Re: V1 and Stealth mounting

["Mudry, Robert (CAP, AMR)" <rob.mudry@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Phid Bombadier wrote:

>I've heard people mounting their Valentine 1 systems in the 3rdbrakelight
compartment and running the remote display, but are there any down sides to
this >mounting (Besides loss of laser detection?) ie. Plastic brake housing
reducing range and sensitivity, spoiler reducingrear range, etc.?

Phid,

You're right, the front radar sensitivity is slightly reduced.  I haven't
done any proper measurements, but it seems that X band is affected the most,
while the K and Ka band are affected slightly less (almost negligibly).
This may actually be a plus since X band is rarely used by police (at least
in Northern VA).  I feel that the rear coverage is actually improved (duh!)
so therefore the rear M3 spoiler seems to have no impact on the radar
coverage.  Radar waves pass through plastics and glass, but they are
reflected and scattered by metals.  By placing the V1 on the rear shelf you
simply increase the frontal blind spots caused by front pillars and the roof
of the car.  

As far as the laser detection is concerned, someone mentioned that it is
reduced.  Well, it's reduced by 100% in the front (laser/lidar operates
almost in the visible spectrum) and since rear laser coverage doesn't make
any sense, you're stuck without any laser protection.  I actually had to
disable laser feature altogether as I was getting unexplainable laser
falsing.

Rob Mudry
'96 328is
BMW CCA #135536  

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