TimmyB2024
Newbie
I have a ham radio I’m still planning on getting my amateur radio license if I accidentally press the PTT button without saying anything and without license will i Still be in trouble by the FCC I’m just wondering?
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vagrant
ker-muhj-uhn
Technically, yes. Will the FCC knock down your door and get you, no. If you keep doing that can an amateur radio operator track down your location and report you to the FCC, yes. Good luck trying to get a license if that happens.
Just study and take the test to at least get your Technician license. If you want to really enjoy HF frequencies, then take the next test which is the General. The tests are plenty easy and then you don't have to worry about the illegality of your actions. Amateur radio is a lot of fun.
Just study and take the test to at least get your Technician license. If you want to really enjoy HF frequencies, then take the next test which is the General. The tests are plenty easy and then you don't have to worry about the illegality of your actions. Amateur radio is a lot of fun.
TimmyB2024
Newbie
Just wondering what was the no yes no referring to?
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Transmitting without a valid license is transmitting without a valid license. Yes, it's a rules violation.
No, the FCC isn't going to knock on your door.
Accidental is one thing. Doing it on purpose is another.
Self control and discipline is part of the hobby, unfortunately many licensed hams never understand that. Until you have your license, your radio should not be programmed to transmit. Easy enough to program them for receive only.
No, the FCC isn't going to knock on your door.
Accidental is one thing. Doing it on purpose is another.
Self control and discipline is part of the hobby, unfortunately many licensed hams never understand that. Until you have your license, your radio should not be programmed to transmit. Easy enough to program them for receive only.
k6cpo
Member
If you accidently do it once, I doubt the FCC will even notice.
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Or anyone else for that matter!
Once you spend some time on the various ham bands you will hear people keying up repeaters without IDing fairly often, "kerchunkers". Also on the HF bands it is common for people to tune up transmitters and such on the air often with high power that do not ID and often interfere momentarily with others on the band "tuner uppers".
There is also a lot of various shenanigans that occur on the HF bands quite often. It is all annoying but the FCC isn't interested in doing much about it these days. Some specific frequencies like 7.200 MHz (on 40 meters) is a real cesspool. It's easy to avoid it. Pretty crazy to listen to at times.
Those sort of things have been going on all the 53 years I have been a ham.
GlobalNorth
Active Member
GMRS or Amateur? No. Business band? No. Aviation, public safety, or military? I would expect the FCC to show up with a search warrant and order of forfeiture.
GlobalNorth
Active Member
When I take my vehicles in for service, I remove the microphones and take them with me. I used to catch car wash people screwing around with my police radio and transmitting unlawfully. Some auto techs will do it as well.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
I just open the circuit breaker under the hood. Good to cycle it now and then anyway.
robertwbob
KE0WRU
if you catch em messing with your radio,mechanic, car wash ppl why not ask em to get their license n get on the air. we need more legal operators
When I used to take my company car to the car wash, I would change the channel to a channel that was not used in that area so, if they keyed the radio, no one would here them.
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Not to worry. No black helicopters, vans, Tahoes or guys in suits will raid your location. Just try to avoid accidental transmitting. If your radio was monitoring a channel outside the ham bands (like fire or law), that would be mor troublesome, but a one-time glitch won't be noticed.
Your post didn't indicate what kind of a radio you're using or what frequency it was on.
If it was a VHF/UHF handheld or mobile, you can probably program the channels for transmit inhibit/receive only.
TimmyB2024
Newbie
I have a Beofeng K5 plus it’s doesn’t go above 800 and that what my local law enforcement fire and ems are on I can’t listen them only thing I can listen to is the prison in my area airport and other ham radio frequency NOAA and that about it
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Even if your radio could go above 800 MHz, it wouldn't do you any good as your county radio system is :
- Trunked
- P-25 Digital
- Encrypted
Muscogee County Government (GA) Trunking System, Columbus, Georgia
Muscogee County Government (GA) Trunking System Profile
www.radioreference.com
None of these are compatible with your radio, and the last item, encryption, makes monitoring the system impossible with any technology you would have access to. Sorry.
DeoVindice
P25 Underground
I put power-on passwords on all my radios because of that sort of thing.
Hey folks. Sorry to jump in here but this looks like a good post for me to ask the question. I found this after a search, rather than just posting another thread. A BAOFENG UV-17 user here (don't slap me, I will upgrade once I am licensed and see the best uses for my equipment). I plan to obtain my license this spring and jump in finally after 40 years of fooling around. (I know. I probably missed the best days, but hope to contribute to a revival).
Meanwhile, I am just doing a lot of listening, learning my radio and the study material.
But I have come to a question about how I have programmed my radio. In short, I have everything programmed the way it would be if I were an Operator. However, I have disabled my TX PLs. Just to prevent and accidental bumps of the TX/RX button from chirping any repeaters. I generally handle the radio by the lower body and pinch between the display and belt clip. So I don't expect to have an accident.
I do wonder if I should disable the TX frequency as a further safeguard, since it would only be handy if someone were transmitting right near me. Most importantly, I just want to be responsible and maintain good habits.
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Thanks so much!
~Toby from Cumberland MD.
When I was out of town and used a commercial car wash I had to remove all the antennae and I would just power down the system in my G ride. The system was password protected because of having CLETS/NCIC access. The MDC and radios were integrated into one system. As for the maintenance service, our own employees would service the vehicle and I always had a new vehicle every 3 years and I never had to worry about my vehicle going to the dealer.
For my personal Jeep, I've been retired for 20 years now, all my radios are on one of the switched Aux circuits. I just turn off the respective Aux circuit when I take my Jeep to the dealer. As for my Silverado Dually Diesel, I just turn the channels on my UHF and VHF radios to far-away channels like I did for my G Ride and turn off the radios and don't worry about it. They're connected to battery + and I don't have them ignition switched.
See my post 12 above. Don’t worry about it🙂
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