Mr. Watson, Regarding the use of a scanner in your home, you are somewhat correct. There were/are laws ( very difficult to enforce ) covering the 800 Mhz. band enacted when a political scandal involved the use of a scanner to listen in to what someone else thought was a 'private' telephone call ( back when 800 Mhz. was unencoded and frequently scanned ). I still have a scanner that Uniden made with reference to 'Law Enforcement' listening, meaning that only law enforcement and a few others were supposed to listen in on the 800 Mhz. band. Scanners built since around 1990 exclude the 800 Mhz. range which was used for telephones, yet technically other receivers may be easily modified to do this- just not resold en-masse. Since most telephones are now using 'digital modes' and are on other frequency bands- you would probably only hear babies talking on low VHF ( near 50 Mhz. ), but there could be exceptions. As to the use of a radio in your vehicle, even scanners are theoretically legally a problem in many states. The laws often cover any radio which might be able to listen in on law enforcement frequencies, or detect radar used for traffic speed enforcement. While it may be possible for you to 'listen-in' on certain frequencies, having your radio tuned to any public safety frequency without the same 'APCO' style legal permission form that most agencies use might get you in a big bunch of trouble. Of course, that assumes that there was reason for the officer to believe you were 'listening in'. Should you be stopped for a burnt signal lamp, etc.- it might be easy to overhear. Reaching down to adjust the volume might not be wise, as they always wonder what you might be reaching for. On the subject of mobile listening, in many states you may not legally cover both ears unless you are deemed 'hearing handicapped'. While you see this all the time, I can tell you first hand that a certain officer in Minnesota once gave me a ticket for listening to my amateur radio with a single-ear headset. He was unaware that amateur radio operators are also allowed to cover one ear, thus my citation was not filed ( I just carried a copy in to his station, and he ripped up the original copy ). Had it been a two-ear headset, the citation would have been processed- despite my license and assignment delivering public-safety modems that day. You might also want to talk to amateur radio operators in Sugar Land Texas about operating while mobile. There are new laws regarding distracted driving which may soon also apply in Houston.
73 de KB0MNM ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Watson via BVARC" <bvarc@bvarc.org> To: "BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB" <bvarc@bvarc.org> Cc: "Tom Watson" <wz8q....@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 3:52:10 PM Subject: Re: [BVARC] Police/Fire call listening on UHF/VHF Someone may correct me on this, but except for a period during WW I, I don't think there has ever been a law prohibiting the use of a receiver at any frequency. Even if there were, it would be difficult to enfource. Tom Watson, WZ8Q On Aug 29, 2017 7:13 AM, "Gayle Dotts via BVARC" < bvarc@bvarc.org > wrote: Out of curiosity is it allowed to listen in on our radios? I looked up scanner frequencies of 460.XXX range with a PL123.0 and scanned up and down but heard nothing. Maybe it's blocked somehow. Just wanting to listen in since we are in all this hurricane and flooded event situation. Any advise? _______________________________________________ BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org Message delivered to wz8q....@gmail.com _______________________________________________ BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org Message delivered to jkli...@comcast.net
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