Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!bally!jkimble
From: jkimble@bally.Bally.COM (The Programmer Guy)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Detecting Radar Detectors
Message-ID: <324@bally.Bally.COM>
Date: 31 Jul 90 23:28:49 GMT
Reply-To: jkimble@bally.bally.com (The Programmer Guy)
Distribution: na
Organization: The Pros From Dover
Lines: 33


I saw a story on the world news a few weeks ago regarding drivers
(primarily 18-wheelers) using radar detectors.  During the news
segment, the reporter was talking to a highway patrol officer who was
using a device to detect if the oncomming vehicle was using a radar
detector.

I'm completely ignorant of internals of radar detectors, but I had
always thought they were passive devices that didn't emit anything.  Is
this a wrong assumption?  How do these detectors of radar detectors
work?

If radar detectors emit something, would that explain why I sometimes
get a very low-powered K-band reading from on-comming cars that also
have radar detectors?  I have a Bell Vector-3 that seems to do a good
job of limiting false signals (I can almost always visually associate a
police car with a strong reading), but on long drives in the middle of
nowhere I'll get a low-powered warning signal when there doesn't appear
to be any police cars around for miles.  I used to write this off to
the radar waves straying from a distant cop, but it was too
consistant:  no police cars anywhere, the on-comming car had a radar
detector sitting on his dash.

Can any electronics wizards kindly enlighten me?  Please e-mail or post,
whichever you feel appropriate.

Thanks much,

-- 
--Jim Kimble,						jkimble@bally.bally.com
Consultant: Have kernel, will travel			uunet!bally!jkimble

"ALPO is 99 cents a can.  That's over SEVEN dog dollars!!"