Scanning Illegal?

[CapStar362]

i came across a Clayton County EMT while in my car and he noticed the scanner. we started a casual conversation, when he heard his dispatcher come across his radio and my scanner. he gave me a weird look, said "you need to be careful who you listen to" and walked away. well i turned it off as i walked into a store..........when i came back i turned it back on and for about 30 mins now has been dead silent on that particular frequency that Clayton EMS/Fire uses. all of their channels are now quiet. but here is the catch.....just before the channels went quiet, i caught what sounded like radio traffic indicating someone was listening and the dispatcher said some strange word that sounded like code talk and right after he said "recieved" all of the EMS/FIRE Channels went silent.

do i need to be worried about anything?

 

[n4voxgill]

Georgia has no known scanner laws. Florida prohibits hooking a scanner to the car either by electric on attaching an antenna unless you are a ham or official, but you are safe in Georgia.

That person may have thought you were wrong, but ask him what the statute number of the law is, he can't give you one.

World is full of people that speak without knowledge.

gill

 

[rdale]

"when i came back i turned it back on and for about 30 mins now has been dead silent on that particular frequency that Clayton EMS/Fire uses. all of their channels are now quiet."

Is it possible that nothing is happening? They can't just stop communications, and if they are encrypted you'd still hear that...

 

[CapStar362]

well its going on 3 1/2 - 4 hours now hours now and still nothing. not a single peep out of any of the Clayton County EMS/Fire frequencies.

Clayton PD, Clayton Sherriff, and all the local PD's (Riverdale, Morrow, Lake City) are actively showing traffic.


trust me when i say, people around here will dial 911 for some of the most stupidest and retarded things to use up Emergency Services for.

 

[CapStar362]

well its the next day, and at ~ 1300.......FINALLY!!!!! radio traffic started coming across the EMS 1 (Dispatch) channel.


i find it very odd that for almost 12 hours no one dialed 911 for a ambulance.

i do belive they have a "private" channel that no one except for Clayton EMS/Fire knows about. ive never heard that channel go dead for more than 10-15 minutes at a time.

 

[Julian1]

Clayton Co EMS



I guess first check to be sure you have all the FD EMS channels in there.
I'm a member of www.ScanAtlanta.com webring. We have some folks who are "in the know" and have not heard a word about Clayton migrating to anything new.

As to the guy's comments.........he's a great servant helping others, but he has some "issues". :roll: Maybe he's new and ignorant as to this hobby and the supporters / fans he has listening to him.

Take care,
Julian
Lagrange

 

[CapStar362]

i have all the FD/EMS freq's programmed into my scanner. i dunno, could they possibly have a channel that no one knows about?


it struck me as very odd that the FD/EMS 1 (Dispatch) channel went dead silent for almost 12 hours. thats gotta be a record.....

As to the guy's comments.........he's a great servant helping others, but he has some "issues". :roll: Maybe he's new and ignorant as to this hobby and the supporters / fans he has listening to him.

this comment confuses me? is it directed towards me? if so, uuuhhh could you enlighten me?

 

[Julian1]

Clayton Co EMT Comments



I hope I didn't mis-read or misunderstand an earlier post. If so I am so sorry..

When I referred to "issues"......I was referring to the Clayton Co person who I thought stated his suspicion or disapproval of you listening to their communications with your scanner. It would be disappointing to me for a member of public safety (pd, fd, ems), speaking so negatively of you monitoring their radio comms.

I thought I read where the Clayton Co emt told the earlier email's author to, "be careful what you listen to..." or something negative like that.

Again........I am so sorry if I misunderstood the writer's quote or other comments.

Happy scanning!!!

Best Regards,
Julian

 

[CapStar362]

that completely clears it up. i also found it unprofessional how he said that to me. especially when we are in similar fields of work. one would think that it would be a positive thing to listen incase extra help is needed. i could easily be very close to a nasty situation and listening to the scanner would get me all the info i needed to help them out.



in any form, TY for clearing that up, it confused me to what you were saying.

 

[dhutsell]

On a VHF freq. It would impossible for anyone to "know" when their freq is being listened to. Also it is NOT illegal for you to listen to any type of communications except for cellular telephone type. even if local law enforcement dont want you to, there is nothing they can do about. The mere presence of a scanner is not probable cause to detain or queston someone. Even in Florida you CAN have a scanner in your car so long as its not attatched to your car, so a hand held scanner in your car is perfectly fine. If anyone wants the case law to go with it PM me.