Can Clear Bra Reflect Radar...?

[Hoshtaylor]

I'm in the process of buying a house and in the new neighborhood I'm moving to, I've been visiting at least twice a day. There is one of those radar "this is how fast you're going" things on the side of the road at the same spot. I always watch the cars in front of me that pass it and when I go through it, it never reads a speed...it's always blank for me.

It hit me this morning on my way to work that the clear bra might be preventing the radar from reflecting off of the paint. Could this be possible...? Has anyone experienced anything similar...?

[Hoshtaylor]

I guess technically in this case I'm referring to, it would be absorbing the radar...not reflecting it...because if it reflected it, then it would read on the radar machine...you get the point though...lol

[szh]

I would be very surprised!

Are you speeding when this does not show? As far as I know, some of the side-of-the-road ones can be set to not show a speed when you are below the posted limit. Only when you exceed the limit ...

Z

[MaxBolus]

I think some of those signs may suppress the display if you are wayyy over the limit as well.. maybe to discourage those who might want to see how high it goes?

I could be wrong, but I've passed them on the turnpike doing well above the limit, and they flash a few random numbers then blank out. I've never seen one display a speed above 75, fwiw

I'd also be surprised if the bra had anything to do with it, though.

[Sazar]

I'm in the process of buying a house and in the new neighborhood I'm moving to, I've been visiting at least twice a day. There is one of those radar "this is how fast you're going" things on the side of the road at the same spot. I always watch the cars in front of me that pass it and when I go through it, it never reads a speed...it's always blank for me.

It hit me this morning on my way to work that the clear bra might be preventing the radar from reflecting off of the paint. Could this be possible...? Has anyone experienced anything similar...?

Nope, I have never experienced this. I wonder if you have your adaptive cruise on and the signals from that might be scrambling the detector?

My clear bra doesn't affect anything as far as I have noticed. And for those who don't have a clear-bra on their M-45's, GET ONE

They are really nice and people only notice mine after repeated looks.

[tkeskic]

WellI can say based on the speeding ticket I just got, that the 3M clear bra does nothingtk

[gammer_ghn]

its your cruise control lazer it has the same frequency as those machines....

[Mark Linkous]

Hello,While I know the Intelligent Cruise Control operates at or near police frequencies much to the disdain of radar detector owners everywhere, I actually think the speed sign only flashes when over the posted. My car is equipped with ICC and there is one of those radar signs at my G.F's. The only time it flashes is when I am 5 over the posted speed limit. I feel so badly when someone is cruising on the Interstate and slams brakes when my car is in the vicinity. I cannot believe the laser operates close to police radar frequencies. How was that approved?Cheers,M.L

[tkeskic]

Any documents (creditable)on this ICC interfering with the police laser?I had my ICC set to 121KM/h, the speed limit was in fact 110, but they dont pull you over for 11; he clocked me at 138 according to his readout.. I was surprised to say the least;tk

[Mark Linkous]

Hello,Never known it to interfere with police radar. Rather, causes many radar detectors to go haywire. As to your ICC going 17 over the patrol reading, that is unusual. This link spoke about it as well: zerothread/298287 .M.L

[MaxBolus]

I cannot believe the laser operates close to police radar frequencies. How was that approved?Cheers,M.L

As far as traffic enforcement goes, laser is laser (LIDAR), and radar is radar.. in other words, even though there are several radar bands in use by the boys in blue (X, K, Ka, ...?), LIDAR does not have such bands AFAIK. So the laser detectors are generally less discriminating, and will trigger on any radiation near the laser wavelength. So I don't think laser freq is really close to any radar bands, but could be wrong.

The ICC uses a laser, and most (if not all) laser detectors will pick it up and alarm on it. My detector (V1) also alarms on some roadside dot-matrix displays and even some SUV taillights.

Problem with LIDAR alarms is you have to act immediately. Radar usually radiates in a broad swath, so you have a good chance of early warning by catching 'blowby' around any other vehicles that may be between you and the speed trap (or reflections from guard rails, etc.).

With LIDAR, you *may* catch a reflection or blowby, but you can't take the time to try and figure out where it's coming from, so best action is to slow down immediately. The point of all this is: That's probably why you see so many brake lights when you're using ICC. Most experienced detector users don't slam the brakes at every radar chirp, I'm guessing (hoping, anyway..).

On the other side of the coin, while there are some laser jammers out there (and they seem to be much more effective than radar jammers), I have not seen anything that says ICC laser will interfere with the LIDAR or police radar. (lots of good stuff at radarbusters.com)

I once had a guy in a QX with his ICC follow me for many miles on the Ohio turnpike, lighting up my detector the whole time.. I finally pulled to the shoulder and sat for 5 mins

[szh]

As far as traffic enforcement goes, laser is laser (LIDAR), and radar is radar.. in other words, even though there are several radar bands in use by the boys in blue (X, K, Ka, ...?), LIDAR does not have such bands AFAIK. So the laser detectors are generally less discriminating, and will trigger on any radiation near the laser wavelength. So I don't think laser freq is really close to any radar bands, but could be wrong.

Correct! Laser freq is infra-red.

Also, one side effect is that laser detectors often go off with extra-bright red LED taillights on many cars that also emit some light in the infra-red frequency range. My older Valentine 1 does that when very close (within a car length or two) to many GM SUV's that have these bright LEDs. Pain in the neck in commute traffic when just behind one of these vehicles - I generally slide back a bit and let another car get between me and the first vehicle.

Z

[maxnix]

No, the plastic is radio frequency neutral.

License plate, head light reflectors, radiators are the big reflectors of RF.