Pocket Radar Cell Towers
- Thread starter BrianTx01
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Pocket R
Measure - Train - Improve
Brian,
Yes, cell phone towers emit radio waves that can interfere with the radio waves from any radar gun. Unfortunately, it seems like more and more of these are popping up on ball fields. Anytime you get ready to make a measurement with a radar you should scan the environment by holding down the button to see if you get readings when there is no ball in flight. Cell phone towers usually show up with readings of 28, 56, 84, or 112 MPH. Other things like moving fans, motors, florescent lamps and pitching machines can also cause various types of interference. This is why police officers are required to take an extensive training course before they can start writing tickets using radar because they need to be able to identify interference readings. They call them "ghost readings"
In a training situation you can sometimes set up in a different direction to avoid the source of interference. Unfortunately in a game situation this is not often possible. I am asking our engineers to investigate possible ways to filter out these types interfering signals. Perhaps sometime in the future a new product may be able to help with this issue.
If you ever have any questions about anything concerning radar operation feel free to give us a call on our toll-free support line at 888.381.2672 weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time.
Thanks,
Chris Stewart / President, Pocket Radar Inc.
Yes, cell phone towers emit radio waves that can interfere with the radio waves from any radar gun. Unfortunately, it seems like more and more of these are popping up on ball fields. Anytime you get ready to make a measurement with a radar you should scan the environment by holding down the button to see if you get readings when there is no ball in flight. Cell phone towers usually show up with readings of 28, 56, 84, or 112 MPH. Other things like moving fans, motors, florescent lamps and pitching machines can also cause various types of interference. This is why police officers are required to take an extensive training course before they can start writing tickets using radar because they need to be able to identify interference readings. They call them "ghost readings"
In a training situation you can sometimes set up in a different direction to avoid the source of interference. Unfortunately in a game situation this is not often possible. I am asking our engineers to investigate possible ways to filter out these types interfering signals. Perhaps sometime in the future a new product may be able to help with this issue.
If you ever have any questions about anything concerning radar operation feel free to give us a call on our toll-free support line at 888.381.2672 weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time.
Thanks,
Chris Stewart / President, Pocket Radar Inc.
That might explain some of the posts we see about 8U girls throwing 56mph. It doesn't explain the 7 pitches they throw though.
Pocket R
Measure - Train - Improve
You are right that this would be the explanation for a 56 at 8U. You should always test for interference by holding down the radar button when there is no ball in flight to see if you get any so-called "ghost readings" from an interference source.
The 7 MPH readings are a very different issue. This only occurs on the Classic model. The Ball Coach model was specifically designed to solve that issue. The problem is that the Classic model with the Red button is not specifically designed for measuring ball speeds. It is designed to measure all kinds of different moving objects. The Classic model works like a police radar gun and makes an instantaneous measurement when you TAP the red button, or it repeats the instantaneous measurement every 3/4 of a second when you hold the button down. This is great for measuring cars and runners but is not that easy to use for pitches. Since a pitch is only in motion for less than 1/2 a second, when people hold the button down they can often get a piece of the arm motion instead of the ball speed. We discovered that most people were not reading the manual and were just pulling the radar out and holding the button down, which is a problem. to measure a pitch speed with a Classic model you must TAP the red button right at the foot plant.
When we got feedback from the coaches about the difficulty in figuring out how to measure a pitch with the Classic model, we went back to the lab and added a lot more technology into the Ball Coach Radar to track a ball in flight and automatically find the release speed of the ball. It measures with a very different process than the Classic model. This is why we no longer recommend the Classic model for ball sports. Too many people were struggling with the timing. The Ball Coach Radar and the new Smart Coach Radar both have the automatic ball tracking technology inside and do not have the problem of picking up the low speeds from the arm.
If you ever have any questions about how any radar guns operate, please give me a call on our toll-free support line at 888.381.2672 weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time. Thanks,
Chris Stewart / President, Pocket Radar Inc.
The 7 MPH readings are a very different issue. This only occurs on the Classic model. The Ball Coach model was specifically designed to solve that issue. The problem is that the Classic model with the Red button is not specifically designed for measuring ball speeds. It is designed to measure all kinds of different moving objects. The Classic model works like a police radar gun and makes an instantaneous measurement when you TAP the red button, or it repeats the instantaneous measurement every 3/4 of a second when you hold the button down. This is great for measuring cars and runners but is not that easy to use for pitches. Since a pitch is only in motion for less than 1/2 a second, when people hold the button down they can often get a piece of the arm motion instead of the ball speed. We discovered that most people were not reading the manual and were just pulling the radar out and holding the button down, which is a problem. to measure a pitch speed with a Classic model you must TAP the red button right at the foot plant.
When we got feedback from the coaches about the difficulty in figuring out how to measure a pitch with the Classic model, we went back to the lab and added a lot more technology into the Ball Coach Radar to track a ball in flight and automatically find the release speed of the ball. It measures with a very different process than the Classic model. This is why we no longer recommend the Classic model for ball sports. Too many people were struggling with the timing. The Ball Coach Radar and the new Smart Coach Radar both have the automatic ball tracking technology inside and do not have the problem of picking up the low speeds from the arm.
If you ever have any questions about how any radar guns operate, please give me a call on our toll-free support line at 888.381.2672 weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time. Thanks,
Chris Stewart / President, Pocket Radar Inc.
