Uniden R7 Autolockouts Are Finally Here!

Autolockouts are now here for the Uniden R7! Finally!

R7 Autolockout Kicking In

Firmware 1.35 is now available and it brings a bunch of new changes including automatic GPS lockouts, improved BSM filtering, faster K band reactivity, and more. (It’s available on RDF early and will be posted to Uniden’s website shortly.)

Here’s the direct link to download 1.35.

Purchase your Uniden R7 here.

Autolockouts

After a loooong delay thanks to lawsuits over lockout patents and then the pandemic, Uniden has finally released autolockouts for the R7. Now when you repeatedly drive past a stationary false alert (ie. a shopping center door opener or speed sign), the R7 can automatically learn those false alerts and lock them out so they’re muted whenever you drive by them again. No more needing to double press the mute button to teach the R7 where the false alerts are located.

Once you pass a signal 3x (with at least 24 hours between each pass), the detector will display “Auto Mute Memory” on screen for about a second. Then the signal is grayed out and displays “Auto Mem” on screen in green text.

Here’s a quick demo so you can see the process. (Note: Low speed muting initially muted the signal here for the first second or so before the lockout was created.)

These Autolockouts Are Not Perfect

Unfortunately though, I don’t find the R7’s new autolockouts to work perfectly. In theory you should be able to drive around and after a few passes, the R7 will just completely and automagically mute all stationary false alerts, but that’s not the case.

The issue I’m repeatedly seeing is when you approach a door opener, the R7 will alert normally and then only when you get closer will the lockout kick in. Then the lockout kicks in and the detector stays muted until you fully pass the signal.

If you turn around the other way, again the detector will alert normally for a bit and then the lockout will only kick in once you get closer. Here’s a quick example:

Now personally I find this pretty annoying. You’ll notice in this video that there’s two signals coming from the restaurant on the right. One has been locked out, the other is not. Then as you get closer, both signals resume alerting normally, then both are locked out properly. Weird, right?

I’ve seen this issue with multiple door openers where the lockout doesn’t properly kick in until you’re closer to the source.

Doing more passes, eventually the area where the detector initially alerts may also get locked out too with a separate lockout. In my experience it takes even more passes and may or may not happen. So after enough time a signal eventually may be fully locked out, but definitely not consistently with just one lockout.

Now whether this is an issue with too small a GPS lockout radius or it isn’t properly learning the entire length of road during a lockout, I’m not entirely sure. Either way, Uniden has been able to confirm and replicate the issue on their end.

Because we’ve all been waiting for autolockouts for so long, they’ve decided to go ahead and release this firmware as it is while continuing to improve things for a future update. I completely understand their decision and I’m glad we’re finally getting autolockouts after all this time, but unfortunately the algorithm is still not yet fully baked.

Autolockout Technical Details

Finally, here’s a few more technical details regarding the current auto lockout implementation:

Here’s the Autolockout freq. ranges:

• X band +/- 10 MHz (20 MHz wide total)
• K band +/- 10 MHz (20 MHz wide total)
• Ka band +/- 20 MHz (40 MHz wide total)

The R7 can store 12,000 autolockouts, so we should have no issue logging every signal driving around town.

Locked out signals are automatically unlearned if the signal is not detected in the same location twice.

The signal that is muted by quiet ride can still be auto locked out.

Manual lockouts take priority over autolockouts.

You can manually delete autolockouts just like deleting manual lockouts. Double press mute button twice when auto lockout is present.

There’s also a new menu option to clear all autolockouts, separate from all manual lockouts.

A signal that is completely blocked by K Block cannot be auto locked out.  With the new K Block “Mute” mode (which we’ll talk about in a second), a signal that is blocked will be shown on the screen (‘blocked’ icon) and can still be auto locked out.

Finally, autolockouts will not be coming to the DFR7, DFR9, or R3 since they lack sufficient memory. This feature is exclusive to the R7.

Updated K Block Filter

The K Block filter to filter out Honda/Acura BSM’s has been updated with new options. In my experience this significantly quiets down the R7 and makes it much more usable. To be honest, for many this may be an even bigger deal than autolockouts.

What’s new here is that there are now two K Block filters (not just one) to cover different frequency ranges and more vehicles, plus we get more advanced filtering/muting options.

New K Block 1 Options

K Block (24.199 +/- 5 MHz) has been renamed to K Block 1.

If you were concerned about K Block potentially blocking out a legitimate police radar gun around 24.199’ish, there are new filtering options to still alert you for increased safety and situational awareness.

