6
SCANNING LEGALLY
Your scanner covers frequencies used by many different groups including po-
lice and fire departments, ambulance services, government agencies, private
companies, amateur radio, 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 transmis-
sions you should never intentionally listen to. These include:
• Telephone conversations (cellular, cordless, or other private means of tele-
phone signal transmission)
• Pager transmissions
• Any scrambled or encrypted transmissions
According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), you are sub-
ject to fines and possible imprisonment for intentionally listening to, using, or
divulging the contents of such a transmission unless you have the consent of a
party to the communication (unless such activity is otherwise illegal).
This scanner has been designed to prevent reception of illegal transmissions.
This is done to comply with the legal requirement that scanners be manufac-
tured so as to not be easily modifiable to pick up those transmissions. Do not
open your scanner’s case to make any modifications that could allow it to pick
up transmissions that are illegal to monitor. Doing so could subject you to legal
penalties.
We encourage responsible, legal scanner use.
In some areas, mobile use of this scanner is unlawful or requires a permit.
Check the laws in your area. It is also illegal in many areas to interfere with the
duties of public safety officials by traveling to the scene of an incident without
authorization.
Motorola, Smartnet, ASTRO and Privacy Plus are registered trademarks of
Motorola Inc.
EDACS is a registered trademark of MA-COM Inc.
LTR is a registered trademark of EF Johnson.