Thoughts after first multi-state (PA, NY, CT, MA) trip with R7

[truwagen]

Hi all!
New RD user here and just picked up an R7. Used it for really the first time yesterday in a trip from central PA to MA and back. My route involved I-80 to I-81 (PA), to I-84 (PA into NY into CT into MA).

Here’s how I had it set up for most of the trip:
K wide, 100%, TSF off, K filter on/off (testing out K-heavy waters in PA)
Ka segmented, 100%, 2/4/5/6/8, Ka filter off (mainly for NY)
Laser on
X-band, MRCD, K/Ka POP off

Here are a few observations:
PA:

• No PSP encountered! There are several large info displays along I-80 in central PA that blast K-band though. Gave me a decent feeling for the sensitivity of the R7 in this hilly and wooded terrain. After encountering the first sign blast I boosted K sensitivity to 100 and turned off TSF and K filter to try and max out the range, but I did have to deal with falses.

NY:

• Lots of Ka from both stopped and moving NYSP. One NYSP sitting in median was quiet.

CT:

• Several stopped CTSP sitting parallel to interstate with a solid red and blue light on that were silent on the R7. Encountered another past Hartford that was perpendicular to the road and using a handheld gun out the driver’s window. Seemed at the time he was shooting K-band, but I wasn’t alerted very early and I recall the alert being pretty weak. This leads me to believe he might have been shooting laser that the R7 didn’t pick it up, and the K-band was just a false. And were the ones sitting parallel to the road also shooting laser, or is just sitting there a common CT tactic?

MA:

• Only a speed sign encounter, but no alert?!

Overall impressions:
I was a bit disappointed to not encounter any PSP to gauge their K-band signal. But having the R7 gave me some (perhaps false) confidence that none were hiding in the woods and not marked by Waze. Made for speedier travel. The Ka signals of NYSP were strong, and being alerted to one travelling in the opposite direction was nice. Not sure about CT. Wondering whether I was getting lit up and not realizing it.

K-band falses were annoying, especially in PA after I’d pass someone and then get a K signal which could cause me to hit the brakes. I imagine I can tone down K sensitivity and turn the filters on for my more normal commute (I-99).

I’m in the return window and the K-band signal vs. noise is making me wonder whether I should return and pick up a Radenso which I understand might have better filtering. But at the same time, I can’t imagine living without arrows.

Insights into what was going on in CT would be welcome, as would be settings for PA to retain PSP detection but cut down on noise!

 

[NorEaster18]

Oh, you found CT's favorite tactic. Highways are almost exclusively lidar in the state, and they love mirror shots with their Truspeed guns. Solid lights are just their patrol lights, which many keep on (it's a godsend for spotting them early). And the perpendicular LEO was also most likely Lidar, with maybe a BSM or one of the traffic sensors that are littered throughout the state causing the R7 to false. Your R7 most likely won't alert you to a laser hit, as the Unidens tend to be really weak with laser and you would need a direct hit to the detector for it to see it (lidar beams are very narrow).

 

[riseboi]

I'd guess the perpendicular LEO was shooting LIDAR. If he was shooting you directly (whether K or KA) you should have received a strong alert at some point. Getting LIDAR hits on RDs (some better than others) are still coin flips IMO.

 

[thebravo]

CT does use a lot of laser on the interstates, they aren't always enforcing when they are parked, but when they are it's usually lidar. As you know lidar is tough to detect with a radar detector so laser jammers are the proper solution for that, once you have that covered you have a solid arsenal between Waze, R7 and some laser defence.

As far as k settings tsf on, and k filter on won't hurt the range, you are also probably safe to reduce the sensitivity a little say 60-70% and still get solid range... You can try highway mode on the more rural highways and it will be ok. Also kblock will help with some of the falses from BSM while only introducing minimal risk of missing something.

 

[RedRocket]

@truwagen - North of Hartford on I-84 it's 100% Lidar or Pacing tactics used to the Mass. Stateline !!!
I see it all the time.

