Highway Scanner Use

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crazycanuck

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I am new to this board. I am not sure if some might find these questions controversial or not. I am trying to setup my motorcycle for some serious long distance riding. Given costs challenges of high insurance costs I would like to keep the speeding ticket avoidance odds in my favour. I know that monitoring CB channel 19 can help with "speed trap awareness". Then I remember my grandfathers old scanner. He was a HAM and had all kinds of interesting radio equipment. I figure why not just use a scanner to monitor the CB channel and get the extra benefit of being able to monitor the police channels at the same time. Is it realistic that this would be effective? What is the legality of in car scanners in Ontario? I have read on the internet that some States do not allow scanners in cars. Perhaps this is a rarely enforced law. I have also read that some scanners can detect if a signal on a certain band is within a certain range. Would this also work if traffic enforcement signals are encrypted?
 

mciupa

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Scanners are fine in your vehicle in Ontario. I doubt that they will help much in "ticket avoidance" . I wouldn't recommend multi-tasking while driving(i.e. staring at a scanner display while trying to lace through slower traffic. )
The only sure way is to not draw attention to yourself by doing things too extreme.

You will have to research the systems in use along your route. Some agencies may have "in the clear" comms (both analog or digital) while others may be encrypted resulting in some holes of monitoring along the way.

If you mention your route , you may get some detailed help about a good scanner to purchase.
 
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jellotor

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Gotta agree with mciupa on this one. The best way to avoid tickets is to not break the HTA. And I'm not sure how easy it would be to switch banks/channels on a scanner while driving a motorcycle, but it seems to me that it would be more difficult and complicated than doing the same in a car.
 

crazycanuck

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In terms of the route I often ride from Toronto to Northern Ontario on HWY 11. There are some very quiet parts of the highway north of North Bay. In particular there are some areas where (ie Tamagami) there are only one or two cruisers on the road at any given time. I figured I could set the scanner the listen to the appropriate channels when I stop for fuel and then listen through a head phone until the next fuel stop. I guess the it might be better just to purchase a cheaper portable CB radio and listen to the trucks on CH 19.

Listening to a scanner would be more of a fun excercise than anything. Something to break up the hours of driving. Regarding the HTA, the majority of drivers break the HTA every time they drive.
 

LordJ

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I think your idea is a great one, although your MC type will determine how you will best accomplish your task. If you have a cruiser type MC (Goldwing type) then you could easily install a shiny new 996t in there via DIN mounting, even going as far as enabling the GPS locational scanning, alpha tagging is great. There would be no HTA problems that I know of with regards to listening there. If that's no good, then a nice 396T is in order with some sort of velcro strap setup to secure it to the bike somewhere. Oh ya, don't forget the antenna, maybe an nmo mount off the back somewhere?...cool, I'm having visions right now...
 

crazycanuck

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LordJ said:
I think your idea is a great one, although your MC type will determine how you will best accomplish your task. If you have a cruiser type MC (Goldwing type) then you could easily install a shiny new 996t in there via DIN mounting, even going as far as enabling the GPS locational scanning, alpha tagging is great. There would be no HTA problems that I know of with regards to listening there. If that's no good, then a nice 396T is in order with some sort of velcro strap setup to secure it to the bike somewhere. Oh ya, don't forget the antenna, maybe an nmo mount off the back somewhere?...cool, I'm having visions right now...

I was looking at the 996T on the Uniden website. The GPS feature looks like the prefect solution. Have the scanner only monitor the appropriate channels for the area you are traveling through would be great. As for mounting, I have a "sport touring" MC. I tend to carry a waterproof tankbag when I ride. I could put the scanner inside the tankbag. As for the antenna, I was thinking that I would make a wire antenna that could be glued to the underside of the plastic fairing so as not to change the profile of the bike. When I was a kid I had a book about building antennas. I built a few CB dipole antennas as a kid. The book is still at my parents house, but I can't seem to find it. I am sure I can find another source for that type of information. Hopefully an antenna under the fairing won't be too near the alternator and other electronics to pickup electrical interference.

I think using a scanner would be especially effective at avoiding the organized speed traps where one officer operates the radar, and another writes the ticket. I know that it is not a perfect solution, but something to pass the time when traveling down the highway.
 
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