Radar Guns and Fluoresent Lights

[98Fastpitch30]

Friend has recently started taking his DD to a Pitching coach in the area. Asked if he could bring in his Radar Gun to clock his DD. The Pitching coach told him no! The Fluorescent lights would damage the gun! Now when I heard that I got out my owners manual that came with my gun and it said nothing about Fluorescent lights damaging gun. I'm wondering if anyone has ever heard of anything like this,or if it is even true?

 

[SoftSocDad]

Not sure how old your friend's daughter is, but make no mistake, the coach doesn't want the dad there with a radar gun, period. Coach is there to teach the girl how to pitch and needs her to focus on nothing but the instruction and her targets, not Crazy Daddy's radar gun. Maybe after they've been working together for awhile, the coach might invite dad to bring in the gun, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I have never had a parent bring in a radar gun, not in baseball or softball.

 

[98Fastpitch30]

The question I had is about "Fluorescent Lights" and the damage they do to "Radar Guns"... Not "Crazy Daddy's" radar gun! They have been working together for 6 months his older DD has been seeing him for awhile. So I would consider them working together for awhile. My question is why is the gun that the (PC) uses to track their progress any different from the one friend owns? Why would his not get damaged and friends would?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

How would we know? What type of fluorescent lighting is it? How far away are the lights from the gun? What type of gun does the instructor use? And what type of gun do you use? (I mean "your friend.")

I am joking with you. My Bears are stinking it up.

 

[SoftSocDad]

The question I had is about "Fluorescent Lights" and the damage they do to "Radar Guns"... Not "Crazy Daddy's" radar gun! They have been working together for 6 months his older DD has been seeing him for awhile. So I would consider them working together for awhile. My question is why is the gun that the (PC) uses to track their progress any different from the one friend owns? Why would his not get damaged and friends would?

You also said 'recently'.

Ask yourself - if the PC already has a radar gun that he uses, then why would the dad need to bring one to practice at all?

If you *really* want to believe that the coach is genuinely concerned about the 'harmful' fluorescent lights, then I don't know what to tell ya other than to have fun researching this mystery when the answer is obvious to many who are reading this forum.

 

[98Fastpitch30]

WoW! Really? I thought of all places I would get some good advise or thoughts as to why he would say that.Never have I ever heard anything about fluorescent lighting damaging guns, (now I don't know everything) and I thought that it was strange considering I've been to a few college camps and some of the staff walk around with guns. Amy the fluorescent lighting is just regular lighting that you can go out and get at any Home Depot.They are all hung on the ceiling. They both own a Juggs gun. I use the Bushnell myself! The whole reason he asked if he could bring in his gun is because they both own the same gun and he was getting a diff. reading from his gun than the (PC) was getting from his.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

he was getting a diff. reading from his gun than the (PC) was getting from his.

Here is what I think. I think that the instructor is lying to your friend. Now, I don't know if the instructor is telling the dad that the girl is doing better than she is, but that would not be unheard of. My nephew has a pitching instructor for his daughter that tells them she consistently throws 52, as a 12 YO. I know that she can't throw faster than 47. But, the instructor tries to keep my nephew happy.

 

[lhowser]

Never heard of such a thing. Googled it and nothing there. I do not believe there is any truth to it. Now whether the lights cycling can effect reading...that is another story.

Neon and fluorescent lights are another potential source of radio interference. Radar units tend to be affected not only by devices operating at or near their assigned frequencies, but also by devices operating at multiples of that frequency. For instance, a fluorescent lamp operating at 60 cycles/sec will generate a speed reading of around 23 MPH on an X-band radar unit. This is because 60 cycles/second taken to the 11th power is very close to the X-band frequency. Officers can avoid this by parking their patrol units well away from illuminated areas, and again, by carefully listening to the tone.

From some website

 

[Carty]

Read the Jugs manual and there is no indication or warning not to operated their radar gun under flourenscents. Mine (Bushnell) doesn't have a warning either. Just a guess here, but microwave ovens operate in the same range and no problems there. One more guess. I can't reason why a light source would harm the transmitter section, nor interfere. As far as the reciever, since it is dealing with waves, the possibility exists of interference, though the probablitiy is low. But harming something that is designed to "hear" a wave shouldn't happen either.