 

[V1Jake]

Great report! Time for lidar defense

 

[lageass]

The threat in the United States mainly comes from lasers and KAs, and the laser emission angle is very small, and the diffusion diameter is less than 40 cm at 150 yards. The laser will not irradiate your radar detector. The radar detector may be less than 10% effective for the laser. You need a laser jammer.
No radar detector can avoid K-band and X-band false alarms from banks. I guess it is a technical limitation that cannot be identified by radar information.
In the United States and Australia, threats rarely come from the K-band. You can turn off the K-band or reduce the sensitivity of the K-band. You need to turn on the TSF and K-band filters.
The K-band is the main threat in China. The R7 performs well. It cannot avoid false alarms from banks, but it is quiet on the road.
The R7 filter is excellent. There are filter problems in radenso, escort, and V1. They will treat many threats as false alarms, and cannot warn when encountering threats.
I want the filter to be rigorous,
The risk cannot be increased in order to reduce false alarms.

 

[Heywood]

The R7 filter is excellent. There are filter problems in radenso, escort, and V1. They will treat many threats as false alarms, and cannot warn when encountering threats.
I want the filter to be rigorous,
The risk cannot be increased in order to reduce false alarms.

You were doing pretty good up to this point.... then pretty much lost any credibility.

 

[Deadhead1971]

As far as k settings tsf on, and k filter on won't hurt the range, you are also probably safe to reduce the sensitivity a little say 60-70% and still get solid range... You can try highway mode on the more rural highways and it will be ok. Also kblock will help with some of the falses from BSM while only introducing minimal risk of missing something.

@truwagen
Try K Block and K at 60-70%

 

[truwagen]

@truwagen
Try K Block and K at 60-70%

Is K Filter this K Block setting you refer to?
And curious if anyone could enlighten me to the difference between K Filter and TSF. The Uniden manual doesn't give much explanation.

 

[Deadhead1971]

Is K Filter this K Block setting you refer to?
And curious if anyone could enlighten me to the difference between K Filter and TSF. The Uniden manual doesn't give much explanation.

K block- blocks out Honda BSMs around the +\- 24.198 ghz range

K filter-provides some basic BSM filtering and filtering from automatic doors if you are driving parallel to them (detector not pointing directly at them)

TSF- maybe provides some additional filtering but does activate a short delay in detecting K band to block out K band traffic sensors

for full max K filtering from BSMs and automatic door falses, many of us run TSF, K Filter, K block, and K at 60-70%.

 

[9C1Driver]

The threat in the United States mainly comes from lasers and KAs, and the laser emission angle is very small, and the diffusion diameter is less than 40 cm at 150 yards. The laser will not irradiate your radar detector. The radar detector may be less than 10% effective for the laser. You need a laser jammer.
No radar detector can avoid K-band and X-band false alarms from banks. I guess it is a technical limitation that cannot be identified by radar information.
In the United States and Australia, threats rarely come from the K-band. You can turn off the K-band or reduce the sensitivity of the K-band. You need to turn on the TSF and K-band filters.
The K-band is the main threat in China. The R7 performs well. It cannot avoid false alarms from banks, but it is quiet on the road.
The R7 filter is excellent. There are filter problems in radenso, escort, and V1. They will treat many threats as false alarms, and cannot warn when encountering threats.
I want the filter to be rigorous,
The risk cannot be increased in order to reduce false alarms.

K band is alive and well in many states. Our city is 90% K band and in this example the state of Pennsylvania is 100% K band and it's stationary i believe.

 

[NorEaster18]

K band is alive and well in many states. Our city is 90% K band and in this example the state of Pennsylvania is 100% K band and it's stationary i believe.

Yeah I live in Mass (one of the states the OP is asking about) and see more K band than Ka band. To say it's not a threat is dangerous

 

[fishing66]

Our city is 90% K band and in this example the state of Pennsylvania is 100% K band and it's stationary i believe.

Even worse....PA is stationary and handheld IO only. Bastages love to sit at the top of highway on ramps and zap people in the @$$. I have seen three different guns close up while driving in PA: Decatur Genesis GHD, Kustom Falcon and an MPH Speedgun.

