I have a UHF radio sitting around, and I was wondering what were the legalities towards programming a frequency as receive only, and for it not to have the ability to transmit. For example setting the transmit to 0, that way it couldn't transmit. It would definitely save money than buying a scanner. Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.
Programming A Radio For Receive Only
- Thread starter SCPD
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VE3JSO
Member
from what i understand you can use a transceiver to program a listen only frequency to my knowledge the only laws i know of is you can't hack a enc freq or disclose what you hear or make use of it for personal gain under the radio comunications act. i have programed some frequencies that i just can listen to on my ham radio
JoeyC
Senior Member
For legal opinions contact a lawyer. This is a radio forum and you are going to get a lot of opinions and guesses, many of which are false.
Popcorn popping.
Receive only
As I have been informed from Industry Canada radio inspectors, all commercial radios in one's possession must be licensed. As such, you are allowed to have frequencies in the radio only to which you are licensed for. Therefore, if you are licensed in BC for Appendix 6 (logging channels) you are allowed to have these frequencies in TX & RX.
Putting a frequency in the radio, even if it is only on RX, for which you do not have authorization for, is a "no-no". Therefore you cannot put, legally, frequencies such as police, fire dept, emergency services, Joe's Towing, etc., if you do not have the proper authorization and are not licensed for such channels.
I have been told by IC inspectors that you can have a scanner loaded up with these frequencies but not a commercial VHF radio, even if it is on receive only.
I see these posts all the time and it seems like many people use commercial radios for RX only. It may be legal in the USA, but Industry Canada inspectors have notified me that it is illegal in Canada.
If in doubt, don't take my word, contact your local Industry Canada and ask to speak to a radio inspector.
As I have been informed from Industry Canada radio inspectors, all commercial radios in one's possession must be licensed. As such, you are allowed to have frequencies in the radio only to which you are licensed for. Therefore, if you are licensed in BC for Appendix 6 (logging channels) you are allowed to have these frequencies in TX & RX.
Putting a frequency in the radio, even if it is only on RX, for which you do not have authorization for, is a "no-no". Therefore you cannot put, legally, frequencies such as police, fire dept, emergency services, Joe's Towing, etc., if you do not have the proper authorization and are not licensed for such channels.
I have been told by IC inspectors that you can have a scanner loaded up with these frequencies but not a commercial VHF radio, even if it is on receive only.
I see these posts all the time and it seems like many people use commercial radios for RX only. It may be legal in the USA, but Industry Canada inspectors have notified me that it is illegal in Canada.
If in doubt, don't take my word, contact your local Industry Canada and ask to speak to a radio inspector.
I doubt that you would get in trouble for what you want to do but take this into consideration:
Posting publically about it opens yourself open, as if anyone who is monitoring this from the governing body that makes the rules.
I have seen individuals get sued for comments they have made in forums. When Brian Burke was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs a few people on a hockey forum posted that it had something to do with Burkie's activities with a member of the media.
He sued these posters although I dont know if anything came of it.
I was interviewed for a job this month. After the seminar I googled the company and the first thing listed was "this company is a fraud."
Further down the list was that a lawsuit was filed by the company mentioning that the people who posted where responsible and liable.
Anything you say on forums like these can come back to bite you. This site is not going to protect you.
If I were you do whatever you do discretly.
Posting publically about it opens yourself open, as if anyone who is monitoring this from the governing body that makes the rules.
I have seen individuals get sued for comments they have made in forums. When Brian Burke was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs a few people on a hockey forum posted that it had something to do with Burkie's activities with a member of the media.
He sued these posters although I dont know if anything came of it.
I was interviewed for a job this month. After the seminar I googled the company and the first thing listed was "this company is a fraud."
Further down the list was that a lawsuit was filed by the company mentioning that the people who posted where responsible and liable.
Anything you say on forums like these can come back to bite you. This site is not going to protect you.
If I were you do whatever you do discretly.
Yea I don't think I would ever plan on programming it, just crossed my mind to see what laws existed for programming it. If you are not authorized on the frequency you shouldn't program your radio to it, even receive only. Just wanted to see what others say.
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