random pick...un-posted.... out of many posts to be posted.
During last 2 or 3 years I had to travel lot between Colombo (where I study) and Bandarawela (my hometown), on Route 99, which is a “Class A” Road. Driving made me bored and sick because of low speed limits being a fan of speed. It hit me so hard, which made me to think further and even made me scribble this.
Read on,.. in this post; u’ll find howz the situation, where this issue is going, and some decent info on Radar Detectors, Jammers & other tips ‘n tricks. [specially for Sri Lankans.]
Road has been developed pretty good (than how it was) and there are many places drivers can maintain a safe good speed. But unfortunately, for the whole journey, from
Well because of the speed limit anyone can’t fairly maintain, we can see more people tend to ignore the speed limits completely and do it in their own way. All they worry about are cops with Speed Guns (Speed Detectors). All the fines has been revised recently, so the fine for speeding is around Rs.1500/= (approx. $ 14 US). This value can be very low relatively to other countries but when we take it against Per Head Annual Income of the country, which is $ 1300 US (approx), the fine is 1.07%. Well then its worth enough to think about it.
As many people tend to drive over the speed limit which is too low to maintain, they have also found a simple way to avoid getting caught by cops. Most popular one is, drivers who has seen there are cops on the other side of the road, after driving pass them, signals incoming vehicles “hey there are cops ahead” by flashing their head lights (generally two blinks). This has become very common, useful and; say 70% success!!
But people can’t depend on that method because there can be occasions where no incoming vehicle to give the warning. And not every driver will be good (or is it bad?!!) enough to give the warning. So there should be more reliable way.
Rader/Laser Detector & Jammer!
What is a Radar/Laser Detector anyway?
Simply, Radar Detector is a device, which is designed to give you an early warning about cops with Speed Guns (Speed Gun/Speed Detector - the device which police uses to measure the speed of a vehicle).
Before we talk about Radar Detectors, we’ll see,
How Speed Guns works?
If you are familiar with physics, you should know about Doppler Effect. Speed Guns are based on this theory. When a Speed Gun aimed at a moving vehicle operates, it transmits electro magnetic waves (or simply radio waves) at microwave frequency or a laser beam at a certain frequency. Then it captures the waves/beam reflected from the moving object and calculates the speed of the vehicle by using formulas of Doppler Effect theory. Calculated speed is displayed on the LCD panel.
There are many Types of Speed Guns. They can be categorized by the type of operation or by the mechanism.
By mechanism: Radar (X-band, K-band, Ka-band), Laser, Photo (special case!), etc.
By operation, two types: Instant-On & Static.
Speed Guns which use;
Radar – Radio wave based Speed Guns basically comes in 3 types. X-band – which is old and very rare these days, K-band – most used speed detector around, Ka-band – latest and more accurate. (These are called Radar Guns)
Other types are;
Laser – Highly accurate and very quick. Can be aimed precisely at a certain vehicle among set of vehicles.
Photo – Un-manned device, which is fixed on highways, which automatically takes photos of speeding vehicles, including their license plates.
Vascar – A device which calculates the difference of a distance between the vehicle and reader. And then calculates the speed. Special advantage of these is they can be used on a moving petrol car and measure the speed of a speeder, where most other Speed Guns has to be kept stationary.
Pulse – A refinement of K-band, which can be used from a moving vehicle like Vascar.
Instant-On Speed Guns are kept on “hold” or “stand-by” mode and only activated when the cop sees a vehicle. So waves are transmitted at that moment, making it impossible for a Radar Detector to give an early warning.
Static Speed Guns transmits its wave/beam continuously where Radar Detector can easily detect wave/beam already spread in the environment, and give an early warning.
When I got caught, while the police officer writes the ticket, I sneaked up, I took a clear note of his Speed Gun, model and etc. ;) And then after a short research on internet I found this info.
So Sri Lankan Police uses:
Manufacturer: Kustom Signals (
Model: Falcon
Type: True Doppler Radar / Radio Waves
Measurement: Kmph/Mph
Band: K-band
Frequency: 24.15 GHz ±100MHz
Operation: Handheld – Instant-On (ohhh! That’s bad)
Beam Width: 20°
Operating Range: approx. <1200m
Operating Temperature: -30°C to 70°C
Hey, all these are just for information purposes, ok? No guarantee! Nor responsibility! (Ok, my hands are clean now!! ;) )
Well there’s another thing you need to know about Radar Detectors.
What are False Alarms and why?
Some times Radar Detectors give false warnings when there’s no speed guns around.. This is happening when device sees a wave which is similar to Speed Guns, but it’s from other sources. Major source is market store doors which open automatically using sensors. These doors also use K-band waves which Radar Detectors get fooled at. Solution for this is getting a better Radar Detector with advanced false alarm detection technologies.
Well, as we know a little about Speed Guns, let’s see what Jammers are.
Jammer: is a device which is designed to transmit counter waves/beam to a Speed Gun, which will “fool” the Speed Gun and force it to indicate a fake speed. Some Jammer models are “Always-on”, which eats up power and others are linked with a Radar Detectors and activates (automatically/manually) only when the Radar Detector gives a warning.
Jammers can be set to transmit a wave/beam which will produce pre-decided speed value on the gun, which can be set by the user. Other Jammers will send random irrupted waves/beam which will confuse the gun, and force to show an “Error!” message on the gun display.
Price & Purchase
Best brands for Radar Detectors are Escort, Cobra & Whistler. And there are many other good devices on the market. Many models are available to choose from with different performance levels and features. But always focus at your need and don’t decide only on the price because, in this case performance matters lot. Price of a good detector will be high as $ 90-200 (US) (Cobra XRS 9930) which will detect both laser and radar speed guns. Cheap ones are around $ 40 (Cobra ESD 6060/ Whistler XTR330) [Approximate prices]. I’ve seen used detectors for sale at online stores for low prices. If you just want to escape from normal K-band radar, a cheap used one will do. Radar Detectors comes with built-in Jammers or you can buy a Jammer separately.
I just don’t know a place to buy this kind of stuff in Sri Lanka. (If you know, plz email me). Ordering online, that’s the best way I see so far. Still this stuff is new to
So, finalizing; someone may use a Radar Detector to pre-identify the presence of a cop whose measuring his/her speed and use a Jammer to show a fake speed, and avoid getting a speed ticket for driving over-speed driving.
IMPORTANT!! : In many countries using Radar Detectors are prohibited and using Jammers are extremely illegal. (Sri Lanka… I have no idea... anyone?) And speed limits are there for your own & public safety. Everything in this post is for information purposes only. I do not hold any guarantee of information provided, and nor having any responsibility how u use the information. And I do not recommend anyone to break or walk though law enforcements. So think before what you do. And remember, when u r behind the wheel, it’s not only your life you are responsible of.
Be safe! Drive Carefully. Wish u all happy driving with no tickets!
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