BSM pollution used to be confined to the upper ranges of K band and Uniden's K block worked quite well on GM and Honda vehicles. Cars are now spewing all over the K band spectrum and PA detector users face a truly difficult environment. On the plus side, radar use is restricted to the state police and it is not used in local towns. There was legislation afoot to change that, though.

 

[infiniti]

Hi all!
New RD user here and just picked up an R7. Used it for really the first time yesterday in a trip from central PA to MA and back. My route involved I-80 to I-81 (PA), to I-84 (PA into NY into CT into MA).

Here’s how I had it set up for most of the trip:
K wide, 100%, TSF off, K filter on/off (testing out K-heavy waters in PA)
Ka segmented, 100%, 2/4/5/6/8, Ka filter off (mainly for NY)
Laser on
X-band, MRCD, K/Ka POP off

Here are a few observations:
PA:

• No PSP encountered! There are several large info displays along I-80 in central PA that blast K-band though. Gave me a decent feeling for the sensitivity of the R7 in this hilly and wooded terrain. After encountering the first sign blast I boosted K sensitivity to 100 and turned off TSF and K filter to try and max out the range, but I did have to deal with falses.

NY:

• Lots of Ka from both stopped and moving NYSP. One NYSP sitting in median was quiet.

CT:

• Several stopped CTSP sitting parallel to interstate with a solid red and blue light on that were silent on the R7. Encountered another past Hartford that was perpendicular to the road and using a handheld gun out the driver’s window. Seemed at the time he was shooting K-band, but I wasn’t alerted very early and I recall the alert being pretty weak. This leads me to believe he might have been shooting laser that the R7 didn’t pick it up, and the K-band was just a false. And were the ones sitting parallel to the road also shooting laser, or is just sitting there a common CT tactic?

MA:

• Only a speed sign encounter, but no alert?!

Overall impressions:
I was a bit disappointed to not encounter any PSP to gauge their K-band signal. But having the R7 gave me some (perhaps false) confidence that none were hiding in the woods and not marked by Waze. Made for speedier travel. The Ka signals of NYSP were strong, and being alerted to one travelling in the opposite direction was nice. Not sure about CT. Wondering whether I was getting lit up and not realizing it.

K-band falses were annoying, especially in PA after I’d pass someone and then get a K signal which could cause me to hit the brakes. I imagine I can tone down K sensitivity and turn the filters on for my more normal commute (I-99).

I’m in the return window and the K-band signal vs. noise is making me wonder whether I should return and pick up a Radenso which I understand might have better filtering. But at the same time, I can’t imagine living without arrows.

Insights into what was going on in CT would be welcome, as would be settings for PA to retain PSP detection but cut down on noise!

If you want quiet, Radenso is the winner - just make sure Falcon HR or other low-powered k-band guns aren't in your area as Radenso doesn’t do well with those. For me, I find the R7 running even in city mode gives plenty of warning on k band, and with tsf on, it’s as quiet as my V1 was - or most any detector aside from the Radenso...and with better range for when I need it.

 

[4wheelpilot]

Even worse....PA is stationary and handheld IO only. Bastages love to sit at the top of highway on ramps and zap people in the @$$. I have seen three different guns close up while driving in PA: Decatur Genesis GHD, Kustom Falcon and an MPH Speedgun.

BSM pollution used to be confined to the upper ranges of K band and Uniden's K block worked quite well on GM and Honda vehicles. Cars are now spewing all over the K band spectrum and PA detector users face a truly difficult environment. On the plus side, radar use is restricted to the state police and it is not used in local towns. There was legislation afoot to change that, though.

Living in and around the Philadelphia/NJ area, I was using the Uniden LRD950 for a while and got frustrated with the falsing.
Had tried V1 and others but disadvantages with each one.
Just picked up an R7 for the arrows and improved customization.

Based on your experience, what settings would do you recommend for "best" detection versus filtering in the PA/NJ area?