Posted: 4/21/2009 10:40:19 PM EDT
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Are police scanners legal to own in Clark County?
If so what is a good one that works? and where could I get one... |
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Are police scanners legal to own in Clark County? If so what is a good one that works? and where could I get one... VE, Scanners are legal (not legal advice here) unless you are a burglar and driving around town with a prior burglary record and a scanner in your vehicle... and that can be considered a burglary tool along with other implements in the vehicle. Good citizens sometimes want to hear what is going on in their area when they are away from home, and when they are at home they want to know why units are rolling Code and why the Air Unit is flying overhead. I would go to Radio Shack and check out their scanners. Some can be purchased for less than $100.00 and some can be much higher. Mine is a Radio Shack 500 channel programmable scanner and it works great for what I need. Also, get the "Police Call" book with the codes. Scanners are great tools for law-abiding citizens for obvious reasons. Hope this helps. Be Safe. Joe |
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Are police scanners legal to own in Clark County? If so what is a good one that works? and where could I get one... VE, Scanners are legal (not legal advice here) unless you are a burglar and driving around town with a prior burglary record and a scanner in your vehicle... and that can be considered a burglary tool along with other implements in the vehicle. Good citizens sometimes want to hear what is going on in their area when they are away from home, and when they are at home they want to know why units are rolling Code and why the Air Unit is flying overhead. I would go to Radio Shack and check out their scanners. Some can be purchased for less than $100.00 and some can be much higher. Mine is a Radio Shack 500 channel programmable scanner and it works great for what I need. Also, get the "Police Call" book with the codes. Scanners are great tools for law-abiding citizens for obvious reasons. Hope this helps. Be Safe. Joe Does the "Police Call" book have the Metro 400 codes? Also, at least the officers I've spoken with, its generally not a great idea to have a scanner in a moving vehicle at all, regardless of priors for burglary. |
Hmmm, when I lived in Ohio I loved my scanner (it was before the cell channels were removed  ) but most of the local PD's went to a new system were the signal bounced from channel to channel (trunked?). Will a newer scanner be able to keep up with the changing channels?
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Are police scanners legal to own in Clark County? If so what is a good one that works? and where could I get one... VE, Scanners are legal (not legal advice here) unless you are a burglar and driving around town with a prior burglary record and a scanner in your vehicle... and that can be considered a burglary tool along with other implements in the vehicle. Good citizens sometimes want to hear what is going on in their area when they are away from home, and when they are at home they want to know why units are rolling Code and why the Air Unit is flying overhead. I would go to Radio Shack and check out their scanners. Some can be purchased for less than $100.00 and some can be much higher. Mine is a Radio Shack 500 channel programmable scanner and it works great for what I need. Also, get the "Police Call" book with the codes. Scanners are great tools for law-abiding citizens for obvious reasons. Hope this helps. Be Safe. Joe Does the "Police Call" book have the Metro 400 codes? Also, at least the officers I've spoken with, its generally not a great idea to have a scanner in a moving vehicle at all, regardless of priors for burglary. Quoted:
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Are police scanners legal to own in Clark County? If so what is a good one that works? and where could I get one... VE, Scanners are legal (not legal advice here) unless you are a burglar and driving around town with a prior burglary record and a scanner in your vehicle... and that can be considered a burglary tool along with other implements in the vehicle. Good citizens sometimes want to hear what is going on in their area when they are away from home, and when they are at home they want to know why units are rolling Code and why the Air Unit is flying overhead. I would go to Radio Shack and check out their scanners. Some can be purchased for less than $100.00 and some can be much higher. Mine is a Radio Shack 500 channel programmable scanner and it works great for what I need. Also, get the "Police Call" book with the codes. Scanners are great tools for law-abiding citizens for obvious reasons. Hope this helps. Be Safe. Joe Does the "Police Call" book have the Metro 400 codes? Also, at least the officers I've spoken with, its generally not a great idea to have a scanner in a moving vehicle at all, regardless of priors for burglary. I haven't purchased a "Police Call" book in some time, and the last time I looked the "400 Codes" were in my copy. I do know that you can find the Metro "400 Codes" (as well as most police code info) on the Internet. As far as officers telling you it is not a good idea to have a scanner in your vehicle.... I think that is erroneous advice. That would be like saying: "Sir, you can't have an Emergency Radio that broadcasts Weather, Fire, and Police information." Now, if you have a TRANSMITTER that broadcasts on emergency frequencies and you try to jam those channels, you should be shot on the spot. I hear so may stories from people who talk to cops about various issues, and more often than not, the cops they speak to give them different advice from the cops I speak to. I'm sure this thread will get a few more responses from LEO's and Cits alike. Be Safe. Joe |
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Hmmm, when I lived in Ohio I loved my scanner (it was before the cell channels were removed ) but most of the local PD's went to a new system were the signal bounced from channel to channel (trunked?). Will a newer scanner be able to keep up with the changing channels?Most PSA's are getting away from "trunked" systems and they are going into a different type of secure system. Maybe a two-way communications geek here on the board can elaborate. My trunked scanner works fine. 
