P Daddy

WOW what a coincidence I drive past the louisville airport daily and my cheap Uniden goes off with laser detection.

I believe it is the Radar Pulse from the GPN-20. I was a radar technician for the airforce for a few years and our radar AN/TPS-75 would do the same thing. When your cranking out 3 million watts radiation detectors kinda overload :D

Farsyde

No, no, no. Oh yeah, no. VG-2 is NOT instant on detection. "Instant on" is a mode that allows the radar gun to be turned off [or in a low power mode] so detectors can't pick up a signal therefore alerting you to radar ahead. Then the cop will turn it on and get an almost "instant" reading. There is definately a larger error factor with instant on as opposed to continuously on. VG-2 is what cops use to find out if you are using a radar detector. As all electrical device seap an electric field, so do radar detectors. Most detectors seap a field on a very narrow band that VG-2 detector-detectors can read. Only a few states have banned radar detectors. For sure, DC [the capitol], and virginia have banned them. Check your state laws reguarding detector laws. The feature that turns of your detector is useless outside of these states b/c your detector will shut down thereby making you vulnerable to any signal.

Sputnik

Valentine does NOT claim that their unit is a laser jammer. It is only a laser/radar detector, and it performs as advertised.

Passive radar jammers have NEVER worked in an independent test. Most of the companies that make them change names every so often to dodge all of the lawsuits for false advertising.

Active radar jammers are illegal in [EVERY state. In fact, it's a FEDERAL FELONY, with the possibility of some huge fines (up to $100k). This is because it falls under an FCC regulation, which covers radio piracy among other things (henceforth the heinous fine amounts, so I doubt that the maximum will be applied to a speeder with a traffic radar jammer). Your heterodyne radar detector is not strong enough to be regulated, but traffic radar is, so police units do have to get a license to use their radar guns.

Laser jammers are not only illegal in some states, but are also illegal in some counties/cities/municipalities. That means that while a state might not have any laws against them, a town might. In an extreme situation, some podunk town could make them illegal, and your equipment could be confiscated on the spot.

Also be careful of the states where they are illegal. For example, in Virginia, it's not only illegal to use them, but it is also illegal to have them accessible in the car. You have to put it in the trunk, or packed away very very deeply in your luggage.

A "Heterodyne" detector (of which all commercial radar detectors are nowadays) will transmit a low power signal, which amplifies the radar signal, increasing the detector's effective range. That's what Farsyde meant by "seaping". Several years back, practically all radar detectors used the same frequency. A VG2 unit (which is a radar detector detector) simple listens for radio waves in that frequency. The range is not far, but if you drive past a VG2 unit, you will definitely be detected. To thwart this, heterodyne detectors now transmit on a different frequency, making them invisible to VG2 units. There are radar detectors out there with "VG2 detectors". This is because the VG2 units are also heterodyne, making them detectable at short distances (in other words, it's a radar detector detector detector).

But beware, there are VG-2 type units that were in testing, and could now be on the street, that can detect each and every radar detector available.

---jps

PHA RX-8

Question? Do laser jammers even work? From what I have read, the answer is no, but I will keep and open mind.

93rdcurrent

I will state that in my defense the areas I was driving in had VG-2 systems with the "Instant On" or "Pulse" feature. Sure they can just get an instant reading from anyone but they targeted people with radar detectors. It was an effort to try to get people to stop using them. My experience with this was that even speeding I would not be hit by the "Instant On" radar if my VG-2 Guard alarmed and my Radar Detector shut down.

