Wow, Madison Avenue rewrites physics, film at 11... That was a load of
unmentionable stuff.
Wave Physics 101...
There are only 2 types of Radar evasion, passive and active. The only
"Passive" Radar evasion in existence today is Stealth configuration and
Stealth absorbancy materials. Everything else is ACTIVE according to the US
Military. This "Phantom" critter MUST emit a signal in order to place "noise"
or a carrier wave (or even a cancellation wave) back to the radar unit. If
the signal does not exceed .5 Watts it is totally legal (FCC does not care
about transmitters .5 Watts or less). THAT is what they could be claiming by
"FCC legal". It does not change the fact that they ARE broadcasting a signal
(even if they are just amplifying the original signal or modifying it, legally
they are transmitting).
Radar is by definition, "Line of Sight" (All ship borne radars are limited
by the curvature of the Earth but when active can be detected hundreds of
miles away which is why they are mounted up on masts for greater range and
also why most fleets don't have them active when they are trying to be
stealthy, ground radars have other obstacles to overcome). All Radars use the
same physics. Any Speed Detection Radar device that is non-line of sight is
actually a radio reciever and is listening for your ignition signature. THAT
can be hard from a long ways away, but since each engine has different
transmission and coupling ratios, those units are not legal in court but can
tell a police officer when to persue or notify them to turn on their radar or
laser systems. Some of the earliest Speed Detectors were of this nature.
Radar Detectors work on the principal that Radars can be heard much further
away than they can effectively operate.
I'd be willing to bet that if you take this "Phantom" unit and trigger it's
"active" mode that a simple antenna and an o-scope would find that it is
indeed transmitting a signal. My bet is that it transmits a signal 180
degrees out of phase with the recieved signal, and probably a noisy one at
that. This "cancellation wave" would reduce the range whereby the car could
be accurately detected, probably to the distances described. The nasty thing
is, that such a circuit would be almost undetectable for it's transmission
power since it is actually "cancelling out" the power of the initial wave and
likely wouldn't work unless receiving a signal input to cancel out. To all
outward appearances it would put out "nothing" when in fact it's generating a
counter signal. Very nasty and almost impossible to test for it's true output
power.
So dispite what these folks claim, they have to be engaging in active
Electronic Warfare, because as far as I know, no true Stealth car exists yet.
Attack aircraft, fighters, bombers and ships do, but I can't wait to see the
Stealth car. I know of someone who made a car patterned after the F-117 but
it's not really Stealthy, it's all looks. If it looks like a dog, smells like
a dog, acts like a dog, it's probably a dog.
Just for reference, Radio, Radar (microwave), Heat (Infrared), Light...
they are all the same thing, Eletromagnetic Emissions (or EM). The only thing
that can be used as detection that is not part of that family is Sound
(Acoustic Emission). When the cops get sonar, we should all just play by the
speed limits. ^_^
Shaun H.
(Credentials: several years of electronics and LEO (Laser Electro-Optics))
---original message---
From the back of the manual:
"Rocky Mountain Radar's products comply with all FCC regulations. They are
reflective receivers that leak no radio energy into the atmosphere. Rocky
Mountain Radar scramblers are legal in all states except OK. MN. VA. CA. NE.
and Washington,D.C. The Phantom conforms to all federal regulations. Part
15 of the FCC code regulates consumer products which may transmit or leak
radio frequency energy into the atmosphere."
More information:
Rocky Mountain Radar's scramblers disable Radar or Lidar guns up to three
miles away from a squad car all the way down to the last 50 to 200 feet. At
that point, the squad car will be within your sight and you can adjust your
speed accordingly.
Since the Phantom is not a transmitter, we can disregard that section. What
it does is take the signal transmitted by a radar, couples noise onto it and
reflect on incoherent signal back to the radar. This renders the radar
unable to display a speed reading. The radar is effectively disabled. The
Phantom, then is a radar interferent.
The Phantom is a passive radar jammer. It has an FM chirp (Doppler frequency
shift) circuit, a mixer diode, and a dual ridge waveguide antenna for all
three radar bands - X, K, and Ka (superwide). The Phantom also transmits a
modulated infrared beam that confuses the computer in Lidar units up to the
maximum range of the gun making your vehicle invisible to the laser gun.
The Phantom is a reflective receiver. It receives the police signal and
reflects it back to the radar gun. Part 15 also controls the levels of radio
frequency leakage from products designed to comply with this statute.
(1) The Phantom has no radio frequency emissions.
(2) The Phantom fully complies with part 15.
(3) The Phantom is banned in MN, OK, CA, NE, and Washington DC.
(4) There are no laws banning light emissions.
There have been some tests performed on the Phantom, Phazer, and Spirit by
independant labs/groups and all but the Phantom failed at long range...this
is where they get you everytime. That's the main reason I purchased the
Phantom...the Detector was also a plus. (The other two don't have that
feature.)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:17:36 EDT