Escort Passport SR1 Owner's Manual

Table of Contents

Introduction 2-3

• Congratulations 2

• IMPORTANT WARNING 2

• Quick Reference Guide 3

Controls and Features 4-7

• Power and volume control 4

• Power-on indication 4

• AutoMute 4

• Mute 4

• Auto / Highway / City Switch 4

• Display Brightness 5

• Audible Alerts 5

• Signal Strength Meter 6

• ExpertMeter 6-7

EZ Programming 8-12

• How to use EZ Programming 8

• Example of Programming 8

• Overview of Programming 9

• Details of Programming 10-12

Technical Details 13-19

• Specifications 13

• Interpreting Alerts 14-15

• How Radar Works 16

• How Laser Works 17

• How Safety Radar Works 18-19

Service 20-24

• Troubleshooting 20-21

• Service 22

• Warranty 23

• Accessories 24

1

Congratulations and Important Warning

Congratulations

Your new Passport SR1 is the most

advanced remote radar detector available.

Passport SR1 includes full X, K, and
SuperWide Ka radar capability, front and
rear laser detection, Digital Signal Process­ing for superior range and falsing rejection,
our patented Mute and AutoMute, audible
and visual band alerts, and all the perfor­mance you’d expect from Escort.

In addition, the new Passport SR1 in­troduces a new level of revolutionary per­formance and innovative features.

• Breakthrough 8-sensor long-range

laser detection circuitry

• New 4-bit A/D converter for im-

proved radar detection range

• Advanced EZ Programming lets you

instantly set 10 features

• New AutoSensitivity

Highway and City settings

• Ultra-bright Hewlett-Packard Matrix

Display with 280 LEDs

• New ExpertMeter

plays up to 8 radar signals

• Detects all Safety Radar signals

™

mode, plus

™

tracks and dis-

If you’ve used a radar detector before,
a review of the Quick Reference Guide on
page 3, and the EZ Programming informa­tion on pages 8 and 9 will briefly explain
the new features.

If this is your first detector, please read
the manual in detail to get the most out of
Passport’s performance and features.

Please drive safely.

IMPORTANT INSTALLATION WARNING

Your new Passport must be installed
by a professional. Car Audio special­ists and many car dealers can install
Passport for you.

Attempting to install Passport SR1 with­out expertise in automotive electronic
installations can cause personal injury
during the installation, or can damage
your Passport or your vehicle. If your
vehicle is damaged during installation,
its safety systems may be compromised,
which could cause personal injury or
property damage.

2

Quick Reference Guide

Power/Volume Control

Rotate the thumbwheel to turn Passport
on and set the volume.

AutoMute

Passport’s patented AutoMute auto­matically reduces the volume level of
the audio alert. Pg 4. If you prefer, you
can turn AutoMute off. Pg 8

Matrix Display

Passport’s display will show “Highway”,
“Auto,” or “City” as its power-on indica­tion. Pg 6. If you prefer, you can choose
other power-on indications. Pg 8-10

During an alert, the display will indi­cate radar band, and a precise bar
graph of signal strength. Pg 6

You can program Passport for the
ExpertMeter, which displays up to 8
radar signals at once. Pg 6-7

The display can also show Safety
Radar text messages. Pg 18-19

City Button

Switches between AutoSensitivity,
City, and Highway settings. In general,
we recommend the Auto mode. Pg 4

Mute Button

Briefly press this button to silence the
audio for a specific alert. (The audio
will alert you to the next encounter.)

Pg 4

EZ Programming

Passport is ready to go– just turn it on.
But you can also easily change 10
features for your preferences. Press
both buttons to enter the Program
Mode, then easily Review or Change
your settings. Pg 8-12

3

Controls and Features

Power and volume control

To turn Passport on and adjust the alert
tone volume level, rotate the thumbwheel
on Passport's Display/Controller. Turn the
control to the left to increase the audio
volume. When you turn Passport on, it goes
through a sequence of alerts.

If you prefer, you may program your

Passport for a shorter power-on sequence.
See the EZ Programming section for details.

Power-on indication

After Passport's start-up sequence is com­plete, the matrix display will show “High­way”, “City”, or “Auto” to show which
operation mode is selected.

