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Over the years, several devices or radar jammer have been designed and developed to help defeat the authorities’ speed radar traps. This may sound a bit silly, but efforts have been made to create such devices to avoid getting overspeeding tickets.
These devices are called radar jammers. So “What is a radar jammer, “and how does it work? In this article, we will provide you with information that every driver has to know!
Before anything else, though, it is important to note that several states have banned the use of any radar jammer. This is principally due to the RF generator present in the system. The energy being emitted by the device is also against the power restriction of the FDA.
What Is a Radar Jammer?
A radar jammer is a device that is used to scramble nearby radar signals. This usually works by emitting radio frequency signals to interfere or disrupt the operation of speed radars. In the process, the receiver is saturated with noise and other false information.
This small-sized device is often used by drivers to jam the signals coming from the authority’s speed and radar detectors such as radar guns. However, as stated by the law, interfering with these signals is illegal, and using such devices may lead to imprisonment.
How Do Radar Jammers Work?
Basically, radar jammers work using the principle of interfering or overwhelming the returned and shifted frequencies from the reflected radar signals of the authority’s radar.
The first technique that can be used is to blast out voluminous junk radars. This will overwhelm the receiver, making it unable to hear the actual return signal, thus producing no radar at all. However, this will require tons of power, and modern radar guns can typically detect these changes.
Another way is by returning similar radar signals that would trigger fake speed on the radar gun. This can either be higher or lower than the actual speed. The jammer will take note of the radar frequency coming from the gun and generate its own output frequency or signal. However, this will be dependent on the driving direction and its relative speed.
Both of these techniques are challenged by the number of bands and width to work economically at all times.
Types of Radar Jammers
The radar jammers of the past were heavy and bulky. This meant they were very awkward to use. Today, though, they have now been developed to be very user-friendly. In fact, it comes in two different types: active radar jammers and passive radar jammers.
Active jammers actively work by generating and transmitting signals out to the radar gun, preventing it from functioning properly. Passive jammers, on the other hand, reflect a modified version of the original signal instead of generating and transmitting their own.
Today, about 90% of passive radar jammers are available in the market, and only 10% of the jammers are active devices.
Mechanical Jamming
Mechanical jamming is usually caused by reflecting or re-reflecting the radar energy back to the radar to produce false returns and information to the operator’s scope. This jamming device comes as either chaff, corner reflectors, and decoys.
- Chaff – This extremely lightweight and small-sized device is often made from different lengths of metallic strips that reflect different frequencies. It can create large areas of false returns, making it difficult to detect from the real ones.
- Corner Reflectors – This device has the same effect as the chaff but is physically different. It comes with many-sided objects that help re-radiate most of the radar energy back to the source.
- Decoys – This is a maneuverable flying object that can deceive radar operators. It is a bit dangerous to use as it can clutter up the radar signals with false targets.
Electronic Jamming
Electronic jamming is a warfare system that radiates the interfering signals towards the direction of the enemy’s radar. In the process, the receiver is blocked with highly concentrated energy signals, either through noise technique or repeater technique.
This noise jamming comes in three types, including spot, sweep, and barrage.
- Spot Jamming – This occurs when the jammer focuses its power on a single frequency to severely degrade its ability to track the jammed signals.
- Sweep Jamming – This occurs when the full signal of the jammer is shifted from one frequency to another to ensure the jamming of multiple frequencies in rapid succession.
- Barrage Jamming – This involves simultaneous jamming of multiple frequencies at once with the use of a single jammer.
Are Radar Jammers Effective?
Radar jammers built years ago were effective since, back then, radar guns are much simpler and easier to jam. The authorities have gotten smarter and started using advanced speeding guns. The advanced technology gives information on whether a jammer is trying to interfere with the speed radar.
They are now digital, giving extremely accurate speed results. The innovative system is less prone to error and is very difficult to jam using a radar jammer. With continuous innovations, especially with radar guns, these jamming devices tend to lose their ability, making them not useful and less effective in this day and age.
The potential of radar jammers is somehow limited since most products being sold in the market today are not quite effective against the latest speed gun technology. Older analog jammers have jamming effects on older analog X-band radars. However, they are bulky and difficult to operate. In return, the safety of the drivers is put at risk.
Furthermore, radar jammers tend to lose calibration after a certain time period. This will further diminish and reduce the jamming effectiveness of the device.
Final Thoughts
Knowing what a radar jammer is and how it works is fascinating. While these innovative devices have incredible features, they should not be used to avoid speeding tickets. This is because there are technical challenges and huge legal limitations that can penalize or even put you in jail.
Instead, the best tool that you can own is a good radar detector. This will alert you of any speed guns near the area so that you can slow down and avoid getting an overspeeding ticket.
