Open Tips : Car Part Tips : How Do Radar Detectors Work? -

How Do Radar Detectors Work? -

By Jennifer Bailey | Open Tips

Police have long used radars to track the speed of drivers and to help maintain safe roads. Meanwhile, many drivers have begun using radar detectors to help avoid costly fines for speeding violations. Despite the popularity of radars and radar detectors, many people do not understand the science or technology behind them.

Police radar guns work by transmitting radio waves from the radar to the target vehicle and back. Because radio waves move through the air at a constant speed (the speed of light), radars can calculate how far away an object is based upon how long it takes to the radio signal to return. When an object such as a vehicle is moving, there is a change in frequency in the radio waves. Radars detect this change and convert it into miles per hour to determine the target's speed. Further, radar guns also use different types of bands to determine the target's speed, including X band, K band, and Ka band. Traditional radar detectors alert the driver to the presence of radars.

Law enforcement officers also use lasers (concentrated light) to determine a vehicle's speed. Laser radar guns measure the time it takes for infrared light to leave its origin, reach a car, bounce off, and return. These tools can determine how far away an object is by multiplying this time by the speed of light. Because this type of radar sends out many bursts of light to determine multiple distances, the system can determine how fast the car is moving by comparing these samples. However, because laser speed detectors have a much more focused beam and detect lasers over great distances, police laser guns are generally more difficult to evade. While modern radar detectors often include a light-sensitive panel that detects these light beams, the detector (and thus vehicle) is usually already in the beam's sights.

While traditional detectors worked by alerting the driver to the presence of the radar or laser, the last few years have seen a rise in radars that also emit a jamming signal. This signal duplicates the original signal from the police radar gun and mixes it with additional radio noise, which confuses the radar receiver, and prevents the police officer from preventing an accurate speed reading. Some detectors also use a laser jammer, or light emitting diodes (LEDs), that produce a light beam of their own. This beam prevents the receiver from recognizing any reflected light to get a clear reading on the vehicle's speed.

Resources:

If you want to buy a car part, try to search for one at Cheap Car Parts. If you want more tips on car buying, you should try Apmart's Car Buying Tips from Cheap Cars for Sale. If you want to buy a used car, try to search for one at Apmart's Cheap Used Cars for Sale. Especially you should look at Cheap Used Cars Under $4000 and Cheap Used Cars Under $5000. You often can get a functional car for that cheap. Don't forget to look at the Most Popular Cars to get an idea of what other people are buying. In case you don't want used car I suggest having a look at the Cheap New Cars.

About the Author:

Radar Detectors Info provides comprehensive information on best wholesale and retail motorcycle and cordless radar detectors. Radar Detectors Info is the sister site of Defensive Driving Web .

About this site:

Open Tips website is developed using SEO Web Design by Binh Nguyen to provide free tips and advices from well known experts.

What's next?

Do you like "How Do Radar Detectors Work? -"?

Link to this page:

Step 1: Copy the following HTML code (Click on the box and press Ctrl+C):
Step 2: Paste the copied code to your web page's HTML (Ctrl+V) to where you want to place the link.
Step 3: When viewing on a web browser it should look like this: How Do Radar Detectors Work? -.

Share it: Digg Digg del.icio.us FURL FURL Reddit Reddit Yahoo! Yahoo! Favorites