a radar detector should be both highly sensitive and selective in order to be the most effective; otherwise, it’s going to beep every time you drive past a house with a microwave. What Other Kinds of D
A radar detector in general terms is a device which has the capability to detect or recognise a radar signal. What does that mean to you, well if you are a motorist then this is quite significant. On UK roads(and in other countries) there are devices known as speedtraps. Speedtraps are designed to record the speed of vehicles that may be travelling above the local speed limit posted for that road. The speedtraps can use various forms of speed recording and one of these types of speedtrap is called Gatso and uses radar. The radar is transmitted by the speedtrap which also has a receiver. When the signal is sent out from the speedtrap it will have a particular wavelength. When the signal is reflected back by a vehicle if the vehicle is moving in relation to the transmitter,the wavelength will have changed this is known as Doppler Effect. The receiver picks up this altered signal and reads it’s wavelength, the difference between the transmitted wavelength and received wavelength will give
