SLD920X radar detector/jammer - does it actually work??

Back in the 1960's I had a friend who would spot a police radar... the style back then of a big unit sticking out a rear passenger window.

He would stop behind the police car and walk up and ask directions.

He was carrying an aluminum clipboard which he would use as a reflector, killing the detector diode ;-)

(Back in the days of 10.250GHz CW units.)

...Jim Thompson

Radar detectors were [theoretically] illegal until 1998, when a case determined that as they were only field strength meters and receivers, they fell outside the Wireless Telegraphy Act [~1948]. In any event only use was illegal, so TC's had to catch you with it on and they could be sold.

Not sure about laser detectors, but in any event for these the beam is aimed and the spot is only 60-90cm wide when it hits your car (TC's normally aim at the licence plate, because it is a good reflector and they need it in the picture to prosecute). They can be 400m or more away. One I examined had a

All jammers are illegal because they transmit, although a child's windmill might [legally] confuse the receiver. You will be prosecuted for criminal offences if caught with a jammer.

Legislation before Parliament will make the sale, use and ?possession? of detectors illegal (FP with 3 points), but I am not sure when it comes into force. With four in your car you could get 12 points and be off the road.

OTOH GPS based systems that know where the cameras are will be legal. Whilst this won't show where the police have the laser van today, it will show Spec's, Vascar, Truvelo and a host of other types of traps that will not show on detectors, although I suspect that TC's will revert to radar as it is cheaper and easier to use.

Sellers are currently offloading stocks of detectors at bargain prices (£70 at Makro), ahead of the change in legislation.

Your radar detector should be doing something - my microwave leakage detector (useful for faulty ovens and spotting disguised masts) gets upset by the sun, cellphone masts and HT cables. It is also regularly triggered by pelican & puffin crossings (that have radar to detect cars and / or pedestrians), speed warning devices (popular in pretty villages) and live Gatso's (usually reflections off the car in front). If you kit is not picking these up then you were sold duds.

BTW the only time mine ever triggered on a trap I had not already seen (TC hiding behind a wall in north Wales) or knew about I was doing 25mph! So use your eyes - it will probably make you a better if not slower driver anyway.

I've got a Snooper SD715i radar & laser detector and I can't remember it ever having picked up laser in about 10 years. Having said that I believe that laser is much more difficult to detect (less scatter) unless it is pointed directly at you, by which time it's too late.

The unit does successfully pick up X waves (not used by the police now, I believe) from some supermarket doors and traffic lights and K waves from active speed cameras.

If your unit picks up X or K waves, then it isn't working imo.

Since it's legal to use a radar detector, but not a jammer, you might want to investigate claiming against the dealer for goods unfit for purpose. See Trading Standards website.

The way to go is to get a GPS based system, and since it's the same technology, you might as well get mapping as well - something like the well regarded Tom Tom Go.

Daytona

uk.rec.driving added

But there is an offence of obstructing a constable in the course of his duty, which was IIRC the cahrge successfully brought.

I have seen a description of these, but their operation can often be detected by misoperation of the police equipment (error messages, slly speeds displayed etc.)

Radar detectors work because the radar signal is scattered off of everything. Laser beams are very highly focused beams of light. Unless the police point the laser at the detector, it won't detect anything. They'll probably point it at your numberplate to get a reading of your speed, so your detector won't notice.

Probably because they know they're selling a useless product. A GPS database with known speed trap locations are a much better idea.

snip - hit return by mistake.

Whilst TC's have been buying more, they are still not all that common, and as already discussed need to be carefully aimed. Unlike a radar detector the narrow beam needs to fall on your device and be recognised.

I have seen a few of these and fell foul of one (but the police lost the paperwork). Look out for vans parked in lay by's etc. with a back door open. A favourite here in Manchester is too borrow a marked van with an orange light from the airport, park it up where the limit changes, put a couple of cones out (as a distraction and so it looks more like road works) and wait for the money to roll in.

No I am not a lawyer however from the web

Police charge man for blocking speed gun A thirty year old man from Staines has been arrested by Surrey Police for using a laser jammer device on his car.

It's alleged that when driving through a speed trap on the A308, the man used the jammer to prevent a speed reading being taken. His registration was noted by the recording equipment and police visited his home later that day to confiscate the device and arrest the man. He has been charged with obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty.

Casualty Reduction Officer for Spelthorne PC Mike Pritchard said: "I want to emphasise that these devices are illegal. People are under the impression that the device will jam the laser signal and that's all. What they fail to recognize is that the police speed detection device identifies that the vehicle is fitted with a laser jammer. The offence is recorded on tape and the vehicles are then traceable through the Police National Computer . "

There was another case on the M4 in Wales £1,000 fine - perverting the course of justice or similar.

