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Originally Posted by binarysleep  I'm sure I'm not the first to think if this, but I am interested in learning more about the gain improvements by adding a bigger horn to the front of a detector.
Perhaps a simple extension to the current horn. Anyone tested this sort of idea? |
I did this over 20 years ago with a Cobra Trapshooter Pro II. I increased its horn size from approximately 1"x3" to a larger 1.6"x5". The increase in sensitivity was as expected based on area -- about 2.5X in sensitivity. The only caveat is that you would want to match the top, bottom an side flare angles of the original radar horn. Also, don't expect to get the full gain simply based on the new area of the horn compared to the original horn since you did not extend the wave guides which are present within the original horn. Still, the increased sensitivity results were impressive when I tried this years ago.
Unfortunately, trying this "horn extension" approach presents problems with modern radar detectors since modern radar detectors also feature laser sensors which are mounted adjacent to the front of the original horn. Thus extending the original horn will result in blocking some of the field of view for the laser sensor.
It is a neat and somewhat practical idea for those who also have an independent laser jammer installed, but is not recommended otherwise since some of the RD's laser sensing capability for some ranges of angles will be blocked.