hemi said:
No Mike i was'nt implying the whole U.S. just a intresting topic for us canucks to kick around seems i know a few people having trouble getting a radio without a hassle in Canada. I placed a link on my yahoo group for those intrested.
For those who haven't bothered going to his Yahoo group, it's just a link to CEI's webpage. Nothing new. USASCAN has had their heads stuck in the ground for years.
As for this being an 'int
eresting topic for us
Canucks to kick around'.. no, it's not. It's a tiresome, annoying, misinformed falsehood.
Again and again, I, and others, have illustrated the facts in this situation, and there are still some people - both like the original poster, and the operators of companies such as CEI - who refuse to believe the truth.
Fact 1: The document everyone refers to is IPC 2-1-04, "Licensing of Digital Scanner Receivers", written by Industry Canada. IPC stands for
Internal Procedures Circular, which indicates that this is a document intended for use inside Industry Canada only, for Industry Canada staff. Furthermore, the document is dated
November 27, 1996 - nearly
nine years ago - LONG before the concept of digital scanners was even investigated, let along marketed by Uniden or anyone else.
Fact 2: Even if IPC 2-1-04 was relevant, it states:
"(...) users of digital scanner receivers capable of receiving radiocommunication must obtain a licence as prescribed in the Radiocommunication Act." The most recent issue of the Radiocommunication Act
makes no reference to scanners, digital or otherwise, and no reference to licensing them. In addition, IPC 2-1-04 states in its preface,
"(...) these circulars have no status in law."
Fact 3: When this subject has come up before, I have made it clear that I will maintain my stance on this subject until such time as someone comes forward with proof of an issued license for a digital scanner receiver. To date, no one has shown up with one. I found one person on scanbc.com who purports to have been issued such a license, but he has not yet responded to my PM to provide more information. As such, the elusive magical digital scanner license has still yet to be seen by anyone I know in the entire country. If someone had been issued such a license, news of it would have made the rounds of these radio hobbyist communities somehow, by now.
Fact 4: I meet at least two of the criteria that IPC 2-1-04 says allow for policy considerations on getting a digital scanner license. I'm a firefighter/EMT for my town (condition a); and I am employed by the operator of the only digital radio system in my area (condition e). Shouldn't that allow me to obtain a license rather easily? In actual fact, every time I or someone else speaks to Industry Canada, a different response is generated. The gist of it seems to be that IC has no concept of what is going on. Every person at IC has a different answer to the question, and no one has supplied the appropriate forms to grant a license yet. One such attempt yielded a PDF copy of the same kind of license you'd fill out if you were setting up a radio tower and a number of portables or mobiles for your business. On that form you are required to list all the frequencies you will be using (transmitting on - another indication that this is not the right form for a scanner
receiver), and there is a cost per frequency licensed.
There are dozens of other inconsistencies and unanswered questions surrounding this issue. For example - being that I am licensed to operate a digital radio system by virtue of the fact my employer pays me specifically to do so, doesn't that license cover me for holding a digital scanner? Also, laws in Canada must have a penalty or offence clause. What is the fine/penalty for not holding a digital scanner license? What would the charge be? You can't be charged with "not holding a digital scanner license".. it's more like "in contravention of section xx subsection yz of the so-and-so act".
Lastly, if CEI/usascan.com had even a fragment of a clue what they were talking about, don't you think they would allow sales to Canadians who could provide proof of a license? Instead, they cut off all sales for those models, directing all questioning of their behavior to the above-mentioned unclear and incomplete documentation.
There are many other companies in the US and elsewhere who are more than happy to ship to Canadians. Don't let CEI's uninformed business practices lead you to believe that there's any trend towards closing off Canada to the sale of any kind of scanners, digital or otherwise.
Oh, and if you have a license, let's hear about it!
