Weak 1-bar Ka signals

[FuzzBusterDale]

Occasionally, I will get a weak 1-bar Ka signal ahead. It continues to beep and show one bar. But, yet the signal never increases in signal strength. You end up driving say 1/3 or 1/2 mile but yet you never really see the signal strength increase by any real measure. Is this like some sort of false alarm or just a random thing?

 

[Deadhead1971]

Occasionally, I will get a weak 1-bar Ka signal ahead. It continues to beep and show one bar. But, yet the signal never increases in signal strength. You end up driving say 1/3 or 1/2 mile but yet you never really see the signal strength increase by any real measure. Is this like some sort of false alarm or just a random thing?

Assuming this was not a Ka false signal, this is normal. Here is a long range encounter I had on Ka 35.5. Watch the meter bar. It stays at 1 for almost 2 miles.

V1 Gen2- whopping 2 Mile front and 1.6 Mile Rear Ka 35.5

Here is my “valentine video of the month” entry. :) hopefully the mods will let this stay here for a day or so before being moved to real world videos. I wanted this here to provide some positive vibes and feedback on the Gen2 in light of some of the negative discussions. I have had mine...

www.rdforum.org

 

[DocTJ]

(Assuming it’s happening to you frequently as opposed to a slow ramp up and eventually a source)
My $ is on a Ka false ( many different sources for a false but this is a different experience )
Had them on the V1G2 when had it
Frustrating cuz drop anchor for no reason . R7 would be quiet. ( of course it’s different when they both go off)
Not everybody has experienced this though.

 

[SwankPeRFection]

I used to see these on my G1 when I had Ka Guard Off as a test to see how range was improved vs falsing. It wasn’t worth it.

 

[True2020Vision]

Not knowing all your details, I'll share some of my experiences with weak Ka detections. There are so many Revenuer's around here and the V2 is so sensitive; running the V1-connection, if a detection is in the Ka center box (34.7ish) then I just assume it's real.

Sometimes I never see them. Maybe they're way ahead, moving in the same direction, firing instant-on in short bursts pointed away from me.

This may have been what happened a few weeks ago. One weak 34.7 signal, just enough to sound off, quickly fade away, then nothing. I didn't reset the trip odometer, but started counting the exits, East-bound. What I thought was 5+ miles later, sure enough the V2 starts barking again, and this time its a real CHP on the West-bound side, hunting speeders coming down-slope from the Sierra mountains. Checking Google Maps, it was actually 7.2 miles from that first weak 34.7 detection!

I don't know what the V2 is reliably capable of, but just damn! What actually happened on the CHP's end, in the 10 minutes or so it took me to get up there is anyone's guess. Maybe they were originally East-bound too and just got to a new setup when I finally arrived. They may have beamed one target on the way East, when the V2 first picked up that single weak Ka alert.

But if I hadn't continued East, I could have easily assumed that one weak 34.7 was just a false alarm.

 

[Brainstorm69]

Not knowing all your details, I'll share some of my experiences with weak Ka detections. There are so many Revenuer's around here and the V2 is so sensitive; running the V1-connection, if a detection is in the Ka center box (34.7ish) then I just assume it's real.

Sometimes I never see them. Maybe they're way ahead, moving in the same direction, firing instant-on in short bursts pointed away from me.

This may have been what happened a few weeks ago. One weak 34.7 signal, just enough to sound off, quickly fade away, then nothing. I didn't reset the trip odometer, but started counting the exits, East-bound. What I thought was 5+ miles later, sure enough the V2 starts barking again, and this time its a real CHP on the West-bound side, hunting speeders coming down-slope from the Sierra mountains. Checking Google Maps, it was actually 7.2 miles from that first weak 34.7 detection!

I don't know what the V2 is reliably capable of, but just damn! What actually happened on the CHP's end, in the 10 minutes or so it took me to get up there is anyone's guess. Maybe they were originally East-bound too and just got to a new setup when I finally arrived. They may have beamed one target on the way East, when the V2 first picked up that single weak Ka alert.

But if I hadn't continued East, I could have easily assumed that one weak 34.7 was just a false alarm.

Sounds like you were using an app. Did you check to see whether the frequency was the same (i.e., all the way to the last digit)?

 

[True2020Vision]

Yes, I was using the V1-Connection ap. It's nice and simple, easy to use, but that red text on a black background is VERY hard for me to see in daylight, so I don't even try to look at details.

All I pay attention to, is if its in the center box, and keep my eyes on traffic.

Before we left, I got my friend some snacks at Trader Joes, and gave her the 5-cent tour of the brand-new V2 while I did my setup routine.

When it powered up in the parking lot, one weak Ka right down the middle from behind. We were one block from the interstate, so I thought it could be a signal from there. But I just had feeling it was a "live one". I told her it could be a real CHP, let's see.

So I backed up, turned around; the arrows flipped to the side, then to the front as I turned the car facing the shopping center across the street. Next thing we see is Johnny GD Law coming out of a fish & chips parking lot. She was ready to buy a V2 right there, until she found out it was $500, LMAO!

 

[knight_man]

At first I thought I was getting falses while I was riding around. The range and off axis on mine has been serious stuff.

 

[FuzzBusterDale]

At first I thought I was getting falses while I was riding around. The range and off axis on mine has been serious stuff.

Last Wednesday morning I was sitting in my car with the A/C running as it was humid as hell on the Gulf Coast. I see Ka on my detector go off on one 1 bar with the arrow pointing directly ahead. (There was no road in that direction) So, I am still sitting there and the side arrows come up. Then after a while, the intensity meter picks up and the detector finally went crazy. And then a Sheriff's deputy went by. Sometimes it can be hard to pick them out.

 

[jaxf250]

One of my two v1g2 detectors was having a lot of low signal bar strength Ka falses when there were no bogeys around. I swapped the units around in my two different cars with the same result - one detector was fine and the other one kept falsing.

I sent the suspect unit back to Valentine and they flashed the new firmware (1019) and sent it back to me. After some testing this morning it looks like the firmware update solved the problem and it is behaving normally like the other detector I have ( even though that one is still on the previous firmware 1018). I only mention this in this thread as it may or may not be related to what the OP was seeing. There were no technician notes sent back to me with the revised detector, so if they tuned or replaced any of the circuitry I have no way of knowing that, all I know is it's working fine now. Great customer service from Valentine as always.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[FuzzBusterDale]

One of my two v1g2 detectors was having a lot of low signal bar strength Ka falses when there were no bogeys around. I swapped the units around in my two different cars with the same result - one detector was fine and the other one kept falsing.

I sent the suspect unit back to Valentine and they flashed the new firmware (1019) and sent it back to me. After some testing this morning it looks like the firmware update solved the problem and it is behaving normally like the other detector I have ( even though that one is still on the previous firmware 1018). I only mention this in this thread as it may or may not be related to what the OP was seeing. There were no technician notes sent back to me with the revised detector, so if they tuned or replaced any of the circuitry I have no way of knowing that, all I know is it's working fine now. Great customer service from Valentine as always.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Wonder how you would know your V1G2 was falsing on Ka? I only have 1 V1G2 detector.

 

[True2020Vision]

Back to the original point. My response was in no way meant to contradict you getting false Ka. You could very well be getting false alarms, At first, I was sure in my example above, that the single weak Ka alert was false, and in reality it still could have been. While a 7.2 mile first alert is possible, it's not something to count on, LMAO. And I do get some false Ka, but it's rarely false when the alert is in the center box in Kalifornia.