I recently noticed that my v1's Ka alert hasn't been going off even though it is set to the more responsive mode. Other bands go off as usual when i pass stores and the likes but since Ka is the most important I am a little worried.

I called their support and the only advice I received was to send it in for testing (~$50 + s/h).

Just wondering if others have experienced this or if anyone has any ideas aside from asking a cop to turn their radar on for me to test my v1?

Any advice, suggestions, or recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

Generally stores and such will only alert X and K band radar on my V1, and sometimes you get random laser falses. Ka for me though is at least 80-90% police, with pretty rare falses.

How long has it been since you've gotten a Ka alert? If it's only been a couple weeks it's a pretty good chance you just haven't run into any Ka-sporting police. If it's been much longer then I'd be worried. Have you messed around with the other settings other than sensitivity? You could have possibly turned off Ka band by mistake.

Also, if you're running an older version of the V1 (I'm assuming it's older since you're out of warranty), it might be a good idea to just send it in for an upgrade instead of spending fifty plus just on testing.

Also go check out radardetector.net. Great forums

 

I'm wondering that myself. They setup one of those stationary radar detectors with the big display in my neighborhood and my V1 didn't make a single sound. This went on for about a week.

 

Because most cops use Ka out here is socal I am worreid that it is broken. Its only been a couple of weeks but that seems like an unusually long time. I mean before that it would go off almost everyday or at least every other day. Even last night, driving home from work and a cop speeds by me and turns on his lights to pull someone over. I know he could have not had his radar on but what are the chances, he just pulled someone over.

What concerned me the most is when I was stopped at a light last week and I happen to see a cop pointing the radar gun into on coming traffic and my v1 didn't make a noise. Could it have not just picked it up? I'm thinking not given the claims made by v1.

As for version, i'm running the latest.

 

Are you sure it would cost you on top of shipping to get it checked out? Others I've talked to have had theirs adjusted free of charge (if it's a defect, like yours could very well have). But yeah you probably should send it in just to be careful. Mine does also go off at least every other time I get in the car.

FWIW, that one cop pointing could have been laser, so you probably would not have gotten a signal unless he was pointing at you. Still it is odd not to get any ka signals for so long when you're used to it everyday.

 

Here is what Mike Valentine himself had to say about your Valentine One missing a speed sign.

The failure to alert to a particular speed sign might have one of several causes:

1) The speed sign may employ an FM-CW modulation technique to sense the direction of vehicles in its field of view. This feature is used to isolate departing from oncoming traffic. The V1 does not recognize FM-CW modulation as a valid police radar signal and tries to reject it. FM-CW is allowed for license-free "Part 15" devices by the FCC. FM-CW is not allowed for police radar. There are numerous traffic-volume sensors using FM-CW spread all around metropolitan areas these days that detector owners would rather not produce an alert. Otherwise freeway driving (in Cincinnati, at least) would be very annoying. It's a good thing that the V1 rejects FM-CW modulated signals.

2) The speed sign may have drifted out of the police radar band from aging or temperature. "Part 15" devices are somewhat notorious for this behavior. Automatic door sensors and Doppler security sensors are both "Part 15" devices, too. Few automatic door sensors use FM-CW because of the added expense. The speed sign devices can afford the added cost of including the FM-CW modulating hardware.

3) The V1 in question may need for our service department to have a look at it to make sure it is operating correctly.

 

^^^^ I thought you were banned?

well apparently not if you're still spamming our servers.

 

Notice he's a new user, with "1" at the end of his name?

I'm a V-1 user, and I still don't like his spam attitude.