Radio Scanners Are Illegal - But Is It Enforced?

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[@notmenotme614]

Dude. Somebody breaking into your garden shed and stealing all your kids bikes isn’t even enforced by the police.

[@SnabbKassa]

You need a metal shed in the UK if there is anything worth nicking. And watch LockPickingLawyer to help you pick the right lock

[@notmenotme614]

@@SnabbKassa If only we had a force that actually policed 🤔 Rather than harass KZbin auditors. LPL is quite good to watch.

[@mfx1]

Adequate security for stuff you want to protect is really your responsibility.

[@fractalofgod6324]

All police forces are registered businesses so they don't do any jobs that won't make them money unless it's murder.

[@billdberger7407]

@@mfx1 Sounds like a functioning society, I can see why everyone is so happy and content these days as compared to past generations. I suppose next you'll suggest if someone isn't happy with hour plus response times and police outright refusing to investigate property crimes/theft it's their responsibility to hire 24/7 private security in ADDITION to paying the tax that funds the non functioning police. The future is bright!

[@the80hdgaming]

In Canada, you can listen to anything as long as your not decrypting encrypted coms...

[@BBC600]

Yes, I am surprised by the information that it's illegal to use a scanner in the UK.

[@poiu477]

I always thought the UK law was rather ludicrous. If a transmission is radio there shouldn't be an inherent expectation of privacy without encryption. All conductive pieces of metal will "receive" the signals technically.

[@sbo3784]

Talking of privacy and lack of encryption, every minute or so I see a page come through on some kind of nationwide NHS service that blasts patient details (names, addresses, phone numbers and medical conditions) in the clear!

[@THEFINALHAZARD]

Agreed. It's also silly that, to my knowledge, UK railroads are encrypted, too.

[@Mike-H_UK]

The police turn a blind eye when they are helped..... What about the Baker Street bank robbery where a radio amateur heard communications from the robbers and alerted the police. He was eventually convicted of illegally listening to radio broadcasts! Now that was more than a tad unfair....

[@timothybrown7792]

UK ONLY : It's unlikely the Police would know what equipment is legal and what isn't anyway! unless they are involved in the hobby themselves. the average copper could walk into a home full of illegal/multiband multimode CB radios for example, without a clue as to whether they are actually legal or not! And unlike scanners, old foreign CB radios that were smuggled into the UK prior to legalisation in 1981 are actually illegal to own! because the import duty was never paid on them. so even to be in possession of them is an offence before you even think about switching them on lol. at one time it was perfectly legal for licensed radio Amateurs to possess them for modification to 10 meters, but iam unsure if that is still the case today? I only say that because I know of a licensed Ham who had illegal CB radio equipment conviscated in 2020! so perhaps the law has changed recently? (although I don't have all the details behind that seizure so it may be that he was actually using the equipment on 11m who knows?)! I wouldnt mind getting this possession business confirmed with OFCOM, but trying to get information out of them is often like trying to get blood out of a stone, and that's all assuming you could even find somebody that actually has the knowledge to answer your query of course! which can sometimes present a challenge. you have to admit though, one law for one group of radio enthusiasts with this type of equipment, and another rule for Hams for that same type of equipment, is indeed a law that arguably, should be questioned anyway! unless the Ham has offered to pay the import duty! which is extremely unlikely on a product that was originally manufactured over 40 years ago lol.

[@benhawke7231]

@@timothybrown7792 You guys have too many laws and regulations. I'm sorry you guys have to deal with all that BS when it comes to radios. 😶🥃🇺🇲🍻

[@ProdigalPorcupine]

​@@benhawke7231 - What BS? Most countries have laws regarding the possession and use of two way radios, many are much tougher than the UK. Can you use SSB and FM CB radio yet in the US? Do you have hundreds of CB channels or is it still 40?

[@benhawke7231]

@@ProdigalPorcupine Oh yeah we've been able to use SSB ever since it came out. The FCC has just reversed its restriction of citizens band use of FM a couple months ago. But that's because we were all using FM anyways and don't really pay attention to the FCC. The FCC in the United States doesn't really bug anybody breaking the law when it comes to broadcasting over the air as long as you don't get any complaints. And you have to get a lot of complaints. And for like the first five or six complaints brought against you, the FCC will only send you a mean letter to stop and desist. And they will send that letter three or four times if you don't comply. It usually takes the FCC about 3 years to finally come to your home and start acting like a bully. I think the FCC has only put maybe one or two people in jail since the creation of the FCC. You could run a pirate ham radio pushing 10,000 Watts and have a bigger chance to get a speeding ticket then have your Pirate radio shutdown. Heck we have competitions here in the United States were guys are running over 100,000 Watts from their van. the signal is so strong that it cuts out video from cell phones. 😱

[@ProdigalPorcupine]

