Driver`s Guide to Police Radar
Contents
1. S GUID Police Radar Everything You Need to Know About Speed Enforcement World renowned radar expert Craig Peterson reveals e How Police Use Radar and Lasers To Clock Your Speed e Where Radars and Lasers Are Used e Common Radar Mistakes e New Undetectable Digital Super Radars e Radar Detectors and Electronic Countermeasures e How To Pick the Right Radar Detector e Top 10 Secrets to Getting the Most From Your Radar Detector e Exclusive Features Field Test Report of the Most Widely Used Police Radars e Specifications and Features of Every Police Radar and Laser Gun Author of Fast Driving Without Tickets Driver s Guide to Police Radar by Craig Peterson Copyright 2007 by Craig Peterson All rights reserved under United States and applicable international Copyright Conventions Brief quotations from this book may be used in critical articles or reviews No other use of any of the information or data contained herein is granted No part of this book may be reproduced in any form through any mechanical or through any electronic means in cluding recording data transfer scanning or transmission or photocopying without the express written consent of the author Printed in the United States of America First Edition First Printing November 2007 ii Driver s Guide to Police Radar Table of Contents ROLCW OI Cicussnecsuencarariesiacsacian wir asten2. car enthusiast books On this particular trip was driving it home from Detroit having just taken delivery 26 Driver s Guide to Police Radar Stalker Radar president Alan Mead one of the sharpest radar guys in the business spent over an hour in the company parking lot with me get ting the twin antennas and other components fitted to the cramped inte rior After trying different locations for the front antenna trying to mini mize fan noise interference generated by the HVAC system common in all police vehicles we mounted it at the base of the left A pillar After doing a tuning fork test on both antennas departed for my home in Denver Darkness fell as was heading north on Highway 287 out of Amarillo a charming little town that s memorable chiefly by the unforgettable stench emanating from its abundance of cattle feedlots Mid week traffic was light up in the Texas Panhandle allowing a perfect opportunity to check the Stalker s maximum target range Placing the unit in moving op posite mode using the front antenna to monitor oncoming opposite lane targets began experimenting It was soon clear that the Dual SL could easily reach out a mile or more to tag a mid sized car Then ghost readings target speeds displayed in the absence of a legitimate target began to appear At least they seemed like ghost readings For example a 68 mph target speed would flicker on the digital display linger for a few moments then d
3. When he walked up to the car and glanced inside he saw the new radar and couldn t resist asking about it Cops love toys especially those they can t have So we chatted awhile about radar Eventually asked him what he d estimated my speed at Oh 79 80 he answered What were you running About that You know you CHP guys are supposed 30 Driver s Guide to Police Radar to be about the best in the business at visual estimates what with not being able to use radar or VASCAR said But bet you can t call 8 out of 10 within three miles an hour You re on he said The trooper stood on the shoulder next to my open passenger win dow and started calling out target speeds used the radar to verify them And he won He nailed nearly every speed he called within two mph or so a truly impressive performance But noticed that none of his targets was much over 750 feet away Logic would suggest that most drivers will spot a marked police vehicle when it s only 700 feet away No way The typical driver is look ing less than 50 feet in front of his car Why else do rear end collisions account for over 40 percent of all accidents To paraphrase a popular aviator term the motorist is driving a hundred yards behind his car Translation in an emergency by the time the brain finally gets the mes sage and he reacts he s already toast Since the average driver is devot ing perhaps t
4. that s the subject of the next few chapters Some drivers understand that radar involves reflected radio waves but they remain clueless about how that is applied to speed measure ment Check the Internet sometime newsgroups in particular and you ll be dazzled by the amount of information on radar that s being bandied about Most of it s wrong sometimes laughably so For example many believe it can be used from aircraft It can t Some believe that radar can read the speed of a car moving at a 90 degree angle to the radar Impossible Others think that placing wads of aluminum foil inside their wheel covers or dangling bits of chain from under the bumper can confuse radar Wrong again Still others think that for less than three C notes they can buy a radar jammer that can stymie radar Forget it Radar 101 the Basics 15 Any traffic officer can pull over some poor clown and tell him he d just been clocked using a Chingadera 390 model radar operating in Full Waffle Mode The guy would probably believe it mean how is he supposed to know any different Even an unfortunate number of cops are surprisingly ignorant about radar s true capabilities One New Year s day was stopped by a local traffic officer had driven past his parked cruiser hunkered down on the far side of an urban freeway overpass Although well under the legal speed at that point routinely monitored the mirrors as drove away was dr
5. Grenier 4 Nearly all moving radar models can be fitted with front and rear antennas State highway patrol cars increasingly make use of this setup The payoff is enhanced capability since it allows them to not only check oncoming opposite lane cars but also using the rear antenna to monitor opposite lane cars once they ve passed the police vehicle heading away Some exceptionally conscientious officers often use both antennas on a target giving them an extra long tracking history But ordinarily the rear antenna isn t often used in moving mode unless for some reason the officer can t take care of business with the front one alone Naturally there are exceptions to this Some officers make frequent use of Same Direction mode And a very special radar the Stalker DSR 2X can simultaneously track multiple vehicles both ahead of and behind the rolling cruiser Radar doesn t have the magical qualities most drivers assume As said conventional radar can t pick a single fast moving car out of a pack But radar with Fastest Speed can Radar is designed to read the strongest signal which if all the targets have roughly the same radar cross section the amount of reflec tive frontal area will usually be the closest target But this is not always the case Signal strength is calculated by the radar by taking into account 24 Driver s Guide to Police Radar several criteria Relative target range is a major factor in de
