Mobile Scanner Legality Question

[unitcharlie]

"...and it shall be unlawful for any car, automobile, or other vehicle other than one publicly owned and entitled to an official license plate issued by the state issuing a license to a said car, to have, or be equipped with the sets or apparatus even though said car is owned by an officer."

A friend pointed out the problem with my statement... the state issues ALL license plates, I should have said OFFICIAL plates on a vehicle owned by a government entity.... PLZ accept my apology if my confusing statement confounded the existing confusion over this law....

 

[ofd8001]

I once got 20 questions because the cop said I was saying my last name wrong, didn't match what the dispatcher said and didn't sound the way it looked on my paperwork. He wasn't amused when I told him "that's because I'm Polish ya moron". On topic though, when I was on the FD I never had any questions about my scanner or 2 way radio. So is a firefighter exempt from the law or not? I had always thought that all "emergency workers" weren't bound by the law.

A firefighter can legally scan any fire frequency as long as he or she has a letter of approval from his or her fire chief. That applies to any fire frequencies. The same holds true for a Rescue or EMS person on Rescue or EMS frequencies. It does NOT allow the firefighter (or EMS/Rescue person) to listen to police channels. If you want to listen to police channels, then you must have an approval letter from the police chief "owning" the police channels.

 

[Viper43]

A firefighter can legally scan any fire frequency as long as he or she has a letter of approval from his or her fire chief. That applies to any fire frequencies. The same holds true for a Rescue or EMS person on Rescue or EMS frequencies. It does NOT allow the firefighter (or EMS/Rescue person) to listen to police channels. If you want to listen to police channels, then you must have an approval letter from the police chief "owning" the police channels.

What a joke! Anyone who wants to should be able to listen to Fire/EMS or Police, at home, work or mobile as long as they are not committing a crime or getting in the way.
As for denying Fire & EMS the ability to listen to police communications that is just plain stupid. Police are normally on the scene before fire or ambulance and knowing exactly whats going on at a scene before getting there can save lives. Kentucky law is absurd, as are most states that limit scanner use by both safety personell and citizens.
The big problem is that anymore the LEO community thinks everyone is a criminal and they trust no one.

V

 

[KR4BD]

Viper...

The solution to this situation is:

Get a ham license. That's a lot easier than trying to get this archaic law changed.

There is no excuse anymore for not getting one. There is NO more Morse code and you can memorize the answers on the tests. Having a ham license sure solves a lot of problems not only in Kentucky, but many other states with similar laws.

And you know, you just might find you like being ham. I have met many great friends in all walks of life in my 32 years of hamming.

 

[N4JNW]

Becoming a ham isn't hard. Don't let the letters FCC fool you. There isn't as much red tape to wade through as you might think, and it's actually quite fun.

Get your hands on a study book. Or better yet, find a ham in your neighborhood, or a ham club, and ask if you may attend one of thier meetings. Hams love to talk.. (Afterall, that's what we do!), and you won't feel like the new guy very long. Some hams are not very welcoming, but the majority of us will invite you over for a soda, and let you check out our shack.

Hey, it's a start. You've got to get your foot in the door before you can walk through it! Also, check out www.qrz.com , and do some reading, and try your hand at the Technician practice exam. The tech test is easy. It's 90% common sense.

 

[Viper43]

It's NOT that hard to change laws and you just need to persuade the right people, and I feel you shouldn't need any licenses, permits or anything else to listen to police fire and ems traffic as long as your not using it to commit a crime. As a tax payer I have a right to know what these departments are doing.
Even though in Indiana it's illegal to have a scanner in your car etc. I don't need a permit as the Sheriff allows the media to have them, but going out of the county is another story. I do have my ham license so that covers me but does it really? If you read the FCC rules it ONLY covers trancievers, NOT recievers.... of course many police don't know the difference.
As for the Technician test....it was easy....too easy in my opinion. And radios are cheap now, especially HT's which can be had for $100 new. I just don't like how small they are, I hate those tiny buttons......I want a brick!

V

 

[WX4GPS]

Ham radio is a great hobby, but I am with the county public safety, so I legally can have a scanner in my vehicle, but this may explain why I do not see Radio Shacks putting their scanners on display working, this used to be the case but I have not seen it, they are behind cases not powered.

 

[n9zek]

Ham radio is a great hobby, but I am with the county public safety, so I legally can have a scanner in my vehicle, but this may explain why I do not see Radio Shacks putting their scanners on display working, this used to be the case but I have not seen it, they are behind cases not powered.