I also had the blue tinted license plate covers. And several times while I was in a group of cars driving North on the I-5 going into downtown Portland at about 90 mph I would see a motor cycle cop up on top of a bridge with his laser gun zapping all the cars in my group. I never was pulled over in this kind of speed trap. I would see the officer trying to get a fix on my license plate with the laser and give up going to the next car. 4 or 5 cars would get pulled over around me but I never did. Obviously the officers were relying on there speed detection equipment in order to prosecute and with out getting a reading back from me they didn't want to waste their time. Whatever the case in my 6.5 years in Portland I received 3 tickets all of which were in the 1st 2 years before I got my detector. I upgraded at every chance I got and considered it to be a bargain in comparison to my tickets and insurance premium increases. I am highly interested in the laser jammers but I am not going to mount them in the license plate frame (I don't even have one on the front of my car). Instead I plan on conceling it so chances are it won't be seen. My biggest concern is that I go to BC about 3-4 times a year and if anyone was going to find it they would. I will have to try and figure out a switch that I can turn it off with incase they have radiation detection equipment at the border crossing.

Farsyde

thanks for clearing up what i said sputnik :D You're right valentine doesnt have a jammer, i was too caught up in my rant to reallize that. Just so everyone is aware, and hopefully will stop asking, i'm letting out a PSA:

PUBLIC SERVICE ANOUNCEMENT:

Things that DO NOT work, are NOT true:

-Passive Radar/Laser Jammers
-"Anti radar/laser" licence plate covers.
-"Anti radar/laser" mirror, tinted, or otherwise plates
-Any friggin diet drug that does not need an Rx or FDA approval
-stickers will not make you go faster
-radar, like all EM radiation (ie: light) suffers from cosine error. This means if the Valentine side arrows go off (and they are right), the officer read your speed as ~0mph. This isn't a licence to speed when you see it, just keep in mind he can't pull you over for it if it was from the side.
-93rdcurrent, you are one lucky guy. If it were me I'd have been pulled over each and every time. Just remember, all the times you described not being pulled over were absolute coincidences. If the cops really did get you with laser, you'd have a ticket.
-in addition to what me and sputnik said about being illegal:
--Active Jammers will put you in jail if not a heafty fine.
--ANY DETECTOR/JAMMER used in a vehicle registered as a commercial vehicle is illegal. Confiscation, and beleive it or not possible impound of you car/truck/spaceship can also happen. This is a federal law so when you get in your companies car, leave it out.
-Without an Active Jammer, radar and laser cannot be defeated under NORMAL conditions.

Things that BEARLY work:
-Almost any detector under 100 bux. Chances are you're still gettin the ticket. You get what you pay for, don't cheap out. This is one of thsoe times where more money = better detector. Valentine retails around $400 and the 8500 retails around $300. Either can be picked up (as each are getting old: Valentine > 10 years old, 8500 > 7 years old) for around 100-150 off retail.


I think that about does it, feel free to add to the list :D

Sputnik

Yes, laser jammers do work. There are cheapo units out there which are as effective as $50 radar detectors, but in general, they are effective. Illegal in some places, but effective.

There are some units that will only turn on the jammer when it receives laser. This is only effective if the laser detector is located where the vehicle is being targeted, so normally, you would mount this near your license plate. Contrary to urban legends, there are other target areas (depending on car, color, etc.) which are also effective. If the officer decides to target an area other than your license plate, there is a good chance that the jammer unit won't sense it, and so it won't activate. Just beware of that weakness when considering one of these units.

Some tinted license plate covers actually are effective, to a point. The thing is, they only decrease the amount of laser reflected to the gun (kind of like putting on sunshades). So the officer cannot get a reading on your plate from a far distance (obviously, it's not effective on other aiming points ). But since a car is normally targeted at close range (~500ft.), it will rarely have any effect, which is why most people consider them useless. Besides, there are some locations with specific laws against them (carrying fines equal to a speeding ticket), and anywhere that there isn't a specific law against them, you can be ticketed for "obscuring a license plate", but that alone is normally much less than a speeding ticket (so some places made a specific law to make it a more substantial fine).

---jps

93rdcurrent

Thank you sputnick. I can only go off of my personal experience since I am no electronic engineer. I know what worked with my MR2 and I know that without the license plate covers I had and the radar/laser detector with VG-2 Guard I would be paying a whole lot more for car insurance now.

RotaryXLR8ing

Small point (not to quibble) but Laser is with an S not a Z. It is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.