Prepare for the North Carolina RADAR State Exam with essential insights and practice questions to boost your confidence. This comprehensive resource will guide you through the exam requirements, helping you maximize your chances of success.

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What might cause low or high target speed results when using moving RADAR?

  1. Excessive signal jamming

  2. Rapid changes in patrol car speed

  3. Reflections from surrounding objects

  4. Incorrect calibration of the device

The correct answer is: Rapid changes in patrol car speed

The phenomenon of low or high target speed results when using moving RADAR can indeed stem from rapid changes in patrol car speed. When a patrol car is in motion, its own speed can influence the reading of the RADAR device; if the patrol car's speed changes quickly, it may cause discrepancies in the target speed measurement. This occurs because RADAR systems rely on the Doppler effect, which measures the frequency change of reflected signals to determine speed. Sudden accelerations or decelerations from the patrol vehicle can affect the consistency of the readings, leading to either inflated or deflated speed readings of the target vehicle. The other factors, while they can disrupt the effectiveness of RADAR, speak to different issues within the context of speed measurement. Excessive signal jamming typically results in interference that might prevent the RADAR from functioning altogether, rather than causing specific speed misreads. Reflections from surrounding objects may create ghost signals or incorrect readings but do not specifically relate to the patrol car’s speed dynamics. Similarly, incorrect calibration can lead to consistently wrong readings but does not directly relate to rapid changes in the vehicle's motion impacting the measurement at a given moment.