Our Radio Shack stores in S.W. IN still have them operational and powered up even though they are behind glass in alot of cases. In fact there are 2 stores that call me frequently for help in programming, frequncy info. or trouble shooting what customers have done to their scanners. (Hint...most of the time complaints are because it just quit receiving. 99% of the time it is because they have locked stuff out.)

 

[yojohn]

Handheld scanner legally transported?

I have a handheld scanner that I transport back and forth between work and home. I listen to it at both places but not in my vehicle. How can I legally transport it back and forth and not worry about getting it confiscated if I get pulled over? For that matter, how does one transport a newly purchased scanner home and be within the law?

 

[mastr]

Good advice here.

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?p=274959#post274959

 

[bg_nashville]

Actually it does indeed exist. the law at the beginning of this thread is not updated to ammendment 6. Here is ammendment 6:


(6) The secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet is hereby empowered by
issuance of a secretary's order to exempt from the prohibitions and penalties of this
section the possession and use of any and all radio communication equipment that
he finds is necessary to be owned and used by members of the general public and
other nonpolice persons for utilization in the N.O.A.A. weather radio system.

SO! What does that mean for us who have scanners installed in our vehicles and regularly drive through Kentucky? My scanners are capable of receiving NOAA stations and warnings.
Mike

There may or may not be an exemption (not a loophole). This language is permissive not mandatory. You need to see if a "Secretary's Order" was issued pursuant to this law. If one was issued then you will need to see exactly what is says in order to determine how this law applies.

 

[cajunjerry]

Scanner Laws

Im from Louisiana and Michigan has the same laws as Ky..I was once working in Mi and had a hand held scanner on my belt and the PD got really mad about that.

 

[rdale]

Michigan got rid of their scanner law a while ago...

 

[ten78]

Ham License Practice

Go to QRZ dot com and take the practice tests. I guarantee that in 2 weeks, anyone can pass the test at 100%

 

[Luxor]

Pro2096 hardwired in vehicle

I have a Pro 2096 hardwired in my company vehicle (tow truck) and listen to the radio on a regular basis. Most local cops could care less, had one pissed off state trooper who thought trunking was top secret and Radio Shack shouldn't sell them. He made no attempt to take the radio but did run all my IDs. He also ordered a full report on me when he thought he was out of my range (I can usually get3 or 4 counties at once when driving).

Just keep in mind, following the letter of the law may not keep the officer from doing something stupied but it will work out when you get in front of the judge. All be it may be 6 months later.

 

[Scan10]

Scanner Legislation

Well - despite the fact that there are a number of ways to avoid breaking this statute - reasonable grounds exist for challenging it and overturning it. Federal Law - under the Communications Act of 1934 - gives you the right to monitor and listen to (but not divulge or take action - except for distress messages) radio transmissions. State and Local laws that abridge this right have been challenged and overturned - under the legal tenent that Federal Law supercedes State and Local Law.

 

[maxeycox]

Scanner Legality Question

Back in 1984 I run a Taxi company in Henderson,Ky. I got caught with a moble scanner in the car and they fined me and tried to take my unit. If I hadn't known the judge they would have. It didn't matter one bit that my scanner had taxi freq's are not. And as far as I know they haven't changed in Ky yet.

 

[firedawg0069]

just throwing my two cents in here. as a former volunteer fire fighter in ky i still can't understand why we could not have scanners in our pov's but a tow truck can.what makes them any better than a volunteer firefighter and under KRS a volunteer firefighter responding to a call,either to the station or the scene, is considered an emergency vehicle and seeing how it seems every agency in the small rural towns use a different freq. having a scanner in my pov gives me a heads up on what is occuring at the scene

 

[ofd8001]

That is the very same logic I sprung on our local state representative. He introduced and got passed, a bill changing the state scanner law.

Now, any firefighter having his fire chief's written permission can have a scanner in his POV, that is programmed to receive fire frequencies and fire frequencies only.

If you want to listen to the police, you have to get a letter from them saying you have their permission to do so. That might be challenging owing to the cops frame of mind.

 

[eaf1956]

Brains

Ham radio is a great hobby, but I am with the county public safety, so I legally can have a scanner in my vehicle, but this may explain why I do not see Radio Shacks putting their scanners on display working, this used to be the case but I have not seen it, they are behind cases not powered.

Because most RS employees (SIC) wouldn't have a clue as to how to program them!