I live in Massachusetts where radar detectors are legal and was thinking of getting one. I notice when reading reviews that some are better against certain bands of police radar. For those who don’t know police radar usually operates on one of several bands known as X, K, and Ka, and instant on versions of with these bands.
Can I find out what band or type of radar is used by state and local police in my area somewhere?
Don’t worry about X. The only thing that uses X nowadays is REALLY old radars and walgreens door openers. Chances are your city uses K/Ka and maybe laser once in a while. Go to http://www.radartest.com to get reviews on all the different models of detectors. I personally have a Bel 980 and think it works pretty well.
I’ve always been interested in Police Scanner listening, but have never owned a scanner.
Would you guys want to share a little info. on this hobby with me?
How do I get into it? Where do I get a radio? Can I get one in my car?
Wait, upon further reading the OP appears to be about Radar Detectors, like for speed traps, not polics band radios…my bad, sorry.
Well I found this –
At the radartest.com website. – Which indicates there still is some X band in use but it does not mention Mass. I know most of the false alerts are on X band and the some detectors allow you to turn off the x band to reduce most false alarms. Of course if the local police still use x band you just made your radar detector useless. I was leaning towards the passport 8500 or the bel 980.
I saw sombody state that the radartest.com website was owned by escort/passport but I have no way of knowing if that is true or just a rumor. I did find two more sites that rate detectors – http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caranddriver/features/2002/february/200202_feature_detectors.xml?&page=1 and http://www.speedzones.com/test2002new/test2002.htm