If you prefer, you can select alternate

power-on displays. See the EZ Program­ming section for details.

AutoMute

Your Passport has our patented AutoMute
feature. After Passport alerts you to a radar
encounter at the full volume, it automati­cally mutes the volume
This keeps you informed without the an­noyance of a continuous full-volume alert.

If you prefer, you can turn the

AutoMute feature off. See the EZ Program­ming section for details.

to a lower level.

Mute

The Mute Button, located on Passport’s
front panel, allows you to
the audio alert during a radar encounter.

To mute the audio for a single specific
signal, briefly press the Mute Button. After
that radar encounter has passed, the mute
will automatically reset and the audio
alert you to the next encounter.

totally silence

will

Auto / Highway / City Switch

The City button selects Passport’s sensitiv­ity mode. We recommend the “Auto”
(AutoSensitivity) mode for most driving.

Passport’s new AutoSensitivity mode
provides long-range warning, with mini­mum false alarms. In this mode, Passport’s
internal computer continuously analyzes
all incoming signals and intelligently ad­justs the sensitivity circuits.

You can also select conventional “High­way” and “City” modes. When driving in
urban areas where annoying X-band intru­sion alarms and door openers are common,
City Mode can be engaged to lower X-band
sensitivity and reduce X-band alerts. Full
sensitivity is maintained on all other bands.
You can customize Passport’s City Mode
sensitivity. See the EZ Programming sec­tion for details.

4

Controls and Features

Display Brightness

Passport’s display brightness is automati­cally adjusted to suit ambient lighting con­ditions in your car. (The light sensor is
located between the City button and the
Mute button, so the display may dim mo­mentarily when you block the sensor when
pressing these buttons.)

If you prefer, you can program your
Passport for a fixed brightness level (Maxi­mum, Medium, Minimum, or Dark). See the
EZ Programming section for details.

Dark Mode

If you set Passport to its Dark Mode with its
EZ Programming, Passport changes to a
very inconspicuous power-on indication: a
very dim “AD”, “HD”, or “CD”. (In this
display, the A, H, or C indicates Auto,
Highway, or City, and the D indicates Dark.)

When Passport is in the Dark Mode,
the display will not show visual alerts when
Passport detects signals. Only the audible
alert will tell you of detected signals.

See the EZ Programming section for
more details.

Audible Alerts

For Radar signals:

Passport uses a Geiger-counter-like
sound to indicate the signal strength and
type of radar signal being encountered.

When you encounter radar, a distinct
Audible Alert will sound and occur faster as
the signal gets stronger. When the signal is
very strong, the Audible Alerts will blend
into a solid tone. This allows you to judge
the distance from the signal source with­out taking your eyes from the road.

Each band has a distinct tone for easy
identification. X-band = beep tone, K-band
= raspy brap tone, Ka-band = double-brap
tone.
For Laser signals:

Since Laser signals are a possible threat
no matter how weak, Passport alerts you to
all laser signals with a full laser alert.
For Safety signals:

If you have turned on the SWS and
Safety Alert detection in Passport’s pro­gramming, Passport will alert you to these
signals with a double-beep tone, and a
corresponding text message. A complete
listing of the text messages is on page 19.

If you haven’t programmed your Pass­port to decode the safety signals (see pages
8, 12, 19), it will still display them as strong
K-band radar signals.

5

Controls and Indicators

Signal Strength Meter

Passport’s new matrix display consists of
280 individual LED’s, to provide an intui­tive ultra-bright display of signal strength
and text messages.

When Passport detects radar, it dis­plays the band of the radar (X, K, or Ka),
and a precise bar graph of signal strength.

When Passport detects laser from the
front, the display will show “LASER F.”
When Passport detects laser from the rear,
the display will show “LASER R.”

ExpertMeter

Passport’s new ExpertMeter option is
an advanced display for experienced
detector users. Please use Passport for a

few weeks to get familiar with its other
features

the bar graph signal strength meter,
you must select ExpertMeter in Pass­port’s EZ Programming (see pg 8 -12).

meter only displays information about a
single radar signal. If there are multiple
signals present, Passport’s internal computer
determines which is the most important
threat to show on the bar graph meter.

before using ExpertMeter.

