Are Radar Detectors legal?
The answer is “YES”. There are no federal laws making them illegal, but there are state laws that ban their use. Western Australia and New Zealand have no laws banning their use.
What is the difference between Radar and Laser?
Radar and laser technologies are radically different. Radar uses radio waves while laser transmits a beam of invisible infrared light. A radar beam can be 30 meters wide at typical target range. At the same distance, the laser beam will be barely 45 centimetres in diameter. This pinpoint beam width is what makes the laser so difficult to detect. There are also significant differences in how the two types of speed-measuring equipment are used by police. Radar can be used from a moving patrol car. Laser must be used from a stationary position. For this reason, laser is more likely to be used by police in metropolitan areas rather than the open highway where moving radars remains the tool of choice.
I just passed a police car and my detector didn’t alert me. Why?
Not all police cars are equipped with radars. Even passing a car equipped with radar would only alert you if the police radar was activated.
I just passed a laser gun and my detector didn’t alert me. Why?
Laser is very difficult to detect because of the narrow beam of light it transmits. If your radar detector doesn’t have contact with this beam then it won’t be aware of any threats, and won’t alert you. It’s also possible that the police officer looked through the guns scope but didn’t activate the laser if they didn’t think you were speeding. It might look like they are firing at you, when in fact they are just targeting you.
Why does my detector false alert?
Other devices sharing the same radar frequency used by police radar normally cause false alarms. K band is used by automatic doors (usually around 24.050-24.250 GHz), which shouldn’t be turned off as you will then be unable to detect police K band radar, which operates between 24.000 and 24.250 GHz. Detectors with goods filters will be able to filter out most of the false alerts.
What is 360° Detection?
Modern traffic radar guns can clock vehicles in front of or behind the patrol car. For this reason, it’s important that your detector is able to capture radar behind your vehicle. In their latest tests,
www.radartest.com found that more than half of the models tested offered no defence at all against radar “sneaking-up” from behind. In this test, BEL detectors were standout performers.
I have heard of a new radar band that radar detectors can’t detect. What is this band?
Radar frequencies used by law enforcement authorities, are controlled by the Federal Communications Commission or FCC, and not by any individual state or country. The Ka used in the USA is the same Ka in Australia or New Zealand. The same is for Laser, where the United States Food and Drug Administration, or USFDA, certify laser guns for eye safety. There are no new radar band’s or laser wavelengths being used and if a new frequency is to be introduced, must first be authorised by either the FCC for radar or the USFDA. When you hear someone mention this “new band”, it is likely they have encountered “instant on” radar that their detector didn’t detect.
What is a Radar Detector Detector?
Until now all radar detectors leaked a small amount of signal that police can detect by using a "Radar Detector Detector" (RDD).
They scan for common IF (intermediate frequency) emissions given off by the radar detector. Early RDD’s used VG2 Technology, which concentrated on IF emissions at 11.550 GHz, but radar detector manufactures soon moved their emissions to different frequencies to eliminate its effectiveness. Along came VG3! VG3 technology works in the same manner but scans for multiple IF emissions. RDD’s are of no concern to drivers in states where radar detectors are legal.
The VG2 Interceptor has been used in some states of Australia since 1991. It comes from Canada where a company called Techsonic Industries manufactures it. Radar detector companies struck back by moving their tuning frequency outside this scanned area, making their units "VG-2 Proof" or Stealth.
A newer device named Stalcar (Spectre in the USA) seems to have given the enforcers the upper hand for the time being. It comes from a Queensland company – Stealth Micro Systems Pty Ltd. The Stalcar is now used in parts of North America where it is called the Spectre. The Australian built Spectre and Stalcar RDD were designed to sweep a larger spectrum and a higher frequency than previously possible.
The threat from the Stalcar (Spectre) RDD varies in different areas. Country roads and highways are likely to be the areas where the RDD’s are used most often. In the city and suburbs, false alarms render any RDD far less accurate.
Several Radar manufacturers moved their oscillators outside of the range detected by the Spectre and Stalcar. The RDD manufacturers therefore redesigned them to sweep even larger bands and they were detected. The
Spectre / Stalcar cannot detect a radar detector that is not powered up. They also cannot detect a Radar Detector with NO EMISSIONS. The Beltronics XR and USA model Sti are the first radar detector to have no emissions and therefore be undetectable.
What distance should I be able to detect radars? Is this the same for all radar detectors?
Depending on what type of radar is emitting the signal, will determine what distance you will be able to detect it from. The Kustom Falcon handheld radar gun at full power (50mW) can be detected as far away as 7km using the BEL PRO RX65. The Stalker Ka handheld radar gun at full power (50mW) can be detected as far away as 7km using the BEL PRO RX65. The Multanova/Traffipax/Gatso Camera radars only output a weak 2.5mW but can still be detected as far away as 500m. All radar detection is effected by environmental changes such as, humidity, elevation, particulate matter in the air, rain, etc. Reflections from other objects such as cars and buildings can also increase or decrease the distance of detection. Not all detectors are equal in sensitivity. A high quality unit like a Beltronics detector, will give the earliest warning “Performance is stunning…Long range champion – speedzones.com”.
Consumer Warning
Ensure you get what you pay for. The Beltronics 2 year warranty only applies to those units sold through an authorized Beltronics Dealers. Auction sites, unauthorized dealers and parallel importers often carry dumped stock from Asia or North America. Beware of these inferior units which could be counterfeit, have greatly reduced security and carry not manufacturers warranty. Units bought from North America have a limited warranty that is only valid within North America. Units that do not carry any warranty from Beltronics will not be replaced or repaired.
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