6. Yep But he wasn t running all that fast Maybe ten over Hell you didn t even check his speed The deputy said Didn t need to Guy was from Ohio Thousand miles from here figure somewhere between here an there he was over the limit So wrote him So much for procedure A trooper using moving radar begins his shift by checking the aim of his antenna straight down the centerline of the car and about one or two degrees below parallel with the road and verifying its accuracy Accuracy is checked by means of tuning forks internal circuitry and road checks After warming up his unit the trooper takes a tuning fork of known frequency strikes it on a hard surface and holds it in front of the antenna If the radar displays the same speed that s stamped on the fork the unit is in good health Most manufacturers include two forks one for low speed typically in the 30 40 mph range one for high speed usually 60 75 mph All modern radars go through a self test sequence when first powered up Many also automatically cycle through self test at regular intervals Digital radar is so good that it ll identify an internal problem automatically and either alert the officer quit working or both Tuning forks are an anachronism But judges love them maybe because this is one piece of Stone Age technology most can understand At any rate Radar 101 the Basics 33 every radar comes with tuning forks and Mor
7. band held held radar features directional operation and Fastest Speed capability A uau I III Now I knew why he was stopping me He knew perfectly well his buddy hadn t clocked my speed He just wanted to check out the Pantera not an uncommon occurrence So got him talking about cars As it turned out he had an older model Porsche He asked about the Pantera s top speed which I told him 176 mph at 7000 rpm in top gear if it matters He seemed impressed but was discrete enough not to ask how l d acquired that bit of information After ten minutes spent chatting about cars and driving he turned me loose Without a ticket Radar comes in two flavors stationary and moving Moving radar can operate in either stationary or moving mode In the aforementioned episode the officer was using moving radar but he had placed it in stationary mode while parked The most common type of stationary radar so named because it must be used from a stationary position is the hand held radar gun These are most often found in town where target range is short gener ally less than 600 feet and traffic density makes moving mode operation difficult or impossible The tool of choice for state police and what you ll find on every interstate in the nation except for Pennsylvania is moving radar In the 18 Driver s Guide to Police Radar Freedom State some truly weird statutes allow radar to be used only by the State Poli
8. ce and it must be used only in stationary mode So while the PSP does have some 1 200 odd radar units they re all hand held models used exclusively from the roadside What s the big difference between stationary and moving mode operation Quite a bit actually Radar operating in stationary mode means the officer using it must be parked With limited manpower and resources sheriff s departments and highway patrols in particular demand mobility Although upward of 80 percent of the moving violations they write are for speeding they re also responsible for working wrecks and investigating accidents This means they can t be spending long hours doing nothing but working speed enforcement So their preferred hardware is moving radar letting them work speed while on routine patrol Stationary radar only has to track the speed of a target not the target s plus the patrol car s which is the case with moving radar With stationary operation since the radar itself isn t moving the task of mak ing speed calculations is simplified Moving radar was invented by Kustom Signals in 1972 and uses something called High Doppler and Low Doppler The latter refers to the portion of the elliptically shaped radar beam that reflects back to the an tenna from the road surface telling it how fast the patrol car is traveling High Doppler is the reflection from targets in the main part of the beam To compute the speed of an oncoming target
9. ciding which vehicle s speed will be displayed If multiple targets of roughly equal size are within range radar will almost always read the closest one simply because its return signal will be strongest But that isn t true when very large vehicles trucks in particular are mixed in with cars In this instance the radar will continue tracking the big rig until the car is nearly on top of the radar If the two vehicles stay near to one another it s very likely the car will be ignored entirely After well over two decades of testing police radar units can guarantee that regardless of manufacturer or model any radar has pretty much the same affinity for target type Here s what they like in descend ing order of attractiveness 1 Eighteen wheeler cab over 2 Single or double axle straight truck 3 Pickup truck with camper 4 Full size van pickup and sport utility vehicle 5 Mini van mid size SUV 6 Full size and mid size sedans CUVs 7 Compact cars sport coupes 8 Corvette Miata Solstice most sports cars all cars with non metallic bodywork 9 Motorcycles 10 Bicycles yes radar will read pedal powered devices too While testing radar at one of our desert sites very popular with cyclists we frequently track them from hundreds of feet away But only if no bigger targets are within range Frontal area a vehicle s radar cross section is the second most important factor Radar loves vertical metal s