Now instead of simply blocking the signal altogether, you can have it still visually show you the signal is present while staying audibly muted (Mute option). You also have the ability to have it only filter out weak signals (ie. weak BSM’s from Hondas, Acuras, or Chryslers) while alerting normally to strong signals.

Here are the K Block 1 options:

• On: Filter out all signals 24.199 +/- 5 MHz
• Weak: Filters out only weak signals 24.199 +/- 5 MHz
• Mute: Audibly mute all signals 24.199 +/- 5 MHz
• Off: Disable K Block 1

I’ve been running all of them and have been happiest with the “Weak” option. For me it’s been effectively filtering out BSM’s while still audibly and visually alerting me to any stronger (and likely police) radar signals within that frequency range.

The “Mute” option works well too, but I prefer not having the detector light up every time I’m near a Honda or Acura.

K Block 1 muting but showing Honda BSM

New K Block 2 Filter

K Block 2 is similar to K Block 1, but it’s designed to help tackle BSM’s around 24.168 GHz. This can help cover falses from Hondas, Acuras, GMCs, Jeeps, Chryslers, and Cadillacs. In short, it is very helpful and does a great job in helping to further quiet down the R7. 🙂

This option is brand new for firmware 1.35.

K Block 2 covers 24.168 +/- 2 MHz.

This has the same 4 options as K Block 1.

• On: Filter out all signals 24.168 +/- 2 MHz
• Weak: Filters out only weak signals 24.168 +/- 2 MHz
• Mute: Audibly mute all signals 24.168 +/- 2 MHz
• Off: Disable K Block 2

Like K Block 1, I’ve been really happy running K Block 2 set to “Weak.” This option helps bring the R7’s quietness closer in line with other top tier detectors like the Escort Redline 360c and Valentine 1 Gen2.

(The main BSM falses I experience with 1.35 are things like Mazda CX-5’s at 24.123-24.124 and GM vehicles around 24.072 or so. The R7 is pretty quiet otherwise.)

K Band Reactivity Improvement

The R7 is now more responsive and reactive to brief K band alerts, helping you avoid potential risks due to quick trigger. This is an area where the R7 was already better than the RL360c and V1 Gen2 and it’s only gotten better with 1.35.

Arrow Improvements

The arrows have been improved to help avoid rapidly changing direction too frequently. I like this update to help settle down the R7’s arrows.

However, I’ve also found that having the arrows be a little more chilled out has also made the arrows take a little longer to flip backwards after passing a source.

Here’s an example running 1.35 and passing a rolling LEO so you can see what I mean:

Note: I also tested 1.35 in my speed sign testing video I posted recently (but those results haven’t yet been shared publicly because it was a beta firmware at the time). Besides the specifics I’ve already mentioned, the arrows with 1.35 behaved the same as they did with 1.33.

Ka Bogey Tone

The text “Bogey Tone” in the Menu has been changed to “Ka Bogey Tone.” This is to make it clearer that the new bogey alert tone only applies to Ka band, not to X or K band.

Speedcam Alert Distance

You can also now customize the alert distance for speed cameras.

• 1000 ft. / 300 m
• 2000 ft. / 600 m
• 2500 ft. / 760 m
• 3000 ft. / 900 m
• Auto
• Off

If you set it to Auto, the alert distance will change based on the speed limit of the camera in the database. The faster the speed limit of the camera, the farther away you’ll get alerted.

• Speed limit 50 or 60km/h: Alert range 600m
• Speed limit 70 or 80 km/h: Alert range 700m
• Speed limit 100, 110, or 120 km/h: Alert range 800m

POI Alert Change

When you pass a POI such as a RLC or Speedcam, the R7 will now give an alert chime (one beep) to let you know you’ve passed that POI.

New Mac Update Software

Finally, if you’re a Mac user, there was a change with macOS Big Sur that broke compatibility with Uniden’s drivers. For that reason, Uniden has released updated drivers and software for Mac users. You can download them from Uniden’s website. (Direct link here.)

Windows users can continue using the existing update software.

Download the Firmware Update

Ready to update your R7 to firmware 1.35?

The update has been released on RDF early. Here’s your direct download link to 1.35. It will be made available on Uniden’s website shortly.

Here’s a quick video walkthrough showing you how to update:

If you have any problems updating, head over to the Uniden discussion area on RDF for support.

Finally, if you still haven’t bought one yet, you can purchase your Uniden R7 here.