I do not condone breaking the law. But I do believe that some new speed enforcement measures have been introduced by the government solely as a "money grab"; not to increase safety and reduce accidents as they claim. This is especially true with photo radar. You have a right to protect yourself from illegitimate enforcement techniques.

There are many different types of radar. They operate on different frequencies and have different trigger mechanisms. You have probably heard terms like `K',` X', and `Ka band', `instant-on', `laser', or `photo radar'. All of these will be explained.

Without getting into technical terms, a radar works by sending out a signal from the "gun" which reflects off your car (or more precisely, the metal of your car) back to the radar gun. The "gun" measures this signal to determine how fast you were going. They are very accurate if used properly.

There are 5 bands that it operates on. They are the X, K, Ka, Superwide Ka and Laser bands. If you purchase a radar detector and it is missing any of these, you are leaving yourself wide open (however, currently laser is rare). Radar detectors aren't the best way of protecting yourself from radar guns anymore. What a detector basically does is pick up the radar waves the police are transmitting and warn you that there is a radar gun nearby. Radar detectors can pick up a very weak signal; sometimes two to three times further away than the police radar gun can detect you.

However, lately the police have begun using instant-on guns much more. These are guns that are warmed up, and all the operator has to do is point it, pull the trigger and he gets a speed reading before you know it. Since the gun isn't actually transmitting any waves until he pulls the trigger, your radar detector will not pick it up until it is too late. The only defense against this is to hope your detector will pick up the short burst of waves that the police officer aimed at a car in the vicinity. Nevertheless...

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