Georgia's laws re: mobile use of scanners?

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TonyS

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I'll be moving to Georgia in a few weeks and want to know what's the laws regarding mobile/in-vehicle use of scanners? Also, any wierd amateur radio mobile laws I should be aware of? Thank you.
 

AndrewC75

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In Georgia, there are no laws that I'm aware of that are specific to scanners. There may be some other laws relating to mobile distractions (cell phones, radios, etc) that might also apply to scanners depending upon the wording of the law.
 

b7spectra

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There are 0 laws that state you cannot have a scanner in your vehicle, on person or in a place of business. One thing that I always remind people about is that if you are ever stopped by the PD, DON'T flaunt the scanner in their face, it's a good way to start problems. Even though there is no law against them, the officer could confiscate it, and you will have to be the one to fight to get it back. I've had scanners in my vehicles for the past 30 years, and never once encountered a problem with law enforcement. I actually had an Alpharetta Officer tell me I had a better set up than he had in his patrol car! :)
 

ReceiverBeaver

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Wierd amateur radio mobile laws? Strangest question I have heard here. Ham radio is a federally regulated service and there are no state laws anywhere I know of that limit or otherwise affect amateur radio use.

Not mobile in any way that I've heard.

For home stations, there certainly are individual neighborhood-subdivision coventant restrictions that may and can limit what kind of antenna stup you may have at a home. If this scenario applies to you, then you'll need to find out such things before buying a home in a particular development.....and don't necessarily trust what a real estate agent tells you....they want to make a friggin' sale and will lie to you. Find out yourself.
 

N8IAA

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Got caught in traffic from a bad wreck in Suwanee, was talking to an officer, and he was impressed with my 780. We held up traffic for a while!
 

TonyS

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LOL! I used to have 2 Spectras, a CDM1550, and a couple of portables in my SUV. I got stopped for a headlight out (didn't know it) down the NJ shore by a Trooper. He asked me about the radios, why I had them, etc., and he was impressed with my collection.
 

CapStar362

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b7spectra said:
There are 0 laws that state you cannot have a scanner in your vehicle, on person or in a place of business. One thing that I always remind people about is that if you are ever stopped by the PD, DON'T flaunt the scanner in their face, it's a good way to start problems. Even though there is no law against them, the officer could confiscate it, and you will have to be the one to fight to get it back.


there is actually one law....... Mike, remember my "Scanner Earns me a Felony charge" topic?


because i had a scanner in my possesion when being accused of a crime, i was charged with "Possesion of tools to commit a crime" which is apparently a felony.

Refer to this topic: http://radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32221
 

bravo14

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I was wondering about GA laws on scanners in cars. I'm starting to take PD off my radios just FD and some things in it. I live in FL and they have many laws against scanners in cars get busted bye bye to the radio unless the cop lets you go...
 

mkh

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bravo14 said:
I was wondering about GA laws on scanners in cars. I'm starting to take PD off my radios just FD and some things in it. I live in FL and they have many laws against scanners in cars get busted bye bye to the radio unless the cop lets you go...

Just take the ham test for your Technician license then they can't touch you. Well worth the time and it also opens up whole new worlds as a ham.
 

TonyS

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mkh said:
Just take the ham test for your Technician license then they can't touch you. Well worth the time and it also opens up whole new worlds as a ham.

Yet that only pertains to a transceiver in your vehicle, or does that work for having only a scanner in your vehicle?
 

mkh

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As I understand it, Florida's scanner law makes exceptions for licensed hams. It is legal for licensed hams to have a scanner in a motor vehicle though I suggest you still use some common sense.
 

ReceiverBeaver

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The point about becoming a ham is that ham VHF & UHF rigs, mobiles and handhelds all incorporate extended receive so they double as scanners. Modern rigs likewise have 100 or more memory channels so there's plenty of room for public saftey and other frequencies. Some rigs have a very large extended receive capability and do the DC to Daylight thing.
 

OpSec

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ReceiverBeaver said:
The point about becoming a ham is that ham VHF & UHF rigs, mobiles and handhelds all incorporate extended receive so they double as scanners. Modern rigs likewise have 100 or more memory channels so there's plenty of room for public saftey and other frequencies. Some rigs have a very large extended receive capability and do the DC to Daylight thing.

Most of the new Icom and Yaesu/VXSTD mobiles have many 100's of memorys, upwards of 1,000 (perhaps you meant to add the extra zero?)...they make great scanning radios as now some of them are coming with banks/zones, much like a scanner or commercial land mobile radio.

I'm actively considering a Yaesu FT-7800 or FT-8800 to replace my aging fleet of Motorola mobiles, since they are much more agile than the commercial gear, same TX power out on VHF ham channels (UHF is a non-issue here) and have 1,000 channel capability compared to 128 channels on the /\/\ gear. What better than a 1,000 channel scanner that talks too :)

Biggest peeve of mine with ham gear? Lack of dual priority scanning, nuisance delete and duty cycle.
 
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