10. d in POP mode can accomplish this in 33 milliseconds or 33 one thousandths of a second this number only reflects what the radar itself can do and that under ideal conditions Using the radar prop erly involves taking some additional steps and requires much more time There are two reasons why radar s practical speed is far different from its theoretical speed in acquiring targets One radar is dumb It simply displays a speed leaving it up to the officer to determine which vehicle it s looking at Until 1994 all U S made radar showed the speed of the strongest target If only one target was in range no problem If there were several the closest one usually was the strongest But not always Here s an example Say a large truck is 500 feet from the radar and an Acura coupe is 400 feet away Whose speed will the radar see A the truck or B the closer Acura The correct answer is A That s because the truck has upward of six times the frontal area of the little Acura and though farther away it presents a stronger return signal to the radar For this reason radar case law landmark legal precedents established over the decades since police radar s debut makes some demands of the officer For example in moving mode operation before stopping and citing a driver for speeding he s first required to 1 Observe the violation speed in excess of the posted limit in this instance To do this he has to estimate the speed How
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12. e on Directional officers are expected to use them Most Radar and Fastest Speed do But even if they don t in court no pieseseing UNCUT 4 one will be able to prove otherwise Road tests are simplest of all The trooper simply compares the radar patrol speed to his speedometer They generally coincide because radar has an accuracy tolerance of one to two percent and modern digital speed ometers are equally accurate But fleet maintenance personnel in every well managed department always check a patrol vehicle s speedometer for accuracy once when the car first enters service usually annually afterward Small town departments rarely bother which can give a sharp defense attorney an edge in court Until 2000 stationary radar either a moving radar placed in sta tionary mode or more likely a hand held gun that works only from a stationary position monitored targets going in both directions called bidirectional operation in the trade and always showed the speed of the strongest That changed with the arrival of Directional Radar and Fastest Speed processing making this type of radar particularly lethal to the unwary On the road the targets a moving radar can monitor depends upon whether it s placed in moving or stationary mode In moving opposite mode it will look at opposite lane traffic approaching the moving patrol car from the front That s the mode used to pop the client in his Lincoln In stationary mode
13. es even greater This is not to say that some exceptional officers can t accurately peg target speeds at longer range For decades California Highway Patrol officers were renowned for this ability something learned first hand Crossing the Donner Pass into northern California on I 80 one time was stopped by a CHP Ford No big deal wasn t driving much over the limit The officer was mainly interested in the Mustang was driving particu larly since there was an advanced new radar unit mounted on the dash At that time the CHP was the only highway patrol in the nation that wasn t allowed to use radar on interstate highways Perhaps a few hundred units were being used by the department s 2 800 odd troopers but those had been furnished by county governments and were to be used only on within the county on state highways This changed in 1998 and today nearly every CHP car has dual antenna moving radar The trooper who stopped me had been sitting at the top of a free way on ramp When passed by he d accelerated down the ramp and eased in behind me slowly closing the gap By the time he d approached to within about an eighth of a mile I d seen his black and white in my mirrors and had coasted down to exactly the speed limit Spotting CHP cars is made more difficult by the fact that rural patrol cars generally aren t fitted with light bars Only the metro units have them But he d already seen enough and lit me up
14. f it s the fastest one and then only under certain circumstances Surrounded by larger vehicles moving at the same speed my mid engine Italian hotrod was invisible to radar So regardless of the apparent presence of another radar unit figured the more pressing problem was the cruiser sprinting up from behind 16 Driver s Guide to Police Radar backed off slightly when he approached to within a quarter mile letting him close in He came up to within about three car lengths then fell in behind me If he was observing procedure knew he d be running the license plate in police jargon requesting a 10 28 10 29 asking the dispatcher to check whether there were any wants or warrants out on it Then there was a burst of reds and blues from his light bar ending the cat and mouse routine Like most traffic stops this one started with a request for license proof of insurance and registration All were okay waited for his next move it was his show Mainly wanted to see what he d come up with as probable cause for having stopped me Finally he got around to the subject Running a little fast back there weren t you he began If you re smart you don t tell a police officer he s wrong Wearing a uniform packing a badge anda gun there is no way he s going to lose an argument The recommended etiquette Try to be diplomatic Tell you the truth I m trying to behave myself this morning was at a pretty
