Training manuals and NHTSA recommendations state radar guns must be used to substantiate the officer’s visual tracking history of a suspected speeder. To establish a valid visual tracking history, the officer must be able to identify a suspect vehicle by make and model and based on their experience approximate the speed of the vehicle. The officer is to listen to the Doppler audio of the radar gun, take at least two radar speed readings of the suspect vehicle, check their speedometer if moving, to verify the speed of the patrol vehicle matches the speed shown by the radar gun, and then take enforcement action. To identify a vehicle by make and model is impossible at distances greater than 1/2 mile and most often radar is used at 1/4 mile or less. National radar court cases, i.e. Michigan v. Ferency mandate the “officer must be able to establish that the target vehicle was within the beam width” of the radar gun at the time of the assessment. At 500 feet a Ka band radar beam is 79 feet wide, at 1000 feet 158 feet wide, at 1/2 mile a whopping 395 feet wide, over a foot ball field in width. At 395 feet wide, officers know too many vehicles are in the beam width to meet the legal requirements of Michigan v Ferency. They wait until the target vehicle is close to them, usually less than 1/4 mile. Knowing how radar is used in enforcement and to qualify for acceptable performance, test vehicles were placed at the 1 mile cone. At this distance detectors must be able to alert drivers to all bands and identify the transmitted radar bands correctly. Only the tested radar detector was on. All other detectors were off. The test vehicles were stationary. Detectors were exposed three times to instant on, 2 seconds transmission, and constant on transmissions, 10 seconds of all three Ka frequencies, 33.8 GHz, 34.7 GHz, 35.5 GHz, K band at 24.150 GHz, and X band at 10.525. Officers and SML staff verified proper operation of the radar guns using tuning forks to verify frequency accuracy. Federal standards state moving radar must be accurate within +/- 2 mph while stationary guns must be accurate within + 1 mph/-2 mph, DOT HS 809 812. All detectors were mounted mid-point of the windshield in mid-sized cars. Combination units from TigerLily PRS4E Escort 8500 and Cheetah with Escort X50 were also tested. A Ka 33.8 GHz MPH Bee III, 34.7 GHz Stalker Dual, K 24.150 GHz Kustom Talon HR, and X 10.525 GHz MPH Speedgun were used. C means constant, I means instant on, Det means detector detected radar, BID means Band Identification or did the detector correctly identify the band. NR means no response. 3/3 means the detector alerted to the radar gun 3 of 3 tries. 1/3 means the detector alerted 1 of 3 tries.

* means Q3 Radar Hawk SM on 33.8 GHz and 34.7 GHz had no audible warning although the detector showed Ka band. The Q3 RH SB3 and Q3 RH SE qualify for performance certification. NR means detector had no response to radar gun. Verification of transmission made with Beltronics remote detector located at location of radar guns. The Q3 RH SM does not qualify for performance certification. Forty of the fifty states have standardized on Ka band at 34.7 GHz and 33.8 GHz is rarely seen thus the importance of detecting 33.8 GHz is of greatly diminished value. All other participants with the exception of the Q3 RH SM are awarded performance certification based on their constant on and instant on testing performance. Production samples of retail detectors retested on 2 August 2007.