Are you a lawyer, or an amateur brain surgeon???

The laser jammers transmit IR light. There is a law against transmitting RF (radio frequency; the wireless telegraphy act) but there is no law against transmitting LIGHT, of any wavelength.

If you are a real working lawyer, you will have access to the standard references and you can easily provide a reference so we can all look it up.

Your TV remote control transmits IR light, as it happens.

Radar JAMMERS would be illegal under the WRT; that's obvious. Which, without a shadow of doubt, is why nobody sells them in the UK. A radar jammer would be very effective indeed, and undetectable by any unmanned speed camera. A radar jammer would be the most effective anti speeding ticket device by far.

Anyway, my feeling is that the SLD920X is a dud product. Or, it has a failure mode which causes it to go dud while passing the power-up test, so the owner is not aware it is dud.

I must have gone through a laser in the last few years, 50000 miles, surely???

There's a basic fact I'm missing on this. Does the jammer jam all the time, or does it wait until it detects an incoming signal and then start jamming?

If it jams all the time, then it seems logical that it could be protecting you even though the detector portion is useless. In this scenario, I can't think of any way to know for sure whether the jamming part is effective.

On the other hand, if the jamming function is linked to the detector function, then it seems like it would be safe to dump the product. Afterall, if it hasn't warned you once in years, then it hasn't jammed once in years, and it isn't doing you much good.

I hope I am not stating the obvious here. But, hey, you asked. ;-)

--Mac

R. Mark Clayton wrote on Fri, 24 Jun 2005

LOL.

I understood there was a catch-all in the law which made it illegal to use any communications device (whether currently invented or not) without a licence.

I cannot give Chapter and Verse, but you might want to check before getting yourself into trouble.

I hope he doesn't come round my way with one of those - bang slap in the middle of KU band, and likely to do in every LNB for miles (well metres anyway).

My Hero! :)

...so what frys modern stuff?

snipped-for-privacy@somewhere.in.the.uk.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Consider that a laser speed gun has a narrow field-of-view,about 18 inches wide at 1000ft. Then your laser jammer has to be in the speed gun's field-of-view,and deliver enough optical power to override the reflected power from the speed gun's high power laser diode.(>25 watts of peak power)

LED's are not going to do it,nor will a "jammer" mounted on your windshield.

At least the Lidatek jammer uses a laser diode,and mounts on the front license plate,the most common target for frontal laser speed measurement. I believe the headlight assemblies are the next preferred frontal target.

Around here (in Arizona) we apply the rule of speed limit doubling ;-)

They were invented to make money. I even know of cases where speed limits were lowered when the photo radar proved unproductive.

A young man with an old mind ?:-)

Certainly not enough room ;-)

...Jim Thompson

How can a suggestion to keep within the speed limits be silly??? Speed limits were put in place in this world for a very good reason.

If everyone kept to the speed limits, the police may not have introduced speed cameras in the first place. Then things like radar detectors/jammers would not have had to be invented.

Why do people want to speed whilst driving anyway? You get from A to B eventually no matter how fast you go.

Why not try removing the lead weight from your right foot. It'll make UK roads a safer place for all to use.

I think there's a time and a place for speeding in vehicles, and UK public roads ain't the place.

Which is?

I know some of them are safety related, but most seem to have very little relationship to what is a safe speed.

Mostly because they want to (a) get there sooner, and (b) drive at a comfortable speed.

There are only a fairly small minority of speeding drivers who drive in the way that statement suggests.

Well as far as I can make out, our speed limits are not obeyed more than most other countries are, and yet we have just about the safest roads in the world in terms of casualties per million passenger miles (or per million vehicle miles).

Yes, and they were based upon the performance & safety characteristics of contemporary cars. Modern cars can safely travel at much higher speeds, but this has been ignored by successive governments who are fearful of shroud-waving campaigners. The law has therefore slipped into disrepute.

Because lots of people enjoy the exhilaration of speed.

Daytona

Well the limit in towns is more to do with the performance of pedestrians, so 50kph / 30mph is pretty much the norm throughout the world.

On motorways it is a different matter. The UK limit was introduced in the

Almost alone the UK has persevered unchanged. In Europe, only Denmark, Sweden and the [motorway free AFIACS] Baltic republics have a lower motorway limit.

So the poster is correct the current UK speed limits WERE introduced for a very good reason, and whilst the limit on shared roads are broadly correct the limits on segregated roads (motorways, grade separated dual carriageways etc.) could do with updating.

Of course if vehicles didn't move at all then they would be almost totally safe.