​@@benhawke7231 I think talk of UK laws may give a false impression of what it's actually like in the UK regarding radio scanners and transceivers. We have many laws, but in practice many things go by without scrutiny. Convictions for scanner use are simply not likely to happen here unless it's in the course of committing a crime or invasion of privacy. The police have better things to do. As for unlicensed or illicit two way radio use, while I'm not condoning it - if you're not causing interference to a licensed service over a period of time, you're unlikely to ever be investigated. Even then, there's procedure that must be followed involving filing a complaint including details of the interference. One-time interference isn't going to be pursued, unless you hijack a TV microwave link or something!. Broadcast radio pirates will be hunted down sooner or later, but the authorities haven't the time nor the inclination to hunt down people running burners on CB radios or using 5 watt commercial PMR handsets on our 500mW PMR 446 band. I love the idea of 100kW CB, it sounds like a hoot! The relatively high population density here in the UK means there'd likely be huge intereference to vital services. I think that'd kick the authorities into action pretty quickly! You'd probably get away with a few hundred watts if the harmonics were kept right down, but I wouldn't want to test that theory!

[@thundermastercom]

In the Netherlands where scanners are alowed in the 70s-80s we had the so called "Scannerboys" they were riding around town and chasing every police, fire, ambulance event that sounded interesting. Some of these guys were annoying as hell but mostly they kept distance. The police sometimes asked scannerlisteners for assistance to be on lookout in case of missing children or wandering elderly people or criminals on the run. The police wasn't too keen on scannerlisteners but made use of them

[@Mike-H_UK]

I like listening to The Police. Message in a Bottle and Synchronicity are the best.

In what country you got police using analogic, unencrypted comms???

[@boilerroombob]

About 5 years back a ham on 2 meters told us off and lectured me and a mate discussing published scanner frequencies we kindly told him to jog on ...it was a joke ....I also remember buying shortwave magazine in the mid nineties and reading a 3 page article on scanning with not one single frequency in it! That's because radio communications agency had told the publishers off lol

[@biggiejohn3360]

very interesting that is is illegal to listen in the UK. in the US, you can receive any RF signal, but under no circumstances can you decrypt an encoded signal, this is sometimes also interpreted as decoding channel hopping used by some trunked multi channel police/public safety radio systems.

[@seraphina985]

But it is not possible to decrypt an encoded signal anyway, to be decrypted the signal would first needed to be encrypted. This is not the same thing as being encoded as encoding is simply any means of changing the form of information this text is encoded but there is nothing to decrypt. Encryption is different there needs to be some supplemental out of band information involved ie the key without which the process or reversal thereof is impossible (Or at least dammed hard as there will always be a means to at least attempt to deduce the missing information).

[@atvalleau]

I think the U.S Communications Act (of 1930?) indicated that citizens could legally receive any transmissions in the clear. As far as I know, this act still holds today.

[@Wenlocktvdx]

I recall a prosecution under the old Australian Wireless Telegraphy Act in the early 80s failing because the court agreed that the act of listening in is not an interception. The Act relied on the interpretation of interception as including listening in or eavesdropping. The court upheld the defence that the act of eavesdropping is not interception as the message was not prevented from reaching the intended recipient. Shame the meaning of interception was not defined in the act then.

[@edstar83]

Still rocking my Uniden Bearcat ubc120xlt handheld scanner mate. Although all i pick up now 98% is Asian transmissions and music on VHF High band. We're closer to China than I thought.

[@Wenlocktvdx]

Still rocking my PRO-2024 although the EL panel is long dead and the display is a bit faded. Also a PRO-31 and Uniden UBC72XLT I picked up at garage sales. The 2024 was 2ndhand non working but fixed by Tandy. Damaged by condensation but still running 30 years later

[@edstar83]

@@Wenlocktvdx Nice. I was thinking of getting a better antenna for my handheld scanner. Its going to waste with the stock rubber antenna.

[@RT-qd8yl]

I'm glad scanners are legal here. Our state uses a P25 Type I statewide network and it's cool af being able to listen not only to your local area but other municipalities farther away. Started with a PRO96, then a BCD396T, and now a BCD436HP and I love it.

[@patrickbrady519]

We're all glad too

[@danieljackson6791]

My dad used to work for securicore also known as group 4 security in recent years in Manchester great Jackson Street Hulme my dad was a cash in transit guard and they had radios and specific channel dedicated to their duties. My dad was on his daily duties when he was hit by a group armed robbers who were listening into their channel.. After several more robbery attacks he was made to go into control where he listened to all of his colleagues doing their duties but also listening to them being attacked on their duties. But crazy how easy it was to operate back then..

[@lilricky2515]

A little strange that the UK have laws against simply listening to unencrypted transmissions. I guess too much freedom is a dangerous thing for governments. Of course this is a government that is desperately trying to tax transmissions recieved by their citizens, aka the TV tax.

[@sammiller6631]

The TV tax is better than having the show being half commercial advertisement.

[@richardmillican7733]

Hi Lewis, I've a couple of "patrolman" realistic Pro 2026 scanners, they're old and long in the tooth, slow, but very sensitive!, Both work fine, the only shame is they start high up at about 6 metres. Great fun to this day, despite more and more activity disappears year on year.

