Your scanner covers frequencies used by many different groups, including police and fire departments, ambulance services, government agencies, private companies, amateur radio services, military operations, pager services, and wireline (telephone and telegraph) service providers.
It is legal to listen to almost every transmission your scanner can receive. However, there are some transmissions that you should never intentionally listen to. These include:
- Telephone conversations (cellular, cordless, or other private means of telephone signal transmission)
- Pager transmissions
- Any scrambled or encrypted transmissions
According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), you are subject to fines and possible imprisonment for intentionally listening to, using, or divulging the contents of such a conversation unless you have the consent of a party to the conversation (unless such activity is otherwise illegal).
This scanner has been designed to prevent the reception of cellular telephone transmissions and the decoding of scrambled transmissions. This is done to comply with the legal requirement that scanners be manufactured so they are not easy to modify to pick up these transmissions. Do not open your scanners case to make any modifications that could allow it to pick up transmissions that are illegal to monitor. Modifying or tampering with your scanners internal components or using it in a way other than as described in the manual could invalidate your warranty and void your FCC authorization to operate it.
In some areas, mobile and/or portable use of this scanner is unlawful or requires a permit. Check the laws in your area. It is also illegal in many areas (and a bad idea everywhere) to interfere with the duties of public safety officials by traveling to the scene of an incident without authorization.
| Digital Scanners Only: A license is required to use this product in Canada! |