Xref: utzoo rec.autos:15370 sci.electronics:5127 misc.consumers:8652 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!eecae!netnews.upenn.edu!eniac.seas.upenn.edu!depolo From: depolo@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Jeff DePolo) Newsgroups: rec.autos,sci.electronics,misc.consumers Subject: Re: Radar Detectors (Ka band) ... Keywords: radar, cops, Ka, X, K Message-ID: <7944@netnews.upenn.edu> Date: 14 Feb 89 00:39:10 GMT References: <603@icus.islp.ny.us> Sender: news@netnews.upenn.edu Reply-To: depolo@eniac.seas.upenn.edu.UUCP (Jeff DePolo) Organization: University of Pennsylvania Lines: 59 In article <603@icus.islp.ny.us> lenny@icus.UUCP writes: >Well .. I've been checking around for a radar detector, and one saleswoman >mentioned to me something they are supposibly testing in NY State and Texas. >It's the Ka-band. I've heard they've installed robot type radar units that >will clock your car using the Ka Band radar, and then photograph the >license plate. There is no need to pull you over, they just send you a >picture and ticket in the mail. Is this just another marketing ploy? Or is >it a reality? I've been reading about the Laser stuff, and also heard >a while ago about those robot-units. What gives? >-- >Lenny Tropiano ICUS Software Systems [w] +1 (516) 582-5525 >lenny@icus.islp.ny.us Telex; 154232428 ICUS [h] +1 (516) 968-8576 >{talcott,decuac,boulder,hombre,pacbell,sbcs}!icus!lenny attmail!icus!lenny > ICUS Software Systems -- PO Box 1; Islip Terrace, NY 11752 Ka band has been authorized by the FCC for speed measurement use. However, the photo radar units that you are talking about haven't actually been imployed anywhere in the US yet. They are being tested in two states (California, and I believe New Mexico), but they aren't been used in actual speed traps. The Ka detectors (currently only made by Bel) are somewhat worthless for a number of reasons. First of all, the design of the photo radar unit makes it very difficult to detect. The beam that the radar uses is very narrow, and is angled in such a way that it does not transmit down a lane of traffic, rather, at an angle across it. Second of all, the FCC also approved a second photo radar band that has yet to be exploited, so a few months from now, another photo radar unit may use this band, making the Ka detectors obsolete. By the way, the photo radar units are made by a Swiss?? company called something like Multinova. The units themselves are VERY expensive. The company not only sells the units outright, but they have a system where they will lease the unit to a department and receive a "royalty" on the revenue that the units earn the department. Kinda sleezy in my opinion. If I were you, I'd forget about Ka band. If it ever does becomes widely used in the US, you can upgrade then, but it probably won't be for a year or two, if it ever does happen. Instead, I'd buy either an Escort or a Passport. I've owned (in order) a Whistler Spectrum, a Bel Express-LR (844S), and now use an Escort and the Escort is far and away the best of the three. One last note - the problem with the Ka units is once the public figures out where it is located on the highway, it isn't going to take long for somebody to come back and seek revenge on the incriminating unit with a baseball bat or a sledgehammer :-). No department wants to spend the money for such a unit if it is going to be destroyed soon after it is installed. Replies to the address in the signature, please! --- Jeff +----------------------------------------------+------------------------------+ | Jeff DePolo [depolo@eniac.seas.upenn.edu] | o The best things in life | | => The University of Pennsylvania <= | come in six-packs. | | Class of 1991 - Computer Science Engineering | o Life begins at 85 MPH. | +----------------------------------------------+ o It's not illegal if they | | DISCLAIMER: Someone else used my account. | don't catch you. | +----------------------------------------------+------------------------------+