Cobra RAD 700i Main Product Image DriveSmarter App Carplay Update RAD 700i Man - Page 7

Operation UNDERSTANDING YOUR DETECTOR How Radar Works Traffic radar, which consists of microwaves, travels in straight lines and is easily reflected by objects such as cars, trucks, even guardrails and overpasses. Radar works by directing its microwave beam down the road. As your vehicle travels into range, the microwave beam bounces off your car, and the radar antenna looks for the reflections. Using the Doppler Principle, the radar equipment then calculates your speed by comparing the frequency of the reflection of your car to the original frequency of the beam sent out. Traffic radar has limitations, the most significant of these being that it typically can monitor only one target at a time. If there is more than one vehicle within range, it is up to the radar operator to decide which target is producing the strongest reflection. Since the strength of the reflection is affected by both the size of the vehicle and its proximity to the antenna, it is difficult for the radar operator to determine if the signal is from a sports car nearby or a semi-truck several hundred feet away. Radar range also depends on the power of the radar equipment itself. The strength of the radar unit's beam diminishes with distance. The farther the radar has to travel, the less energy it has for speed detection. Because intrusion alarms and motion sensors often operate on the same frequency as X, and K-band radar, your detector will occasionally receive non-police radar signals. These transmitters generally produce much weaker readings than will a true radar encounter. As you become familiar with the sources of these pseudo alarms in your daily driving, they will serve as confirmation that your device's radar detection abilities are fully operational. How Laser (Lidar) Works Laser speed detection is actually light detection and ranging (LIDAR). Laser guns project a beam of invisible infrared light. The signal is a series of very short infrared light energy pulses that move in a straight line, reflecting off your car and returning to the gun. Laser uses these light pulses to measure the distance to a vehicle. Speed is then calculated by measuring how quickly these pulses are reflected, given the known speed of light. Laser is a newer technology whose use is not as widespread as conventional radar; therefore, you may not encounter it on a daily basis. And unlike radar detection, laser is not prone to false alarms. Because laser transmits a much narrower beam than does radar, it is much more accurate in its ability to distinguish between targets and is also more difficult to detect. As a result, even the briefest laser alert should be taken seriously. There are limitations to laser, however. Laser is much more sensitive to weather conditions than radar, and a laser gun's range will be decreased by anything affecting visibility, such as rain, fog or smoke. A laser gun cannot operate through glass, and it must be stationary to get an accurate reading. Because laser must have a clear line of sight and is subject to cosine error (an inaccuracy that increases as the angle between the gun and the vehicle increases), police typically use laser equipment parallel to the road or from an overpass. Laser can be used day or night. TSR Signal Ranking Software Your radar detector includes an optional boost in false alert filtering software to eliminate excessive alerts from erroneous K-band sources. One example of this is traffic flow monitoring systems. These systems, which are becoming more widely used in several countries, generate K-band signals to measure the flow of traffic on a given road. Unfortunately most detectors see this as a real threat and will alert you to it unnecessarily. Our proprietary TSR software, intelligently sorts, ranks and rejects this type of false alarm automatically. The result is ultimate protection without excessive false alarms. 11 Operation POWERING ON THE DEVICE, ADJUSTING VOLUME To turn on the unit and adjust the audio volume, rotate the On-Off/ Volume control clockwise (away from you). VOL 46 Volume Up/Down/Power NOTE: In some vehicles, power is supplied to the cigarette lighter even while the ignition is Off. If this is the case with your vehicle, you should turn Off or unplug your detector when parking for lengthy periods. SENSITIVITY MODES Setting your detector to Low or Medium sensitivity delays the audio alerts for weak X band and K band signals until they become stronger. (A single beep will sound when the signal is first detected.) Also, additional filtering is done to reduce false alerts while you are driving in, or near, urban areas where there are many sources for conflicting X and K band signals such as microwave towers and automatic door openers. To change the sensitivity mode, press the SEN button. Icon Sensitivity Mode Description High No filtering for maximum sensitivity Medium Minimal filtering to reduce unwanted alerts Low Maximum filtering to reduce unwanted alerts Auto When connected to the Drive Smarter® app, Auto Mode will automatically adjust the Sensitivity level based on your speed. * Drive Smarter®-based features require connection to a smartphone running the Drive Smarter® app 12