Cobra XRS 9990 User Manual - Page 12

*9850.MANUAL 8/9/00 12:24 PM Page 22 Detection Detection Facts About Safety Alert® Traffic Warning System Note Strobe Alert™ is available in over 1,000 cities and works with Tomar and Opticom systems. Call your local Fire/Police department for your area coverage or area in which you will be traveling. Facts About the Safety Alert® Traffic Warning System FCC-approved Safety Alert Transmitters emit microwave radar signals to indicate the presence of a safety-related concern. Depending on the frequency of these signals, as set on the transmitter, the outgoing signal can indicate whether the transmitter is on a speeding emergency vehicle or train,or at a stationary road hazard location. These microwave signals are located in the K-band and as a result, any radar detector which detects K-band radar will detect these Safety signals as standard K-band radar alerts. However, unlike a standard radar detector, your Cobra ESD-9850 is designed to differentiate between a standard K-band alert and a Safety Alert warning. Safety technology is relatively new so the number of transmitters in operation is still growing.You may not receive Safety Alert on a daily basis and should not be surprised to encounter some emergency vehicles, road hazards or trains not yet equipped with these transmitters, therefore failing to provide a signal. As Safety Transmitters become more prevalent (the number of operating transmitters is growing every day),these Safety Alerts will become more common. The Safety Alert Transmitter is in use in all 50 states in limited quantities. Facts About Strobe Alert™ Alerts motorists to over 50,000 emergency vehicles equipped with strobe transmitters that activate red lights at traffic intersections in emergency high speed situations. 22 Radar Frequencies There are now three frequencies that have been approved by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) for use in speed monitoring equipment. They are: X Band (10.525 GHz),K Band (24.150 GHz) Ka Band (33.400-36.000 GHz) Your Cobra ESD-9850 can detect signals in all three radar bands including photo radar and STALKER radar which use the Ka band, and Cobra's Safety Alert signals on the K band. Facts About LIDAR (Laser) What is LIDAR? LIDAR stands for Light Detection And Ranging. While everyone refers to it as LASER the correct name is LIDAR. How does LIDAR work? LIDAR operates a lot like RADAR.Like RADAR,it spreads out. Not as quickly, but it does spread, as shown on the diagram below. Radar Frequencies Facts About LIDAR (Laser) LIDARs must have a clear line of sight to target a vehicle during the entire measurement interval. Intervening objects such as signposts, utility poles, tree branches, etc.,will prevent a valid speed reading. 23