[@SocialistDistancing]

I remember those old scanners from 1973 (dating myself) I still have one of the realistic portables that was pictured. I got a lot of miles out of that scanner in the 90s. It was very active back then. I got a few interesting stories that I could share but they would be too long to post. In Canada, most of the police have gone to the P25 system and are encrypted now. However, there are some scanners that can listen to other agencies on the P25 system that are not encrypted. It's not illegal to listen, but it is illegal to rebroadcast or to use the Information obtained for personal gain. However, this did not include tow trucks or media. Because these two services generally aided the police, they could be given police scanners for use. Today though, that has changed. With the big issue of privacy protection, the radios were taken away. The concern was that the tow company or media could hear who was being arrested or other personal information and then the police would be liable for that private information getting out. I think that's just an excuse though. I really think that police just don't want anyone listening in on their "goings on". I heard plenty of police action an no names or information ever made it out in a damaging way. Scanners are still used here although there's not the much to listen to, unless you have a pricey scanner with correct programming.

[@nowster]

Cordless phones were sometimes receivable on AM radios at the top end of the Medium Wave band, depending on how strictly the radios had been aligned at the factory.

[@rogerdildeau7507]

The FCC Charter says that all frequencies are available to the American citizens to listen to.

[@manuelhung7571]

I was listening to my Realistic scanner back in the 90's on police frequencies. One of the police calls I heard was a guy at a traffic light junction, running around in a blue blazer, naked from the waist down except for a pair of women's tights and high heeled shoes. Police had some very weird crap to deal with back then.

[@rogerdildeau7507]

Sounds like someone in the Biden Administration.

[@ThePsiclone]

Rather funny it being illegal as I remember as a kid being able to listen to 2 or 3 police frequencies on an ordinary radio such as you'd find in curry's. You don't get more unsecured than being able to listen by accident on a domestic radio.

[@EportChris]

That yellow uniden sportcat looks awesome 😍

[@boilerroombob]

Fab video Lewis.... from mid 80s to mid nineties and don't think a week went by where at least one night a week I never slept due to scanner listening....I eavesdropped on anything and everything and as I've said before ..things I wish I had not heard ... today when working in the office shack I leave close call on and hear that way ...sometimes I go scanning around.... another old trick was to open up various companies repeaters if you had a wide banded vhf and uhf set with ccts etc and wind up the users......me and a friend one night in 1988 in essex were out following police shouts ..I suggested we go through a bus lane as a short cut (no anpr back then)...anyway unknown the shout was over before we get there and we met the police in the bus lane head on ..he clocked the realistic pro 57 and asked hello hello whats that son told him what it was and said it picks up fire ambulance and taxi ...he said police also! I said no but do you know the frequency! Acting dumb....I had already reset the cpu with the point of a bic pen quickly as the police stopped us thus wiping out the memory banks....phew! Miss them days Ps my mate got fined for bus lane and no tax lol Pps I got burgled in 91 and my pro 2005 was lifted...I got an aor after that

[@techtinkerin]

The golden days of analogue mobiles and police are sadly over. I remember freaking a mate out on a dark park in about 1996 with a scanner, he thought I was a cop and kacked it! 😂❤️👍

[@baronedipiemonte3990]

Nice informative video. I remember some of those old scanners. My first was crystal controlled

[@sspicyyful]

I find it very British that the police and others broadcast, or used to broadcast, unencrypted but compensate by making a law against listening.

[@Wiggy..]

I remember listening to a local taxi firm and everyone there knew i was listening, sometimes when i was waiting for a taxi, the driver would shout me by name and say im on a certain street and he'd be here in a minute. Once they couldnt find a street (doesnt say much for them does it haha) but i phoned and told them where it was and they were only too happy to know... I think its legal in the USA to listen as ive seen a news channel listening to a scanner so they could report whats going on and theres a website where you can listen to the emergency services anywhere in the USA. Btw, another great video :)

[@raymondmartin6737]

I started scanning about 50 years ago when you had analog radios 📻 like the Radio Shack Patrolman portables, which were multiband and hard to tune into a frequency being vague. Then I had portable and base crystal controlled receivers, which were more exact on frequency, but your range was limited. Then Bearcat in 1976 came out with the early digital 210XL, 16 channel base scanner, and around 1981, I had my first Bearcats 100 XL portable digital scanner, again with 16 memory channels. I remember waiting for the Radio Shack PRO-2004 programmable multi channel base scanner, around 1986, which was delayed by the ECPA ACT from the FCC and US Congress to prevent scanner listening to the then analog cell phones. Actually, when that model came out, one could cut a jumper and restore the 800 MHz Cellular phone frequencies. Today, even in the US 🇺🇸, which is less restrictive than the UK regulations, many of the Digital communications such as by the Police are also encrypted, so you still can't listen to them even on a modern Digital multi mode scanner as here in the two largest cities in New Hampshire. 73 de W2CH Ray

[@baronedipiemonte3990]

Where I am in podunk Louisiana, everything in the county, even fire, is trunked encrypted. Yet I can use my app to listen to the NYPD, LAPD, Houston, Dallas, Cleveland etc ... KD5***

[@Allocated_Brain]

@@baronedipiemonte3990 Cleveland Police, for example, use a Project 25 system while not encrypted it is a digital trunked system that can be gotten using op25. Encryption would put a damper on that.

