My wife and I do a coast-to-coast trip every other year or so in one of our convertibles. Each of the cars we use have very small trunks and limited storage space, and the idea of the trip is to take minimal luggage/stuff and stay as far from major roads as possible. We also try not to eat at any place with a name we recognize. Lots of back roads, Mom and Pop restaurants, cafes, and non-chain hotels.
But how this relates to this thread, each car we have taken is radio equipped, not so much scanner as ham radio, but with wideband receive and public service freqs programmed when the radio is compatible with local services. The Miata normally has 1 radio in it, a Yaesu FT-8900R quad band ham rig, but it is also plumbed and wired for a second radio, an Icom IC-R2500, when I feel like putting it in. The trip last year both radios were in place, and that meant 2 antennas on the little Miata. Some people have described it as looking like a Radio Controlled car, little car, big antenna.
Traveling through Kentucky in late evening, roof down and enjoying the back roads, I went past an officer in a cruiser on the side of the road. We were not speeding, not doing anything wrong, just cruising along. But as we went past the officer one of the radios broke squelch and a signal was heard. I don’t remember what was heard, was not paying that much attention. Now a convertible with the roof down means you do have to turn up the volume of a radio a bit to hear it over the wind/road noise. And you can hear the radio from quite a way away. And also the officer was window down in the cruiser and probably less than 20 feet from the speaker when the signal was being heard.
The cruiser came off the shoulder after I passed and the lights came on. We pulled over and the officer went through the license, registration, and insurance thing. He asked about the radio heads and the antennas on the car, and spent more time on them than on the registration and stuff. When I said “ham radio” he asked if I had a license. I answered yes, and showed him my signed license that is in my wallet. He commented that one of the two lights that illuminate my license plate was out, and that I should probably get that fixed, and then he sent us down the road.
Yeah, it could have been the half illuminated license plate that caused him to pull us over. Or it could have been the little Miata with California tags. But from his actions and questions I am almost sure it was the fact that a radio broke squelch and a signal was heard as we passed him. I did not know at the time that Kentucky limits scanner use in mobiles, and I still have no idea what the limitations are. I am personally convinced that being a ham saved me from any hassles associated in this instance.
T!