15. gnition After yet another U turn finally caught and lit him up with all eight red and blue front strobe lights also flipped the 100 watt siren controller to the Wail setting and gave him a long blast That got his at tention But later after the laughter had subsided from our bogus traffic stop all the occupants of the vehicle driver included admitted that despite having met us not once but twice on the narrow two lane road they hadn t noticed our massive police SUV until the moment we pulled up behind them Okay so the rules say that an officer is required to obtain a proper tracking history before taking enforcement action with radar That doesn t necessarily mean every officer follows procedure One West Texas 32 Driver s Guide to Police Radar deputy sheriff was legendary for his unconventional speed enforcement practices For example late one night parked on the shoulder he was chatting with his passenger a friend of mine who is a veteran radar salesman They were watching as the faint glow of headlights appeared over a slight rise perhaps a mile and a half up ahead The two continued chatting amicably until as the target car passed by the deputy abruptly switched on his overhead lights U turned and stopped the guy Without ever activating his radar After writing the hapless motorist a ticket for 76 in 65 mph zone the officer climbed back inside You wrote that guy my friend asked in astonishment
16. guard against several types of radar errors see Step 4 4 He also must compare the radar s patrol speed reading with the car s certified speedometer making sure they re the same This guards against an error common to moving radar called shadowing Net effect target speed is artificially inflated 5 During this time the officer should be listening to the radar s audio Doppler This high pitched tone varies in proportion to target speed and helps to identify the target The tone should remain steady while the radar samples a target speed that s constant 6 During this time the officer is expected to be listening to the radar s audio Doppler The frequency of this high pitched tone varies in proportion to target speed and by comparing the tone to his visual estimate of the target s speed a mismatch will indicate that the radar and officer are looking at different cars It s torture to listen to audio Doppler it sounds a lot like fingernails being raked across a chalk board but it s there for a reason Still a lot of officers find it a nuisance and turn it off 7 Next he should monitor target speed for a few moments making sure it remains fairly constant If the number takes a nosedive it usually means the guy s packing a detector and just spiked the brakes or maybe he just awoke from his slumber and finally noticed the police car But another reason could be that the radar beam has already shifted to another veh
17. his particular vehicle was one of a handful of Z 28 models with Option Code B4C the special service package or police version built that year with a six speed manual transmission There was no performance advantage over the four speed autobox like many race car drivers just prefer the extra control afforded by a manual transmission It was destined to be outfitted with an endless array of high tech hardware mobile video recording system the latest in radar a radar detector detector a Federal Premium Vision seven pod programmable light bar and about a gigawatt s worth of red and blue police strobe lights Then had a talented graphic artist design a knockout set of custom graphics for the car They made the car so visually arresting that when we displayed the car at police conventions also attended by Chevrolet more attendees came to see our Camaro than theirs On behalf of consulting clients over the next two years we displayed this tricked out show car at national conventions and exhibitions These included the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the second largest trade show in the nation and the International Association of Chiefs of Police its equivalent in the law enforcement world to make it the most widely recognized police vehicle in the country It also appeared on Good Morning America and half a dozen other television shows not to mention all of the major law enforcement trade magazines and several
18. hree percent of his attention to the task of driving there s no anticipation of trouble no thought given to what if scenarios Any unusual event like seeing a police car pop over a rise ahead will come as a complete surprise A driver s ignorance of events taking place to the rear is even more profound The average driver doesn t check his mirrors from one month to the next and takes zero interest in what s going on back there Driving fully marked police cars I ve pulled up behind drivers moving along at 85 to 90 mph and locked in step only two car lengths behind them followed for miles without being noticed This is an example of a phenomenon called tunnel vision the faster the speed the narrower the driver s field of vision Checking the mirrors is the last thing most will be thinking about So in most cases an officer incurs little risk of discovery by following procedure and approaching the target to near point blank range making absolutely certain of target identification As an example of typical distracted driving recently my company put on a civilian radar training demonstration for a major radar detector Radar 101 the Basics 31 manufacturer Using our police vehicles and an array of widely sold radars and lasers it was our task to show the client s customers detector buyers from major big box retailers how speed measuring equipment is used by police On the first morning as a sort of bonding ex
19. icle This can happen instantaneously By observing both target and target speed for a period of time the officer is establishing a tracking history abso lutely essential particularly in moving mode to keep the officer from accidentally citing the wrong driver 8 Satisfied with target ID and the speed now the officer can take enforcement action That s cop speak for making a traffic stop and issuing a warning or a citation If your eyes are a bit glazed over now just try to remember that the most common encounter you can expect to have with moving radar is as simple as 1 2 3 1 You meet a police car coming from the opposite direction Radar 101 the Basics 23 2 The police car passes by U turns and pulls up behind you light bar aglow 3 Moments later a gent wearing a uniform badge handcuffs and sidearm is asking to see your driver s license registration and proof of insurance In the trade this is known as being nailed by radar operating in Moving Mode Opposite Lane by far the most common moving radar en counter At Radartest com I m continually getting e mail from distraught drivers who ve just received a ticket Most describe an encounter exactly as I ve described above But although P See Chapter 9 to find out moving radar been around for over 35 more about Same Direction years many people have absolutely no mode Fastest Speed mode clue that such radar exists will be looked at more closely in
