Hands Free Law???

[scottyhetzel]

The law specifically excludes ham and other land mobile radio services. An electrical device in the hand could be interpreted as a microphone, but the exclusion under the law trumps it, in my opinion.

Before I retired I was able to talk on a handheld, have the mobile mike on my lap and connected to a scanning mobile with have a scanner going at the same time and sometimes write with my other hand while steering the vehicle with my knees during an emergency response (on long straight portions of a road anyway). I would be on a tactical frequency on the handheld, Forest Net on the mobile, and listening to CHP or Caltrans on the scanner, while barking out orders on either one of the transceivers. I know I can't do that now. No wonder there is a mandatory retirement age of 57 for firefighters and law enforcement in the federal government!

Now days I find that a discussion on ham radio tends to distract me while driving and I listen far more than I speak. Unlike the USFS rigs I drove, the scanner in my cars has to be turned off when I transmit on a ham rig. The USFS radio tech on our Forest managed to install the radios in a way where both could be used simultaneously even though they were in close proximity, something I have not managed to accomplish yet. I don't know how he did it. I don't really need to find out as I don't want my scanner on during ham conversations due to the distraction. I have a hard enough time on a dual band radio when the other side receives another conversation while I'm talking. Just another factor in aging and you have to accept your limitations gracefully.

Scannermaster sells a unit that interupts the audio on the scanner when it detects rf nearby. Look under accessories.

 

[SuperFudd]

Update about talking on a ham radio while driving

I stopped by the local CHP office as suggested. They / he, the same officer that spoke to my daughter, said he checked and confirmed that there is no law or regulation against talking on ham radio, or CB, while driving. He reminded me, though, that distracted driving can get you a ticket or worse. He said normal use of ham radio is not considered distracted driving.

Now get this!
My daughter called that local CHP office this (Friday) afternoon to see if I had been in yet. I hadn't but he said a couple of hams had stopped by to ask about the situation and they had also received several phone calls about it. The officer at the station did not tell me this but that explains why, when I mentioned how the incident had caused quite a stir on several ham radio email lists and forums and I then told him I would go home and "put out that fire" he looked very relieved. ;>

Hams have been doing mobile radio for maybe 80 years? Certainly for the last 50 years.
CB mobiles have been around for 50 years and boomed starting in the early 70's.
Prior to the advent of cell phones no one had a problem. What has changed in ham and CB
mobile use safety wise? NOTHING!
There was no safety problem before and there is none now.
Yes, there is a mobile cell phone problem.

Don
KC6IPO

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (BREW; Opera Mini/6.0.3/27.2338; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 320X240 LG VN530)

It sounds like there may be a few individual officers who do feel that the law includes talking on a two-way radio, be it Ham or CB or whathaveyou. The CHP needs to send an email out to let its officers know what the law actually says, or those individual officers will continue issuing tickets. So, the fire isn't quite out, yet.

 

[Duster]

Knowing what I do about the way the CHP works, I would imagine that someone in that office (probably the training officer) will send an email up the chain, eventually making it Training in Sacramento, who will then send out a Training Update notice statewide to "clarify" the law. Not sure how long that will take, but I would bet it is in progress.