[@ManuelPinner]

You can Use a SDR Play RSP DX with SDR Angel that can listen P25, also Uniden and Westler makes P25 Scanners,

[@charleskadletc2431]

I'm a radio scanner buff. I was a volunteer FF. Had a scanner in my car with a permit from my Chief. I have 6 scanners in my home still listen in since I'm retired.

[@TRIPPLEJAY00]

The yellow scanner definitely 90's because back then everything had Turbo written on them. Cheesy but cool 😎

[@petesmith2234]

I work as a radio engineer, one of my ex colleagues was caught with a radio on the local police channel after being stopped for a traffic offence. As far as I recall, they dropped the case regarding the radio, but he did have to forfeit it. Taxi wars is definitely a thing, I got called to a hilltop site in the outskirts of London a few years back to check a customer’s system as the site (and our cabinets) had been broken into. They’d gone to some effort, cutting a hole in a steel door to gain entry to the building. Nothing of ours was stolen, all the copper earthing system was intact. The only things missing were two repeaters belonging to a taxi firm!

[@gi7kmc]

I remember hearing on the news of people being charged under the prevention of terrorism act and in the list of offences the last item was possession of a radio scanner. I think it was connected to the section about having information that was of use to terrorists. Also I am a licensed radio amateur and my first rig was a 2m handheld that used rotary thumb switches to set the frequency. I always used it with headphones when in public as the front end was rubbish and I would get breakthrough from the police band just above 2m. Not what you want to happen in Belfast especially if you were passing the police.

[@rogerdildeau7507]

Washington, DC is TERRORISM CENTRAL.

[@neilstafford7245]

Lewis, talking of Ringway, back in the late 1960's, early 70's you could take your air band receiver into an office in the control tower and it would be checked and a permit issued to allow its use on the spectator terraces.

[@geraldscott4302]

Use of scanners is certainly not illegal in the U.S. I have about 20 of them. Most of them are in the closet. Back in the 1990s, when cell phones were still analog, you could listen to cell phone calls on scanners. It didn't take the FCC long to require scanner manufacturers to block out cell phone frequencies on their scanners. But I had a couple bought before then. There was a lot of very interesting stuff to listen to. Then cell phones went digital, and you could no longer listen to them. The main reason people bought scanners though, was to listen to the cops. And it was easy to do so, you could listen to any police department within range. Then they went to trunked systems, and everything got all jumbled up. part of a conversation would be on one frequency, and the reply would often be on another, making it difficult to follow what was going on. Then scanner manufacturers came out with "trunk tracking" radios, which could follow conversations most of the time. But then police radio systems mostly went digital, just like cell phones, and you could no longer listen to them. And also, most police departments went from audio transmissions to data transmissions, using computers in their cars connected to the station by radio. That is why most of my scanners are in the closet. There are still a few places, like taxi dispatchers, that still use analog systems, but I have no desire to listen to them. Before it went out of business, I was even able to listen to the drive through radio transmissions at a McDonalds close to my house. Some of those could be a bit funny, but quickly got boring. In the U.S. you have the right to listen to anything you can find. Privacy on radio frequencies was and is the responsibility of those transmitting and receiving. Unfortunately for radio hobbyists, modern technology has made encrypting radio transmissions easy. Radio Shack (Tandy corp.) used to publish a Police/Public call book every year, listing frequencies used by police and public service agencies. They quit doing that some time ago, because it became pointless.

[@NightRunner417]

This is a key problem with SDR technology, which is something of a holy grail for radio listening enthusiasts because you can actually LOOK at all the activity on say an 8 -10 MHz swath of radio spectrum and just point and click to listen. The downside is the very same as with "police scanners" - you can't listen to what you can't decrypt. There are still plenty of interesting things to do with either form of radio tech, such as listening to common public broadcasting, aircraft, HF (shortwave) radio in its many, many forms, some public services that remain unencrypted, the 'great return' of CB due to Solar Cycle 24, NOAA weather sats on VHF, the many, many amateur radio bands, ACARS and ADS-B decoding amongst many other digital transmissions, the oddly amusing car key fob frequencies, and so forth... But it is NOTHING like it was when I was young. You've got to work a lot harder to find new things to listen to. Back in those days it was pure magic every time. Now it's a big pain in the ass.

[@stevest.martin3940]

Back before encryption I used to listen to my friends around the hood on there cordless phones and cell phones. it was such a blast to listen to people call there banks and dr office

[@daveg8htfadlibaudio250]

Yet another great informative video Lewis. Regards Dave.

[@spankyharland9845]

It all depends on which country you live in. I live in the USA and any radio broadcast is in the public domain and anyone with the right tools can listen. AS of now some police/emergency services are switching to 800mhz trunk tracking to deter folks from listening- however, you can purchase commercially available equipment to listen to those transmissions. Most USA sold radio scanners block out the cell phone frequencies because that is illegal to listen to those transmissions.