20. ighway esssssssesesscsesssssoscosessesseso 83 10 New Super Radar sssssesesessssssssesesesososeseseseeseo 87 Same Direction Fastest Speed s sssssssssscssesessseso 87 POP MOG si aicsaretant rac e a E A E A cae 88 F t re LARCAtS cts tviwccacenerau iner roata n E S 91 New Radar Frequencies seeeeeeeeeseeccceceeeeeees 92 11 Time Distance Computers ccccccsescscccsssessccececs 95 Using Reference Points sessesossessesesosssesesessero 97 Aircraft Usage for Enforcement ssssssesssssssescsees 100 Beyond VASCAR and Tracker ccceeeeeccceeeeeeceees 104 12 Radar Jamming essssssssssseseesssssssososesscssossoseseesse 107 13 How to Choose a Detector ssseseesessssesscsscsessees 115 14 Top 10 Secrets to Getting the Most Out of Your Detector 127 15 Radar Test Field Report sssssssssssosesssssoscssessesees 135 APPENDIX A Radar Model Specifications and Features 173 APPENDIX B Laser Model Specifications and Features 178 APPENDIX C Popular Radar Model Descriptions Operational Notes ccc cece ee eeees 180 iv Driver s Guide to Police Radar CHAPTER 2 Radar 101 the Basics Ra is fairly complex technology and very few people have more than a fundamental grasp of how it works If that includes you don t sweat it Even cops aren t required to know the scientific principals behind the stuff they re only required to know how it works And
21. isappear Strangely the radar s audio Doppler confirmed that it was a legitimate target But there wasn t a vehicle to be seen Presently there would be the dim glow of headlights on the horizon and eventually a tractor trailer would pop into view and rumble past This scenario was repeated several times until it was apparent that the Stalker was picking up the very tops of these 18 wheelers trailers at ranges so extreme that their headlights had yet to appear over slight rises in the road It seemed surreal that the radar was targeting vehicles almost over the horizon so decided to check target range To do this slowed to 75 mph equivalent to 110 feet per second and using the stopwatch feature on my wristwatch recorded the elapsed time from the initial appearance of target speeds until the trucks passed by Adding my speed to the target speed to create the combined or closing speed converted closing speed to feet per second multiplied it by the elapsed time and calculated the average range It was two miles This kind of range is little more than a conversation point in the real world due to the limitations on radar operation imposed by the courts and by training guidelines But for a radar geek at least it Radar 101 the Basics 27 was pretty impressive During a later photo shoot this ultra sensitive radar clocked a meadowlark flying nearby at 45 mph The bird wasn t ticketed Radar also has an affinity for fla
22. iving a bright red DeTomaso Pantera a car any cop takes a hard look at and it seemed wise to keep abreast of any developments At first it looked like he was ignor ing me But an instant before he disappeared from the mirrors saw him pull out behind me was returning from an all night party my head hurt and didn t want my day complicated by the fuzz So resolved to behave myself Settling into a slow canter in the middle lane joined the mass of other good citizens shuffling along many of them probably as hung over as was judging from their erratic driving About a mile back could see a car abruptly changing lanes getting around slower traffic as he slowly closed the gap It didn t take a degree in astrophysics to know was watching my man force his way through traffic to catch up Since he was running without having switched on his overheads cop speak for light bar surmised that he hadn t seen a violation and couldn t justify running hot as they say using his red and blue emergency lights Moments later my radar detector shrilled a warning ignored it Sitting in the middle of four lanes of solid traffic flanked by half a dozen other vehicles some of them barn sized Texas Cadillacs Surburbans and Escalades there was no way radar was going to see my slinky knee high sports car A laser could though The more sophisticated radars can single out one target from a pack of vehicles but only i
23. ns La Grange is the town made famous by its sporting ladies popularized in the early eighties movie Best Little Whorehouse in Texas met a trooper at the top of a hill We saw each other at the same time and as nailed the brakes he triggered his radar I d entered panic braking mode out of habit but it seemed like a waste of time As we passed each other watched the mirrors He slowed then crossed the median and turned in pursuit Foolishly knowing he must have had a dead bang clock on me I d already abandoned my braking efforts and had resumed cruising speed When he switched on his red and blue lights coasted to a stop on the shoulder Pausing as he wrote the ticket he asked How fast you goin back there It s always a temptation to suggest a lower speed in the faint hope you ll be believed And it s never wise to admit guilt Officers sometimes 36 Driver s Guide to Police Radar If the officer fails to get a target speed using the front antenna he can easily switch to the rear antenna and clock the vehicle going away Unmarked patrol cars or marked units at night use this feature with devastating success ask this question because they don t know how fast you were going If you re dumb enough to admit guilt they ll be more than happy to note that on the ticket Radar 101 the Basics 37 But in this case it seemed inconceivable that he d failed to ge
