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Scanner Tales: Radio License Plates
- Thread starter N9JIG
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I don't currently have ham tags, but have been considering them on my new car.
Not really worried about having them. My grandfather had them on his cars.
I think you must be a ham to register for access to the QRZ page, so some random person can't look up your ham call on this site.
They could look up your call on FCC ULS. Most people driving around wouldn't really know that was FCC ham radio callsign on plate with most of drivers I see today not really paying much attention to cars around them.
Not really worried about having them. My grandfather had them on his cars.
I think you must be a ham to register for access to the QRZ page, so some random person can't look up your ham call on this site.
They could look up your call on FCC ULS. Most people driving around wouldn't really know that was FCC ham radio callsign on plate with most of drivers I see today not really paying much attention to cars around them.
mmckenna
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I can type in my call sign on the Google search engine and it pops up as the first result. No license or subscription required.
CollinsURG
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Even if I am not logged into RR, if I put my callsign in a Google search, it returns a Radioreference page of calls in my zip code. At which point you can click on my call in that list and see my address. My call sign is nowhere in my user profile. I purposely try to remain as anonymous as possible online.
A few years ago I interviewed a person by phone as the first interview. At one point he asked me, "why can't I find anything about you online"? Needless to say, he didn't get an in person interview and he was chosen out of a stack of resume's because of his work experience.
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Personally, very time someone says this I laugh at the paranoia. Not a single person has reported a problem from that. You are more likely to die from a traffic accident driving home. It is also more likely they will just follow you home to see where you live.
CollinsURG
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It is necessary to drive on the roadways. It isn't necessary to tell everyone where you live.
CollinsURG
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Would it be okay for anyone to be able to lookup any vehicle license plate number and get the name and address of the owner? We are currently not allowed to. Why not? What are we hiding?
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The only weakness to having Ham Vanity Plates is any fool with a cellphone can get your Name and Address with ease and have access to all your personal information.
Great topic. A license plate and/or a hat, shirt, etc with your callsign - never wanted to be that guy!
Over a decade ago, a friend of mine who is an IT tech and a ham said to never sign up for Linkedin, Facebook - then they know your profession, personal interests, friends and family, ie nearly your entire life. He doesn't have ham vanity plates either
Exactly. Enough of our information is already out there and ripe for the picking. No need to volunteer more of it by putting our callsigns on a license plate.
Over a decade ago, a friend of mine who is an IT tech and a ham said to never sign up for Linkedin, Facebook - then they know your profession, personal interests, friends and family, ie nearly your entire life. He doesn't have ham vanity plates either
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They can just follow you home.
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Pure modern paranoia. The local ham club will not even let its members have phone numbers of its members due to the same paranoia.
mmckenna
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The nice thing is that we all get to decide for ourselves. I don't really accept input from others when it comes to that, opinions included.
I'll choose privacy almost every time. Also, amateur radio is not my identity. I've got other hobbies and interests. None of them get stuck on my license plate, either.
If someone else chooses to do that, then good for them.
As for hams doing stupid stuff with call signs, back when I was a member of the ARRL, I had the <callsign>@arrl.org e-mail service. Some lid hambone decided he didn't think my APRS radio was set up correctly and felt the need to reach out and start complaining in multiple e-mails since I wasn't doing what -he- wanted me to do. Easy enough to block people like that, but it does show that they walk amongst us and have zero social skills or filters.
I had something somewhat similar happen to me. I had bought a new car several years ago and used mag-mounts at first as I was traveling that same week, I wasn't yet able to get the NMO's properly installed. A ham from a Great Plains state saw me at some point and searched out my callsign and found an email address for me. I got a couple emails from him each day for a week berating me for the use of mag-mounts. I responded to one saying it was my car and if he was so concerned he could pay the bill for drilling the holes. Never heard from him again, but would have spamblocked him if I did.
All that said, personal privacy is long gone these days anyway.
Most amateurs tend towards driving Buicks or Lincolns, have paid off residences, and are the products of a less intrusive generation. Want an amateur plate? Go for it. Want to wear a cap with your call sign on it at a club meeting or hamfest? Why not? I''ve yet to see a mass murderer that targeted amateur radio.
If you are really concerned about privacy, via vehicle license registrations, county recorders, voting records, etc.; go to an attorney and get a limited corporate entity in a generic name [assuming you have the funds] or get a trust.
If you are really concerned about privacy, via vehicle license registrations, county recorders, voting records, etc.; go to an attorney and get a limited corporate entity in a generic name [assuming you have the funds] or get a trust.
While I don't have call sign plates, I did find them to be useful on at least one occasion! I was on the AZ-101 southbound heading towards the US-60 exit in Tempe a few years ago and a black F-150 with their call sign on the plates blew by me on the right and cut me off as he swerved out of the exit lanes last minute. I switched over to 146.52 and let him know that his turn signals may be malfunctioning 
.And surprisingly, they replied, angrily.
.And surprisingly, they replied, angrily.
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Follow me home once and get confronted then I will show up at your house and confront you.
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I never had ham, CB or GMRS or even "personalized" license plates. But for more than 30 years I had Press Photographer plates on y personal vehicle.
Per Calif. DMV:
The plates technically didn't convey any special privileges, but they were pretty unique, and there wasn't any additional fee! The plate numbers were originally issued sequentially, so a lower (4-digit) number gave the owner more street cred. The plates were issued to the vehicle owner, rather than the vehicle, so I kept the same plates every time I changed cars. Eventually, California ran out of 4-digit numbers and started reissuing old, expired plate numbers, thus negating any vetrano factor.
It was sometimes a paperwork challenge when I went for my annual renewal at the Auto Club as many of the clerks had never seen a press plate before and didn't know how to code it into the system (the plate {not mine} below would be written PP2675). After I did my initial application paperwork, I was never asked to prove I was still a press photographer.
Per Calif. DMV:
21.215 Press Photographer License Plates
Press Photographer License Plates may be issued to persons regularly employed or engaged as newspaper, newsreel, television photographers, or camera operators. Press Photographer License Plates cannot be issued to a trailer."The plates technically didn't convey any special privileges, but they were pretty unique, and there wasn't any additional fee! The plate numbers were originally issued sequentially, so a lower (4-digit) number gave the owner more street cred. The plates were issued to the vehicle owner, rather than the vehicle, so I kept the same plates every time I changed cars. Eventually, California ran out of 4-digit numbers and started reissuing old, expired plate numbers, thus negating any vetrano factor.
It was sometimes a paperwork challenge when I went for my annual renewal at the Auto Club as many of the clerks had never seen a press plate before and didn't know how to code it into the system (the plate {not mine} below would be written PP2675). After I did my initial application paperwork, I was never asked to prove I was still a press photographer.
mmckenna
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Someone passed me the other day and they had an old, faded, yellow on blue PP plate. Hadn't seen one of those in a long time. Plate was pretty hard to read. Yellow on Blue would have probably put it back in the late 70's, early 80's.
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Yup. My PP plates were yellow on blue. I got them circa 1972-73. Still have them in my garage
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The way around this is to get an Arizona Standard "Personalized" plate with your ham radio callsign on it, it will only cost you the one-time $25 "Personalized Plate" fee, with no annual fee.
When you get a Ham Radio (or one of many other style) specialty plate in Arizona, the $25 annual fee is split, usually with $17 going to an organization, specialty fund or charity and the $8 remaining to the state for processing.
BTW, trivia bit: On standard Arizona plates, random issued plates of the standard design have a cactus on the left side, personalized ones do not. I noticed that eventually and then verified that with the MVD.
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