[@12HedmanLane]

True you can listen to anything on the air in the US. Recording it may be a grey area though, not sure. As for the trunking systems, I do installs for commercial companies in the US including police and there is no way you can monitor them even if you have the same radio unless it's programed into the system. You would just get garbles. When an officer loses a radio it is removed from the system and is useless. At least that is the systems used in the states I service.

[@spankyharland9845]

@@12HedmanLane I guess the early trunk tracking had some capabilities of staying with the transmission, although you may be right and they have newer technology that prevents listeners from locking on. In California, some cities are using digital signals that cannot be monitored at all, but they had to convert back due to community complaints. The police/emergency services in my area still use regular frequencies that I can monitor. I invested in a 800 mhz trunk tracker radio, however I only got parts of transmissions, so I stopped using it.

[@wisteela]

Another superb video. I was thinking this would be great for you to cover, and just knew you would. 73 M7TUD

[@CB-RADIO-UK]

Used to love scanning in my teens as such a lot of freqs to receive on FM back then. Good video bud

[@timothybrown7792]

Scanners have never been illegal to buy or own in the UK, it's what the owner does with them that determines if any law is broken or not. obviously if somebody is monitoring any broadcast that's not intended for the general public Civil Aviation band included!! then, they as a user are breaking the law, and if frequencies not intended for the public are stored in the devices memory that's enough evidence to convict someone which is exactly why sensitive frequencies should never be stored on the device

[@GeorgeZ213]

Most of the time, if LEO/fbi/swat are going after somebody, they will use a scrambled channel.

[@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY]

HAM license required to use in Brazil

[@shenghe9876]

Scanners are legal but it is illegal to listen to private services such as police radio. Because of this, its only legal use is listening to TV channels, which doesn't need a license if you don't have a screen. So they could be marketed as TV audio receivers.

[@munehaus]

I think it's probably worth mentioning that from the 1950s until the late 1980s, the emergency services in the UK regularly used frequencies between 100 and 104 MHz! Yep, right in the middle of the FM broadcast band and receivable on any domestic FM radio! Since FM broadcasting in the UK started in the 1950s this has to have been deliberate, so any claim by the authorities that they "didn't know" are at best disingenuous but much more likely an outright lie. They wanted criminals to listen to those transmissions, so they wouldn't think to listen elsewhere.

[@jplacido9999]

In fact, FM Broadcast Band was at first 87.5 to 100 MHz (over that there were military allocations, etc). I still have an old tube receiver with that range. Then it went to 87.5 to 104 MHz (I had one transistor radio with that exact range. Than the final band became 87.5 to 108 MHz as you get in nowadays radios. That's the real explanation. Altough it is stupid to place police coms nearby commercial ones, it happended everywhere in the all world (ignorant civil servents...) Then it went

[@munehaus]

Yes it was the ITU Geneva 84 agreement that defined 87.5-108 as the standard. However 87-104 was in common use across Europe from the 60s and 87-108 in the US at the same time. As a result almost every FM radio went to 104 before 1970 and 108 after. It's said that the UK's placing of emergency services in those bands was in part a reaction to the pirates, so they could claim that there were "no frequencies" and if any pirates tried to use them, that they were "causing interference". That combined with, well, placing emergency services in such a public band, was not a good look for the UK government and actually ended up delaying the launch of Radio 1 on FM. 🙂

[@doodpiss2374]

Your chatting shiit they hated us listening in you utter fool lol

[@bear_chills]

Good explanation mate...I started off with scanning and the CB...73

[@clems6989]

Here, a few states have laws against mobile scanners. But they are legal in the states. And hams are exempt from the mobile scanner laws..

[@alexderpyracc4053]

If utility is using PMR channel 1 well there is no way to avoid listening in

[@paganphil100]

alex derpy racc: PMR radios are not illegal.....anybody can transmit and / or listen to them.

[@Charlottesville798]

Been there, done that, gotta da T Shirt.... Used to have a Bearcat UBC200XLT Scanner in the car when the Nova & (us) XR3i gangs used to meetup at Sandbach Services early 90s.... (and the other thing with art galleries,we spoke about the other night sir, 👍😉)

[@tomarsandbeyond]

Absolutely blitheringly stupid law in a country that does not value freedom of speech or thought. It should not be illegal to listen to a radio. This only happens in terrible totalitarian states. But that is a country where you have to have a "tv license" to watch tv. It shares a language with the US but is a strange, alien place.

[@nicholashpitts]

Hearing you say it out load reminds me of the revolution.

[@JeffreyGroves]

I still have my Bearcat III scanner that I received for Christmas back in the 1970s. Sure, it needed replacement capacitors recently, but it works for me still today.

[@RingwayManchester]

Awesome!

[@swapsplat]

You can listen to police scanners in the US. Radio traffic like that has no expectation of privacy, so it's open to the public. If they need to talk about sensitive information they can use encrypted Channels.

[@spacemissing]

Be careful. Various states in the US have laws that restrict or prohibit scanners.

[@TonyBlews]

I realise that I'm doing a lot of comments in a row here, but this issue boils my piss: I work with Safeguarding vulnerable children, a lot of which is identity protection. People get upset when I moan on the PMR groups about schools using PMR446 to discuss the pupils and giving out way too much information. I can hear 5 schools on my set up, I've reported them all, but they STILL do it, citing the "privacy" settings on PMR446.