24. nt of the time to identify which vehicle his radar is reading As the radar beam jumps erratically from one target to another the target speed display will be flashing different speeds like the scoreboard of a hyperactive Spiderman pinball machine Just like in a university senior training officers lucky enough to weasel tuition and expenses from their commanders can attend a week long radar instructor class offered by the prestigious Institute for Police Technology and Management a Florida based law enforcement academy IPTM offers a range of advanced courses mainly for academy instructors and command staff Graduates of their excellent radar instructor pro gram are certified to be qualified to train officers in radar operation To pass the course my classmates and were required to visually estimate 50 target speeds with an accuracy tolerance of plus or minus Radar 101 the Basics 29 3 mph Most of us were experienced radar operators But while nearly everyone was able to meet the requirement noticed that instructor Kevin Morrison an ex Largo Florida PD veteran traffic officer and ac knowledged radar expert didn t require us to estimate speeds of vehicles much farther than 600 feet away That s because any experienced officer knows that the human eye becomes more subject to error as the distance becomes greater In poor light on uneven terrain or when the target is heading directly toward you the level of difficulty becom
25. opers using those units found that when coming off RF Hold to trans mit the radar took as long as three or four seconds before it could again determine patrol speed Until it could read patrol speed the radar couldn t display a target speed This meant as much as a four second delay before the trooper could lock in a violator s speed Armed with a radar detector and four seconds of warning those early Decatur units were easy to outwit Decatur engineers couldn t find an inexpensive way to fix the problem so they adopted the novel approach of using two antennas The second was mounted behind the driver and aimed to the rear This antenna s normal function was to feed continuous patrol speed data to the computer With a separate source for this information the computer now only had to acquire target speed from the front antenna This allows sub second response time with the RF Hold feature Unfortunately for scofflaws a rear antenna gives moving radar unprecedented versatility By switching to the rear antenna in moving opposite mode the trooper can target cars after they ve passed him hitting them from behind as they move away in the opposite lane This feature was first introduced in the mid 1980s I d heard of it but had never seen it in action That was until was en route to Austin one summer evening cruising along state highway 71 in the rolling Hill Country of central Texas just south of La Grange For film trivia mave
26. perience and to break the ice arranged to make a mock traffic stop on the client as he drove to the event site with his guests In full uniform with badge and gunbelt strapped on drove slowly in the direction he would be approaching from And right on cue his Lincoln hove into view Not knowing if he was packing a detector after all he is a senior executive of a major detector company had the Decatur Genesis II moving radar on RF Hold warmed up but not transmitting a signal Waiting until point blank range hit the front antenna Transmit button and locked in his speed at 68 mph well over the 50 mph posted limit They passed the fully marked police Ford Expedition without ever noticing us mere feet away in the opposite lane As executed a snap U turn in pursuit the supercharged and intercooled 370 hp 5 4 liter engine coughed once and died the result of a software glitch in the newly reprogrammed powertrain computer As sat there helplessly cranking the engine the veep blithely drove away A minute later the engine finally caught and lit up the steamroller 295 55 18 rear Michelin Pilot Sports as we took off in pursuit Three miles down the road we met him coming from the opposite direction having driven far past the meeting point and given up on the traffic stop scenario hit him again with the radar and flipped on all eight front red and blue strobe lights to get his attention Again they sailed past with no sign of reco
27. section which made it a mediocre radar target began its runs toward the radar from a staging area some 4 000 feet away Moving at 20 mph as the driver passed a traffic cone placed exactly 3 000 feet from the radar he d call the radar operator on the UHF radio who in turn would trigger the radar The same test was also carried out from 1 500 feet These two distances represented longer than normal target ranges but the idea was to explore each radar s maximum performance envelope The test requirement was 1 Release RF Hold and transmit one button press 2 Observe target speed and listen for audio Doppler confirmation 3 Lock target speed a second button press What we found was that all of the radars would produce nearly instantaneous target speeds well under 0 15 second The most time consuming part of the process was glancing at the Target Speed display to verify an accurate speed then pressing the Lock button Since some of the remotes had Lock placed in a less than optimal position requir 20 Driver s Guide to Police Radar ing a long reach from one button to the next total elapsed time for the three step sequence was limited only by how fast the operator could shift his thumb from the XMT transmit button to the Lock button an average of 0 45 second for all four units But the radar itself was far quicker than that So while radar can easily get a target speed in an eye blink the MPH BEE III radar use
28. t vertical bumpers grilles radiator supports and their brackets Nearly all cars with fiberglass bodies make lousy targets because microwaves will not reflect from the material It will penetrate it just like auto glass but a return signal will be generated only by the metal behind the fiberglass For this reason most Corvettes especially Stingrays through the C5 platform are difficult targets for radar These fortunate Chevrolets are also blessed with retractable headlights non metallic grilles and in some model years radiators tilted back several degrees from the vertical Radar loves headlights Retractable headlights don t offer them selves as targets But exposed headlights certainly do Their reflectors take the incoming beam concentrate it nicely and send it back directly toward the radar Late model computer designed headlight reflectors make terrific targets A license plate is equally attractive to radar Non metallic materials frustrate radar since the beam is not reflect ed by plastic or glass unless it is coated by chrome or some other metal As an antidote to exposed metal in the late Eighties a sharp Denver guy named Kip Fuller the same fellow who invented the electronic ankle bracelet for parolees under house arrest invented the Stealth Bra This was a Car bra lined with a thick layer of radar absorbing foam the same stuff used by the military To test the magic bra first squared off against a Porsche 911 Turbo
