|
Technical Report No.8. Jamming Radar & Laser In this report we will cover Radar and Laser jammers. Do they exist? Do they Work? We give our Laser guns a work out, and test some new Laser jammers. We also test the Spirit, VRCD, Phantom, teleradar, Phazer and Mirage Radar jammers against our own Radars. CAUTION: Any person trying to sell you Phantom or Phazer products, should be avoided. No reputable company would ever offer these goods for sale. Apart from our own tests, we receive many emails from all over the world, about radar jammers, that "do not" jam radar. So read my words. "There are no Radar Jammers that jam to-days digital mobile or camera radar." Full DRIVER Jammer Story. Laser Jammers: Over the years we have tested many laser Jammers. These include the Escort ZR3, M20, M25, M27 X, K40Plus,and Phantom. The Phantom does nothing. The K40Plus was useless, as was the Zapper and Buster, we had no trouble getting speeds from as far away as 600mtrs with the K40Plus, on our Commodore station waggon. There are now many Laser jammer tests published on the internet. Many are of proto type products, most are attempted copies of Blinder Laser products. Some may even test better than others. But, the Laser jammer market is littered with the bodies of Laser jammer makers that are here to-day, and gone next year. Currently we believe it's best to stick with trusted names, and just monitor the progress of the new guys in the business. A correctly installed M27 Xtreme jams all laser guns. Radar Jammers. Every week we receive calls inquiring about Radar Jammers, do they exist, do they work? Radar jammers have been around since world war two. The concept of generating a radio frequency signal strong enough to interfere with another radio signal is not new, in fact its a common unintended happening every day. The electromagnetic or radio frequency spectrum is so congested to-day, that jamming or interference is common. Mobile phones, VHF and UHF two way radios, Television and especially the latest Digital Cell phone network. All this is outside the scope of this report for the time being, so we will concentrate on Radar Jammers. Radar Jammers, the ones for jamming Police speed radar appeared in the USA around 1975. Their development was brought about by the use of OFF/ON or instant on radar guns. These active jamming devices generate a signal that is strong enough to prevent the low powered "X" Band radar guns from obtaining or locking a speed reading. As the use of radar has increased, the guns have become more effective and frequencies have changed, but so have the radar jammers. Some transmit their own signal, called active jamming. Some are re-radiators, they receive and resend the received signal, modified, in an attempt to confuse the radar. ( They don't.) And yes, we will soon see some effective Laser Jammers. Do Jammers work? All this sounds very interesting, but there is one big trap. Outside the USA nearly all jammers we have tested in the last 20 years won't jam New Zealand or Australian radars. The reason? Not enough jamming output power, and dumb electronics (Cheap/Poor design). All radar jammers on the market to-day are made in the USA. They claim to jam X, K and Ka Radar. This capability relates only to Low power radars. High power radars like The Ka Band Stalker which represent 95% of New Zealand and Australian radar simply over power these active jammers. Why don't they make the jammer more powerful? Licensing, that's why! As long as the USA manufacturers keep their power output below 100 milliwatts or similar, no licensing is required for their sale. Most active jammers radiate between 5 and 100 milliwatts of power. Radar radiates up to 8 watts of power. (40mw at source, boosted via 23db gain electro-formed antenna.) It is possible that, at a range of one kilometre or more, some active jammers may prevent a reading on a moving or stationary radar, but once you are within about 500 mtrs of the radar, it's sheer power will override the jammer. Recent tests of Jammers in the USA found similar results to us, Radar Jammers have little effect on radar. Driver magazine tested the Phantom/ Phazer jammer in it's November 1997 issue. The results were not impressive! Full Jammer Story. Don't buy, do your home work first! Over the years we have had a number of very distressed customers that have made purchases, then brought their Phantom, Phazer, VRCD and Mirage radar jammers to us to test against our own radar and Hand guns, only to be shown that their jammer is useless. Many people about to travel to the US intending to buy these units are very grateful after talking to us about the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of U.S jammers. If we ever test a radar jammer that works we will be the first to rave about it. No matter what the Name or price, so called "Passive Radar Jammers" do not jam highway radar, moving, stationary, or camera radar.! Radars Detectors we have tested. Many of our customers are aware that we are continually testing new radar detectors. As detectors advanced from X K to X K Ka, Wideband, and further to Superwide, their performance, or range has fallen, in some cases to a quarter the range of older units. The wider the range of frequencies used by radar these days, need to be scanned, this results in lowering the overall radar performance. Most USA made detectors are designed to meet low price requirements for US markets, not our high performance needs. The USA detector market has schrunk due to lifting of speed limits, and the banning of detectors in commercial vehicles. Conclusion. Buy a good quality radar detector. The latest offerings from Whistler are beginning to give the Beltronics Escort and Valentine 1, a run for their money. Many top end Whistler models are excellent peforming units, and better value than any radar jammer!
|