[@NCJsport]

If your signal enters my car or my house, it's mine...or get prosecuted for trespass. Signal is mine or don't broadcast

[@19TC504]

in the netherlands scanning is alout so far as whe know,but whe cant listen to police or other emergengy services anymore

[@jhonbus]

How are you supposed to know if a transmission is intended for you or not if you don't listen to it? Best to check. 😂

[@greggweber9967]

I must know everything. I must know if I must know it or if I must not know it. Now go and tell me what happened. A paraphrase of Sir Humphrey Appleby as I remembered it.

[@munehaus]

I seem tor recall the wording of the law was rather clever. Along the lines of "acting on the information received". So you could hear almost anything, but the moment you told anyone or used the information you had heard in any way, that was when the law was broken.

[@jhonbus]

@@munehaus I'm surprised really that this law was ever put into place, given it was obvious from the beginning that it's unenforceable and vagueley defined, either of which is normally a fatal flaw, and as well as that it's just... wrong-headed. I suppose at the time it might have been seen a bit differently - that the realm of radio communication had some inherent separation from other means because it needed special equipment, and that therefore messages sent over radio have some expectation of privacy. But I think it's obvious to most people nowadays that this is not the case for unencrypted transmissions, and expecting them to be private is as unreasonable as expecting a conversation shouted from one side of a street to the other to be private.

[@munehaus]

@@jhonbus I think it goes back to the government mentality at the time. During the war they had problems with German propaganda stations and it seems the mindset of making listening illegal had infected those writing the legislation. This was also the time of the pirate radio ships and a big thing was made about how listening to those stations was "illegal". Of course that only boosted the listener numbers further. 🙂

[@Ravebiscuits]

I had that sleeplessness air band scanner as a kid! Happy days!😁

[@mm0dsm]

There was also a successful appeal in one case when the police visited a person's house and overheard a scanner because the police couldn't prove who actually programmed the channels into it.

[@therealdjflip]

Once upon a time, Tow truck drivers used scanners here, to rock up to accident scenes to earn a quick buck, thankfully a law passed where they would get fined if they did that, though many do still have scanners and listen in to the fire and rescue services (now that police and ambulance are encrypted) hoping they get the job, though Now most of the emergency services have contracts with certain tow operators. And scanning is starting to become a dying hobby too here, as many agencies have either moved to P25 encrypted, or over to the likes of DMR and NXDN and thus putting the average enthusiast out of the game given the cost of a scanner that can listen in.

[@pleasedontwatchthese9593]

Hear in the the US (I'm not sure if all states) you can walk into Walmart and get a scanner with many different stations just programed in.

[@ryanthompson3737]

In North America (US and Canada), radio waves are considered public property, which means any transmission is legally considered the same as speaking loudly in public. The only thing that's illegal is trying to decrypt encrypted channels which would be seen as, basically, installing recording devices to record private conversations.

[@spacemissing]

Some states restrict or prohibit scanners.

[@jamesslick4790]

You show a "Bearcat" 125 XLT. This is my "knockabout" scanner that I use at work daily for "cheap, commercial free entertainment", LOL. PS The "Max 800" antenna is also used in "The States" for normal (and LEGAL..) scanning for police, fire and EMS comms, As a LOT of THAT is in the 800 Mhz range. Additionally, To get EARLY (analog) cellular phone "interception" (in the US), You didn't even NEED a "scanner", An old (Pre 1983) TV would work, I actually found this out by accident, hearing phone calls on UHF channels above channel 70!

[@djthproductions]

Not here in The Netherlands! Everything you can pick up you may listen to.

[@johng9399]

Here in S Africa the possession of a scanner which will enable one to listen the transmissions they are not authorised to receive is an offence and people have been sent to prison for listening to the VHF Airbands. However it is almost impossible to buy a base station that does not have Airband capability built in and readily accessible. Apparently, as a licenced Ham, i can listen but must not let my family in the area hear what I am listening to!!! Common sense isn't!

[@espowari]

Licensed HAM here in the States, and before that for about 30 years I had many scanners - none of which were illegal to own or operate. Is this something specific to the UK, or am I misinformed?

[@cw2gtc]

Thanx, Mate.

[@carlashby6174]

Another informative video Lewis thank you.

[@mpol701]

Hi Lewis love your stuff and remember we agreed not to do a piece on me i want quiet life nowadays

[@DonzLockz]

Each country has their own laws. I don't have a scanner yet but have one on my wishlist. Encryption is the only real security for authorities. I still have my first double brick analogue mobile $1500 in 1989. :)

[@TonyBlews]

The taxi thing is true. Even after we went to Autocab and computer dispatch we had others decoding our signals.

[@raypitts4880]

years ago we listened to the police they started channel hopping no problem buy 4 scanners tune each one to a channel and listen to all 4 transmissions great fun till the cops caught us with 4 radios

[@coolvideos8864]

5:37 copper about to get a whack over the head for taking the old mans scanner

[@johncrawford6640]

brilliant video, really well explained.