29. t a solid reading Figuring was dead meat came clean Probably about eighty admitted Close Got you at 78 And he wrote in the num ber Then he paused again But got you going away from me He smiled Didn t get a speed on you comin at me so went to the back antenna Shoulda stayed on the brakes wouldn t a got ya at all This was an expensive lesson In subsequent encounters began religiously following my own first rule of radar encounters regardless of cruising speed spike the brakes instantly reduce speed and keep it there until the radar is passed Even if you re under the limit radar still makes mistakes Actually it s usually the operator s mistake but the result is the same you get a ticket More on this later As this Texas incident illustrates sometimes radar for absolutely no good reason will fail to produce a target speed Those little electrons flying around don t always perform according to Dr Doppler s theory But more important to know is that there s a long list of operating errors com mon to radar particularly moving radar What s this mean to you Simple learn about the technology you re up against and protect yourself accord ingly You don t have to be speeding to get a ticket 38 Driver s Guide to Police Radar DRIVER S GUIDE TO POLICE RADAR Everything You Need to Know About Speed Enforcement Ever get stopped for speeding Most of
30. target Reading the license plate isn t necessary but making out the size type of vehicle color and its lane position is required On an empty road this is a no brainer But if two or more targets are near one another and moving at roughly the same speed the officer must zero in on his selected target and keep track of it There s one more purpose for noting the vehicle s physical characteristics Once he s got a target speed the officer will need to U turn and catch the guy On a busy road particularly at night this isn t as easy as it sounds Especially if the target is say a five year old gray Honda Accord one of the ultimate stealth cars due to the sheer number of such vehicles There s been more than one instance where the wrong Honda Accord has been pulled over 3 Once the radar is triggered and a target speed appears the officer should compare it to his visual estimate and to the pitch of the audio Doppler a tone generated by the return signal whose pitch varies in proportion to target speed When the target passes out of the radar beam or when the beam shifts to another target traveling at a different speed target speed and audio Doppler will change in unison We ll take a closer look at known radar errors like this in Chapter Six Common Radar Mistakes In moving mode this should be done even if there s only one car within range 22 Driver s Guide to Police Radar It serves as a safe
31. the radar adds Patrol Speed low Doppler to Target Speed high Doppler to establish Closing Speed the combined speeds of the cruiser and the target vehicle Then it subtracts Patrol speed from Closing Speed to determine target speed Here s a simplified version of the formula Closing Speed Patrol Speed Target Speed For example let s say a speeding southbound car approaches a northbound police cruiser on an interstate The radar sees a closing speed of 145 mph It subtracts the cruiser s 65 mph speed and displays the car s speed as 80 mph Under optimal conditions from the time the officer triggers his radar to the time a target speed appears on the radar we re talking well under one second My company Radartest com for years has been retained by radar manufacturers to conduct performance tests of their new models Radar 101 the Basics 19 In this classic moving mode opposite lane confrontation an officer using the instant on feature has an almost unbeatable edge over the oncoming violator h r Sometimes they request a comparison test to see how the new radar stacks up against the competition In one such comparison of all four frontline DSP moving radars a test was designed to determine how quickly they could get a speed on a target car from varying distances With radar vehicle parked at roadside the target car a Ford Fusion chosen because of its smallish radar cross
32. tough is this Next time you re cruising down an Interstate try looking 1 000 feet down the road Other than in the cramped north eastern states that s roughly the distance from under a freeway overpass to where the on ramp merges with the right lane Pick any oncoming vehicle Within three seconds can you accurately gauge its speed Not the exact number but say within five mph Forget about it For civilians unless they re clairvoyant it s a waste of time But while any competent experienced traffic officer can visually estimate speeds with an accuracy tolerance Radar 101 the Basics 21 of plus or minus 3 mph most can t do so at extreme range If the target is coming directly toward him the job is even tougher due to the lack of apparent motion Estimating speeds of opposite lane targets on a divided highway is a bit easier In this situation the officer is off angle allowing him to observe how quickly the vehicle is passing fixed objects greatly assisting in determining its speed But even with the extra help afforded by the better view it s impossible to ac curately estimate speeds at long range For this reason when monitoring oncoming cars most officers allow a target to approach within about 700 to 800 feet before hitting it with radar This applies even to the lazy ones who ignore procedure and simply fire at any vehicle of interest without bothering to make a visual speed estimate first 2 Identify the