To use the ExpertMeter instead of

Passport’s standard signal strength

6

Controls and Indicators

However, Passport’s ExpertMeter si­multaneously tracks up to 8 radar signals. It
shows you detailed information on up to 2
Ka-band, 2 K-band, and 4 X-band signals.

ExpertMeter can help you spot a
change in your normal driving environ­ment; for example, a traffic radar unit being
operated in an area where there are nor­mally other signals present.

The ExpertMeter is actually a minia­ture spectrum analyzer. It shows what band
each signal is, its relative frequency within
the band, and its signal strength.

KA|| K|| X

Above is the ExpertMeter Display if Passport
was detecting 2 strong Ka-band, 2 strong
K-band, and 4 strong X-band signals.

As you can see, there are vertical lines
after each band designator. Each line shows
a signal being detected. The height of each
line shows the relative signal strength of
that signal. The position of the line shows
the relative frequency of the signal within
the band.

NOTE: If you use ExpertMeter, the
brief signal shown in the power-on se­quence when you turn on your Passport
will also be in ExpertMeter: an “X” with a
single vertical line.

A few more examples will help you
better see how the ExpertMeter works.

||||

KA|| K|| X

Here ExpertMeter shows 1 strong K-band
signal, and 3 X-band signals, 2 strong and
1 weak.

KA|| K|| X

Here ExpertMeter shows 1 weak Ka-band
signal, and 3 weak X-band signals.

KA|| K|| X

On very weak signals, there will not be a
vertical line at all. This shows a very weak
X-band signal.

ExpertMeter Details

The band designators (X, K, Ka) will
stay on the display for a few seconds
the signal has passed. This allows you to see
what the unit detected, even on very brief
signals.

However, the vertical lines represent­ing individual signals
(several times a second) to give you a con­tinuous instantaneous view of all radar sig­nals present.

Note: even long-time detector users
will require a significant time to get
familiar with this new level of infor­mation about detected signals.

||||

||||

||||

after

continuously change

7

How to customize Passport with EZ Programming

There are 10 user-selectable options so you
can customize your Passport for your own
preferences. The buttons that are normally
used for CITY and MUTE are used to enter
the Program Mode, to REVIEW your cur­rent program settings, and to CHANGE any
settings as desired. Pages 10-12 explain
each option in more detail.

How to use EZ Programming

1

To enter Program Mode, press both
buttons and hold for 2 seconds. (Passport

will beep twice and display “Program”. Bright­ness is at maximum during programming.)

2

Then press the REVIEW button to review
the current settings. (You can either tap

the button to change from item to item, or
hold the button to scroll through the items.)

3

Press the CHANGE button to change
any setting. (You can either tap the button

to change from setting to setting, or hold the
button to scroll through all the options.)

4

To leave the Program Mode, simply wait
8 seconds without pressing any button.

(The unit will display “Complete”, beep 4
times, and return to normal operation.)

(To quickly return to
defaults, press and hold the City and Mute
buttons while turning on the unit.)

all of the factory

An example

For example, here’s how you would turn
Passport’s AutoMute feature off.

1 Enter the Program Mode by holding
both buttons down for 2 seconds. Passport
will beep twice and display “Program”.

2 Then hold the REVIEW button down.

Passport will scroll through the categories,
starting with Display (“Disp”),
then Pilot Light (“Pilot”),
then Power-on sequence (“PwrOn”),
then Signal strength meter (“Meter”),
then AutoMute (“aMute”).

3 Release the REVIEW button when Pass­port shows the AutoMute item. Since the

factory setting is for AutoMute to be on,
Passport will display “aMute ON”.

(If you accidentally don’t release the
Review button in time, and Passport goes to
the next category, hold the Review button
down again, and after Passport scrolls
through all categories, it will begin again at
the top of the list.)

4 Press the CHANGE button to change
from “aMute ON” to “aMute OFF”

5 To complete the Programming, simply
wait 8 seconds without pressing any but­ton. Passport will display “Complete”, beep

4 times, and return to normal operation.

8