[@cubwolf]

The local police ro me used to monitor cb frequently when it was in its heyday. On an open day I saw a Colt 444 fitted in the mobile control room. I asked and they said it was for monitoring anti hunt folks who were using am cb bands to coinordinate operations. There is still a Shakespeare big stick on the force hq mast

[@halfabapandmusket]

Still have my yupiteru 7100, not much to hear as I live rurally but I try anyway.

[@vipzer-uk1640]

can you still pick anything up on Scanners these days? as we entered digital age

[@KirkNorthrop]

“Scanning is off limits for Ofcom”. As is most amateur radio hobby enforcement other than rules about risk assessments…

[@BillyNoMates1974]

Technically isn't shortwave radio NOT intended for UK listeners ? Yes they area broadcast transmission but they tend to be aimed at other countries and since the UK law says 'intended for broadcast only' that makes them illegal in UK law. It wouldn't be enforced though, well not for now

[@andrewsmart2949]

police and emergency radios are digitally encoded and not easily monitored in perth western australia,but back in the day we used to beat police to call outs LOL

[@kc9cqx]

In the USA, it's perfectly legal to own a receiver that can listen to anything. Carrying one around on your person outside your house or place of business is another matter though, unless you have a permit issued to do so, or an amateur radio license.

[@MoViesDProductions]

Doesn't that depend on the state, though? The only state I can think of off the top of my head that really takes issue with carrying a scanner on your person is Indiana. Other states like (again, off the top of my head) Florida or New York and places like LA County ban using scanners _in vehicles._ Other than those states, I can't think of any places that give you a hard time for carrying a scanner on your person under normal circumstances, with or without a permit or ham license.

[@paulanderegg5536]

How did the news media know what to report or cover if they could not listen to police or fire department frequencies?

[@mpol701]

Many did have there scanners and many relied on hobbyists

[@MrBugsier5]

in the Netherlands there is no law against recyving everything you want..

[@SteelWolf13]

Not illegal in the USA. Bearcat makes a nice hand held scanner. :)

[@superowl91]

the police don't seem to care about the law when they use their StingRays without a warrant to scoop up all calls that pass through it.

[@michaelcarey]

I still remember my first experience with a scanner. I was working for the local Tandy store and asked if I could take a Realistic Pro31 scanner home to learn more about how it worked. I called a local scanner enthusiast and got a list of frequencies to program in. During the evening I heard an ambulance call to go to my grandmothers aged-care unit! I was hooked! There was so much to listen to back in the late 1980s. Listening to mobile/cordless phones in Australia was always illegal, but all other radio traffic was open game!

[@indridcold8433]

I had an American scanner mailed to me long ago. It had frequencies that Ofcom would love to put me away for life, if they knew I had the scanner.

[@barrylarryharry7183]

What make and model?

[@nobloodyusername]

Statutory Instruments are law, it's what is called subordinate legislation. The power to make such a regulation stems from an existing Act of Parliament.

[@tonycapone2016]

I had a Motorola brick carry phone that was converted to a cell scanner with laptop software which listed numbers . Was a lot of fun .

[@ThermalWorld_]

I would say if you want to listen to the full band radio there is the #WebSDR# full of online radios without needing your own radio. Just write #WebSDR# and #legality# will not be able to find suspicious devices in your car or in other places. However I still find it #stupid that in 2022 it is illegal# to listen to the radio, it still seems like the restrictions of the #comm.unist# or #fas.cist# countries that it was #illegal# to listen to the FM or AM radio stations of other #democratic# countries.

[@stuartvaughan8599]

Another great video Lewis. Looking forward to the ‘Paul Wey’ episode!

[@mpol701]

I can't and won't stop him we agreed not to have me partake and I assumed he dropped the project hopefully he will but as said I accept he can it's a free country

[@stuartvaughan8599]

@@mpol701 oh sorry I wasn't aware

[@mpol701]

@@stuartvaughan8599 as said I didn't want to get involved and he asked me few weeks ago but I can't stop him from doing a piece however as I've just emailed him, was a complex issue involving a member I chucked from group who was police impersonator, intelligence officer and paramedics impersonator who served jail time for things there Including fraud, in story bbc said, intelligence officer says he's a danger to the country publishing frequencies etc In fact that was what tge judge said to him when he went down for driving a car on m25 stopping females and then using a radio to pretend to be an officer But he's gradually afaik got on with his life, and wish him well and me too, we are both on autistic spectrum etc I try and just maintain a quite life main listening is mostly military airband, vhf civil, marine and local farms can be interesting at times and yes other stuff at times At that time special branch wanted me to file a complaint to bbc about how they did the story, I refused there was no government comeback, at that date or after and no one ever told me stop publishing information and indeed ofcom ot old radio agency used my database to go after users who were using radios illegally ie taxi companies losing licence and yet still on my databases as still used Had a guy ex radio agency tell me this

[@mpol701]

Just 2 stories here one day king of Jordan, the newer one visiting Buckingham Palace, police on duty at gate called me over, men in black want to talk to u they spotted u on camera, I stood half an hour, was never held, asked when these guys were coming, the sod said, I was only joking lol

[@mpol701]

The day Buckingham Palace first opened joined the throngs in line 2 Plain clothes from royalty protection pulled me off queue, said your not going in there, told uniform royal parked officers as I was in St James Park to arrest me if I stayed in area, but they didn't care I stayed in park and they talked to me a few times but weren't going to waste there time on me

[@KHoos]

Good explanation.. but for the UK only. Laws and regulations are different on this matter per country.

