I had an inquiry today from a Radartest.com reader:
Two years ago automatic speed ticketing arrived to Mexico City, Mexico. The system used is made by ROBOT Visual Systems GmbH. The models used are called MULTANOVA- MultaRadar C type and are aimed to the back of the cars, to outgoing traffic, not towards the oncoming traffic. I can't figure out if these are using RADAR or LASER. Is this type of speed enforcement detectable with it or jammable? Is there a radar detector in the market for this? 12 of these have been installed and are taking plate pics by the dozens per hour. I also know they are aimed at a 35 degree angle. They have ticketed so many cars, 200,000 per year that additional units have been bought. At a $100 Dollar per ticket, super business! Thanks in advance for your help. Juan C.
Like most similar missives, this one displays the confusion about speed cameras experienced by most drivers. In my reply I pointed out that the system in question is a Swiss-made Multanova photo radar, aka "speed camera". ROBOT is the German system integrator that combines the Multanova radar with their camera equipment. The Multanova’s 34.3 GHz Ka band (Type 6 models) or 24.100 GHz signal (Type C models) can be detected—but few detectors are up to the task
That’s because the Multanova has the lowest-powered radar beam of any speed camera system—0.5 mW. (The typical K- and Ka-band U.S.-made moving radar has an output of 20-40 mW.) The beam is also angled at 22 degrees across the road (not 35 degrees) and is highly directional, making detection even tougher since the beam is shooting off into space rather than toward the detector.
A unique feature of the Multanova makes detection even more difficult. It's the only speed camera with a radar beam that's polarized vertically, rather than circularly or horizontally. Radar detectors have antennas optimized to receive the circularly-polarized signals used by all U.S.-made traffic radar. A vertically-polarized beam drives them nuts. This is why a few savvy European drivers--where Multanovas have been fixtures for three decades--tilt their detectors at right angles to the roadway. This aligns the radar detector antenna with the speed camera's radar beam and increases detection range by 50 percent or more.
But 150 feet of detection range versus 75 feet is a moot point. Target-capture range of the speed camera is 60-100 feet. In my test against the most widely-used speed cameras including the
Multanova and Gatso, the Escort 8500 X50 and Solo S2, the BEL RX65, BEL Vector 995 and RX75, and the Valentine One were the only effective countermeasures. No radar detector priced under $200 could hear it from more than a few feet away. If Juan wants protection against this and other speed cameras, he’ll need to shell out for a high-end radar detector.
The Redflex system deployed by the DPS uses the same Multanova radar, which means my fellow Arizonans will need to do likewise, to avoid the 100 photo radar vans with which the DPS will begin saturating state highways this summer. (Arizona, like most states, has a big budget shortfall. A partial solution is to use the 100 speed cameras to generate, at minimum, some 1.3 million tickets the first year, generating $130 million.)
Craig
Detecting Gatso & Multanova Speed Cameras 
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