Radar Detector detector-what kind?.
 

I just got nabbed in Virginia for having a radar detector. I have used the V1 for years and it is hidden. The officer (State Police) said he had one of the new detector detectors.
is this possible? I thought the V1 was VG2 undetectable....do they have something new?
If so, what is the deal...and is there a new radar detector out that is invisible to this latest technology?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

VG2 has been around a while and there are a number of detectors that are invisible to it.

The V1 cannot be detected by VG2 and is absolutely the best bang for the buck out there. Get one and never look back.

Thanks, I have the V1 and have not had a problem...until now
This was a new type of detector detector...not VG2 and it picked up my V1..

There is a new radar detector detector, named the Spectre RDD. According to radarbusters, the Beltronics Sti is the only detector that is invisible to the Spectre.
Edit: On the V1 website, Mike Valentine admits to the V1 probably being susceptible to Spectre.

Gotta love Va.

what were the details of your stop? did he stop you for any other reason and then discover the v1?
did they confiscate?
how much is the fine?

Probably a good idea not to use the detector in VA.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see that you live there.

Dang, Jim. That sucks. Was it a VA State Trooper that nailed you? How did he handle the stop...take away your detector, or just record the detector info and return it to you? I'd challenge it in court if I were you.

Can you use the remote mount/concealed display thing?

They can't take the detector anymore here in Va. It is personal property and not illegal to own, only to operate.

no radar detector is undetectable, they all emit themselves, the only thing you can do is get one with proper shielding so the leakage is minimal.

The cops detect driving behind you, so if you can shield the thing properly they will not get a reading on you.. on a front mounted radar detector, but you gotta getting shielded , which means built-in, not some box detector stuck to your windshield

The detector is hidden very well above the sunvisor and it was my truck which is hard enough to see in...It must be the Spectre.

He only pulled me over for the detector. He just looked at it and gave it back. My detector did not go off...so I doubt he was running radar.
I have not called to find out what the fine is.

Jim R.- I am not going to fight it...it does not result in any points...and I think the fine is small (compared to what the V1 has saved me over the years), plus I am guilty and can't say it was off...as it was hard wired, etc.

No big deal...just wanted to know what I am up against...

Jim, that just sucks. Probably not a big fine, but it's just wrong, IMO.

As Stijn said, any radar detector is detectable by the police, if they have a specially tuned receiver that is sensitive enough to detect the extremely weak radio frequency emissions from the radar detectors internal electronics (simple description). Your V1 is looking both front and rear (even kind of sideways, too), so, your radar detector is unshielded in these directions and it emits low-power radio frequency signals that the police are able to intercept with their receiver (Spectre). Oh well. :(

How can they distinguish the electronic in a radar detector from the other electronics in your car? OnStar? A cell phone? A garage door opener?

Frequency of the IM oscillator.

The frequency it tunes to. The radar detectors have an internal oscillator tuned to a frequency that downconverts the police radar band signals to an intermediate frequency, which in turn is processed to make a decision...did it detect a radar signal, or just background noise? There may be two stages of downconversion, meaning two oscillators. These oscillator operate at fixed (and easily calculated or measured) frequencies. These oscillating signals will radiate out from the radar detector, albeit at very low power levels. These frequencies will probably not be common with any other devices. A highly sensitive receiver tuned to these frequencies can pick them out. Once they get a "lock" on your detector, you're busted. :eek:

But don't garage door openers and radar guns (not to mention RC cars and planes) operate on the same unregulated frequencies?

Sounds like a warrantless search of my personal property to me.

Don't confused transmitted radar frequencies with the downconversion oscillator frequencies used by the radar detector. They are related, but not the same. Non-radar example: 1 GHz transmitted signal. Receiver has a 900 MHz local oscillator. The signal is mixed down (AKA downconverted) to 100 MHz for further processing. A sensitive receiver located near your reciever, tuned to 900 MHz, would know of your receiver's existence.