[@samiam5557]

They call them early HTs "bricks" they were similar in size and weight.

[@bearchris121]

Now I'm only speaking of Federal communication commission of the United States of America. in regards to other countries you would need to look up the itu rules and regulations for other countries. But you my understanding only countries like China North Korea that restricts information from the public be illegal to listen or scan radio frequencies?

[@markaz2kk]

In Australia, it’s not illegal, but frowned upon. But if you decode it or are able to listen, your not allowed to teach it, nor program it for others.

[@bearchris121]

FCC Part 97 declares basically anyone who has the capability to receive frequencys are absolutely legal to listen But under no circumstance is promoted to respond or transmit unless licensed to operate in the frequency band. Only unlawful decrypt encrypted frequencies without a license allowing encryption promoted for security requirements.

[@ryanthompson3737]

Which makes sense. It's like the difference between overhearing a conversation in public vs breaking into someone's house to hear their private conversations. One is obviously legal, whereas the other requires an intentional breach of security and rights in order to do. It does become difficult when there's only a finite number of frequencies we can possibly generate whole keeping the same quality. If we allowed EVERYONE to broadcast and encrypt, we'd quickly run out of usable frequencies, and the public services would struggle to maintain their frequencies as well. This is also why some frequency bands are "blocked off" for civilian use; the police and military need it.

[@Odessia-ij5ys]

Cheap sets in recent years made boom in sets on the market..... vintage gear Is hard to find and dear in price...came across such gear in Italy....

[@ChrisColeman1962]

I used to love it, listening to Golf One and 2 here in Tameside, one day there was a massive downpour, and they were that stretched, if I was criminally minded a bank job would of been easy , also liked listening to phones, business man to a prostitute at Manchester airport hotel " bring all the toys " !!

[@ManuelPinner]

Not Here in the US! That Why I have a SDR Play RSP DX and a Radio shack Digital Trunking Scanners, that Why I'm Glad that I live in New York City and All Cell Phone's are Digital spread spectrum, Plus I'm a Ham Radio Operater, Here in the States it Legal to Listen to Local Police in Your Home,

[@coolvideos8864]

My car can also do 140 Mph... thats the key isn't it, how do you prove someone has been listening to police or mobile phone (90's)

[@normanhill535]

More airband communications are going data or texting. ACARS too.

[@ollybgm]

I miss my scanner back in the late 80s here is what I heared on my 1 homebase 1 handhled Realistic 1000 Channel phone calls from drug deals to fixed horse racing/all of merseyside/Manchester police chases/airport and planes I had everyone come to me to program there scanners I even had to clear my scanner one time on the streets I miss them like if they where my kids lol

[@randyhavard6084]

I can remember being eight or nine and sitting outside my mom's house listening to people talk on their cordless phone on a cheap set of walkie talkies that my grandparents gave me.

[@lm4417]

Hello, Thank you for your videos their great 😊 Me and my son are looking to Get in to scanners And walkie talkies as we live next to the airport, I was wondering if you could Point me in the right direction of a scanner that would cost us less than £120 Don't mind if it's used, But would like to listen to To as much as possible,,, like Airplanes And anything else interesting on the ground or water,,,Your help would be much appreciated! as we have a bit of a headache trying to find which Scanners are worth the money And obviously good quality😁So many Chinese things around don't really know what To pick, Look forward to hear from you,, many thanks Lauren 🙂

[@RingwayManchester]

Hey Lauren drop me an email [e-mail]

[@dave8453]

Still have my uniden bearcat 9000xlt best homebase scanner ever made

[@benhawke7231]

Here in the United States the airwaves are considered public. So just like our first amendment. Which covers more than just free speech. If you can see it from a public space, like the airwaves, then it is not the responsibility of the public to keep your communications over the airwaves private. That's why over here in the United States, the government and public entities that wish their communications to be private over the airwaves have to encrypt their communications. Also non-military communications are considered open record to the public even if it's being broadcasted by the government entities. So police, fire, and other emergency over the air communications are not allowed to be encrypted. That way, just like with recording police, scanners can record police communications and keep them honest. There was a few counties and cities here in the United States that started encrypting their police communications. And then they got sued and were forced to remove the encryption from their communications and broadcast over the air. The only over the air broadcasts that are allowed to be encrypted in the United States, are considered national security military broadcasts. And if you know what you're doing you can decrypt the broadcasts anyways. It's not that hard. It just takes a little bit of time. That's one of the nice things about living in a country that has freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

[@chichomancho1791]

in my country, listening of all frequencies was never forbidden, only forbidden was to TX out of amateur bands.