33. urfaces There is a direct correlation between return signal strength and the number of square feet of metal offered by the target A cab over tractor pulling a cargo trailer presents upward of 85 square feet of surface area To a radar it s like looking at the side of a barn The back of the trailer is an even better target In field tests of the leading radar units I ve tracked a rig like this beyond 4 miles When the target speed disappeared only by using binoculars could see that it had turned off the road Radar 101 the Basics 25 One thing to remember is that radar range the distance at which it can reach out and touch you is actually two different numbers First is maximum target range Second is practical range There s a huge differ ence between the two When the Stalker Dual SL was introduced it s arguably the best moving radar on the planet stopped by the company s headquarters in suburban Dallas was producing a video on the latest speed measuring equipment and the Dual SL was to be included The stop was to pick up one of the first production units for the video shoot also to test and evaluate it for a story was writing for Law amp Order magazine was driving a new police Camaro provided by Chevrolet s police vehicle program manager Bob Hapiak Bob and co manager Earl Gautsche are the two men who made Chevrolet s police vehicle program the most successful in the country for over two decades T
34. us have In almost every case the officer will use radar laser or a time distance computer to check your speed Yet not one driver in 10 000 has the first clue about how that technology is actually used against them Read this book and you ll know exactly how police speed measuring technology works At least you ll know how it s supposed to work It s good but not every ticket issued by officers using it is justified Mistakes do happen usually by the officer not the hardware If you drive you owe it to yourself to learn the basics about how radar lasers and time distance computers work For the first time here s everything you need to know about Moving radar able to check your speed from a rolling cruiser Same Direction radar used to check same direction targets ahead of or behind the rolling cruiser Fastest Speed radar singles out the fastest car from a pack Instant on radar designed to defeat radar detectors it can e Hand held radar the tool of choice for city police Lasers how LIDAR works and how it s used for enforcement Time Distance Computers accurate and undetectable Radar and laser jammers fact vs fiction e Aerial speed enforcement How the Bear in the Air nabs speeders 978 0 9794 U S 19 95 Canada 22 50 Cover photograph by Craig Peterson Cover design by Brooks G Bays Jr 780979 418204
35. wearing one The owner had also gone to the trouble of fitting removable headlight covers of the same material a bit extreme in my opinion be cause it rendered them useless and was also likely to attract the attention of lawmen particularly if he forgot to remove the blinders after sundown Using both X and K band radar the bra wasn t claimed to counter act Ka band found that while target range was reduced by a few hun dred feet all the radars could easily find the Porsche s front license plate and register a target speed When we removed the plate range dropped by another few hundred feet but the car still wasn t invisible We found that that its prominent outside mirrors were big enough targets for the radar 28 Driver s Guide to Police Radar gt In very light traffic there s generally little doubt about which target the radar is monitoring This driver didn t spot the marked cruiser until his speed had been monitored for several seconds At 31 mph over the limit he could be charged with criminal speed in many states a misdemeanor rather than a civil infraction with jail time possible g I Police radar has other limitations It is generally impractical for use on very heavily traveled road ways unless the target is in whichever travel lane is nearest the parked police vehicle A trooper sitting on the shoulder of the New Jersey Turnpike in rush hour will be lucky if he s able 15 perce
36. wild party last night my reac tions are a little slow and I m not in any particular hurry anyway Not that always drive this way Normally ld a been running a little faster He looked at me speculatively I think you were runnin a little fast right back there he suggested I smiled Come on I m not stupid saw you pull out after me wasn t about to do anything dumb with you back there He shook his head I let you get out of sight before pulled out I saw you make your move just before went over the top of the overpass Even if hadn t you were pretty obvious cutting through traffic like that Would ve been tough to miss you even with a hangover For a moment he looked crestfallen Then his face brightened Motor officer back there on the access road says he got you at 68 on radar Radar 101 the Basics 17 D Okay now knew what was happening There may well have been a motorcycle unit back there my detector had gone off but there was no way on Earth he could have shot through several lanes of traffic to single out my car If this guy had been out of the police academy more than six months he d know that He just wasn t aware that knew it too Civilians aren t supposed to know about radar glanced at his patrol car in my mirror A Kustom Signals KR 10 moving radar sat on the dash have one just like it Decatur GVP D cordless K
37. with the patrol car parked the front antenna will monitor both approaching and departing traffic in front of the cruiser Today s moving radar frequently can single out the fastest target using Fastest Speed Many also have Same Direction processing also known as Same Lane Using this the officer can target vehicles ahead of or behind the rolling cruiser The unique Stalker II hand held radar combines all these features With battery handle removed it can be dash mounted to function as a directional moving radar and can even be linked to a rear antenna making it a dual antenna moving unit Every radar model produced in the past decade has RF Hold or instant on operation a feature designed to defeat radar detectors It works but there s still a way to spot radar being operated in RF Hold mode 34 Driver s Guide to Police Radar gt In stationary mode radar can monitor approaching and departing targets The latest models can track any of these targets Moving radar units today are typically ordered with two antennas One is mounted on the dash shooting forward through the wind shield the second is mounted on the package tray on the driver s side aimed rearward This feature was initially offered by Decatur Electronics on their early 1980s vintage MV 715 model moving radar The reason their first generation RF Hold feature didn t work so hot with a single antenna Radar 101 the Basics 35 Tro
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