Some people like to noodle on how this plays vis-a-vis the Communications Act of 1934? No further comment...I'm not a lawyer.

Most radar detectors oscillators run the 11.4 - 11.5 Ghz range. Spectre sweeps in that range.

at what range can they detect you?

Okay. Good info.

Why (how) are radar jammers illegal. Plenty of devices emit radiation in the frequency that radar guns use. Why is it illegal to emit radiation at something that is doing it to me?

I seem to recall that a few years ago law enforcement in one town were using infrared cameras to look for "grow houses" by looking for bright lights in the houses. IIRC, the local court ruled that using the equipment to search the inside of houses amounted to an illegal search and seizure.

I don't see how this is any different.

Well...it was a State Police officer and I generally don't see many of those around here... so I will just turn it off on the interstate for now. Hopefully Valentine will come up with a fix soon.
How do they beat the VG2? And wouldn't/can't the same type of technology work to defeat the SPECTRE?

Jim Richards- Tell me you work in this field (I thought you were a lobbyist or something Gov related...) and don't just happen to know these things!
I will be worried about you otherwise :>)

Does anyone know how many SPECTRE units are in VA (from what I found out so far, there are not many and most are around Richmond)?

It is hard to believe with all the crap in cars now...they can differentiate all of these signals... to be confident enough to pull me over for it.

Thanks for all the good info!

Another question though-
Why are detectors legal almost everywhere else and not Virginia?


Thanks,

Jim

"Virginia is for Lovers".

Most states allow search of a vehicle w/o warrant with probable cause. Some don't, it changes all the time with various court decisions.

What would be the probable cause?

It comes down to whether or not the devices are intended to transmit, or unintentionally radiate signals. Jammers are intentional transmitters, and the FCC will beotchslap you hard for using one. BTW, your PC is approved by the FCC. The FCC looks at how much (e.g., at what power level) unintentional radiation comes from various electronics manufacturers' devices, and whether or not they create an undesireable interference environment for licensed radio communications.

Yes, but I could in theory use a garage door opener or and RC controller to jam a radar signal. What could the FCC or local law enforcement do about that?

You would have to specifially modify the transmitter to broadcast on the 'jamming' frequency. That's a violation of FCC regulations.

Do garage door openers operate on the same frequency band as traffice radars? I don't recall that being the case, but could be wrong. What about RC controllers? They are licensed transmitters, right? Don't they have to comply with license requirements that would likely have had them operating on different frequencies than traffic radars? Or is that something that traffic radars knew all along that they had to contend with?

I just remembered that X-band detectors could to false alarm on commercial garage door openers. I think my V-1 is set to forget that band. Of course, my dementia might be kicking in.

X-band was shared by a number of different devices. That, along with advances in microwave technolgy led to the introductio of Ka band which had no such competion with door openers. There was no need to further develop radar for door openers...

Thanks Dan! That's consistent with what I was thinking. :)

There are K-band door openers too (not Ka, at least not that I know of for sure). We used to spec K-band openers for one of my clients (I didn't like doing it, but that's what they wanted...)

What I've learned with the V1 is that X-band contacts are almost 100% guaranteed to be nuisance stuff, K-band is 90% of the time nuisance stuff and if you get a Ka hit, it's almost 100% sure to be real/LE, so don't ignore it.

As a general rule, just treat 'em all as real until confirmed otherwise though. Works for me.

Right. Forgot about the K-Band.

Here in Va they need a warrant to search a vehicle, they are not allowed to open or move a thing without it. They, however can make you stay where you are till a warrant is issued, that could take a while. Least that is the law here in Albemarle county, I believe that is a state law, I could be wrong.

Radar detectors are supposed to be passive aren't they?

EDIT; Just read above, i never knew they emmited anything. I thought they were passive like military RWRs are.

Even military RWRs emit. There is no such thing as a truly passive device, only well shielded devices.

Hmmm, i thought a RWR is just an antenna tuned to the frequency of the emmiter?

How 'bout that.