Do Radar Jammers Work

A radar is an electronic instrument used to determine the range, altitude, direction or speed of moving as well as fixed entities. RADAR is an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging. Nowadays, a radar is commonly used in speed detectors by the traffic police to determine the speed of vehicles. To avoid being detained by the police, many people use radar jammers that obstruct the working of the police detector radars. However, the police detectors have started utilizing smarter technologies to overcome this problem.

The basic components of a radar are transmitter, receiver, antenna, synchronizer, display and a switch duplexer. The transmitter generates the radio pulse to be transmitted. The antenna broadcasts it in the direction of the object to be detected. The radio wave that is transmitted is in phase when emitted, but disperses once it hits the target object. Part of this scattered wave is reflected back, which is caught by the antenna and sent to the receiver. Since the reflected signal is weak, the receiver amplifies it and further calculations are done accordingly. If the target object is moving, there is a slight change in the frequency of the reflected signal which indicates that the object is in motion. The switch duplexer controls the functioning of the antenna and connects it to the transmitter or the receiver, according to the requirement.

Radar Jammer and its Functions

The main objective of the radar jammer is to scramble the signals of the nearby radar. The radar jammer is an instrument that reflects the incoming signal or transmits its own electromagnetic wave signal at the same frequency as that of the radar detector's signal. This may cause the detector's signal to distort, saturate with wrong information or get jammed with an additional signal called noise. There are two types of jammers namely, passive and active.

Passive radar jammers reflect the incoming signal of a police radar gun with an additional FM chirp (it is a signal whose frequency increases and decreases with time), so as to confuse the radar gun. This theory works only if the radar detector is within a distance of three feet; beyond three feet it becomes weak and is unable to jam the radar gun.

Active radars transmit their own signal at the same frequency as that of the source radar's frequency. There are two types of active jammers viz., active radar jammers and active laser jammers. The active radar jammer sends out a signal matching the detected radar frequency whereas the active laser jammer emits light beams that blinds the laser system. This may effectively scramble the outgoing targeting signal long enough for you to pass by undetected. The active radars were more effective on the X band (10.5 - 10.55 GHz; the radar employing this band can take accurate readings of speed from a distance of 1/2 mile or less) and the K band (24.05 - 24.25 GHz; the radar can detect the speed from a range of 1/4 to 2 miles) radars. However, when the Ka band (34.2 - 35.2 GHz) radar detectors were included in the police equipment, these jammers became useless due to the wide frequency range.

Use of radar jammers is prohibited in many states, since they operate on radio waves which are under the control of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). However, laser jammers use light and are not under the jurisdiction of the FCC, hence may be allowed in some places. Radar jamming is mostly considered a felony in many countries, that's why avoid fitting a radar jammer in your vehicle.