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I did some research and got a Radio Shack Pro-97. Took it to Radio World and there is a guy there who Dave knows who programs the whole frequency book Joe is talking about into this scanner; Metro, NLV, Henderson, along with McCaran approach traffic, etc., etc., etc. Everything is there. The Pro=97 has the weather frequency so you get NOAA weather radio.
eta: good info at RadioReference forums - has a Nevada specific board. |
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I did some research and got a Radio Shack Pro-97. Took it to Radio World and there is a guy there who Dave knows who programs the whole frequency book Joe is talking about into this scanner; Metro, NLV, Henderson, along with McCaran approach traffic, etc., etc., etc. Everything is there. The Pro=97 has the weather frequency so you get NOAA weather radio. eta: good info at RadioReference forums - has a Nevada specific board. Radio Shack is a great place to start. Most of the scanners and two-way radios (just like AR's) have their bodies, internals, and Printed Circuit Boards (PCB's) made by another maufacturing company. You can buy a Radio Shack scanner and save hundreds over another high-dollar scanner and still get the same quality without the price of a name brand. That's why Radio Shack is a good place to start. |
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I have a scanner on my computer, that picks up all of Metro, CCFD, but when there us alot of stuff going on you cant pick up what is going on where that easily. There were 3 gun shots in my neighbor hood last night, and I couldnt here what was going on.
How hard is it to program them. |
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There are currently no laws in either the Nevada Revised Statutes or the Nevada Administrative Codes that address in any fashion owning or using radiofrequency scanners.
Any LEO that tells you it is illegal, is not allowed or in any other way prohibited should be asked to quote the exact statute he is referring to that gives him authority to control your use of a legally purchased legally owned product. He of course will not be able to do so. |
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Any LEO that tells you it is illegal, is not allowed or in any other way prohibited should be asked to quote the exact statute he is referring to that gives him authority to control your use of a legally purchased legally owned product. He of course will not be able to do so. Well, with respect to use in a vehicle Henderson has HMC 8.76. Of course, Henderson has other "interresting" HMCs, such as 08.04.020 that state a minor can not be in possession of a laser pointer outside of their residence, nor can such devices be sold to minors. |
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Any LEO that tells you it is illegal, is not allowed or in any other way prohibited should be asked to quote the exact statute he is referring to that gives him authority to control your use of a legally purchased legally owned product. He of course will not be able to do so. Well, with respect to use in a vehicle Henderson has HMC 8.76. That's an interesting set of laws there that directly contravenes FCC regulations 
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I have a scanner on my computer, that picks up all of Metro, CCFD, but when there us alot of stuff going on you cant pick up what is going on where that easily. There were 3 gun shots in my neighbor hood last night, and I couldnt here what was going on. How hard is it to program them. Was that west off of Patrick? My co-worker said that was on his street and that police shot a man. Not too many details except that the suspect survived and that his street was a parking lot of metro cars. Supposedly the house is very problematic. |
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That is what I have and very easy to program. However I don't use it for Police or Fire, instead I use it for Aircraft. |
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Hmmm, when I lived in Ohio I loved my scanner (it was before the cell channels were removed ) but most of the local PD's went to a new system were the signal bounced from channel to channel (trunked?). Will a newer scanner be able to keep up with the changing channels?Most PSA's are getting away from "trunked" systems and they are going into a different type of secure system. Maybe a two-way communications geek here on the board can elaborate. My trunked scanner works fine. Don't know that I qualify as a "geek" but I have 22 yrs of experience in the Air Force in Radio Communications and have actually spoken to the Metro Officer that is in charge of their Communications. As I understand it, once they switch to their new radio system, scanners will be useless. The reason is the new system will be digital, so even if you do find the frequency that they are on, all you will hear is beeps and tones similar to what you hear on a fax line. Reason is the audio (officers voice) will be converted to digital prior to it being transmitted and then transmitted in a "burst". Try doing a Google search if you need more info. I did a google search and of course there are already scanners out there that claim they can pick up these signal but I don't see how this will help as the signals will be encrypted. Hope this helps. |
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Hmmm, when I lived in Ohio I loved my scanner (it was before the cell channels were removed ) but most of the local PD's went to a new system were the signal bounced from channel to channel (trunked?). Will a newer scanner be able to keep up with the changing channels?Most PSA's are getting away from "trunked" systems and they are going into a different type of secure system. Maybe a two-way communications geek here on the board can elaborate. My trunked scanner works fine. Don't know that I qualify as a "geek" but I have 22 yrs of experience in the Air Force in Radio Communications and have actually spoken to the Metro Officer that is in charge of their Communications. As I understand it, once they switch to their new radio system, scanners will be useless. The reason is the new system will be digital, so even if you do find the frequency that they are on, all you will hear is beeps and tones similar to what you hear on a fax line. Reason is the audio (officers voice) will be converted to digital prior to it being transmitted and then transmitted in a "burst". Try doing a Google search if you need more info. I did a google search and of course there are already scanners out there that claim they can pick up these signal but I don't see how this will help as the signals will be encrypted. Hope this helps. Many jurisdictions are switching from analog to digital as time and money allow.....some are adding encryption, many are not. If the digital signal is encrypted you would need to know the key to decrypt it....not impossible to get but not easy either. If the jurisdiction does not encrypt then any of the new digital RF scanners will be able to listen in. Digital alone does not mean that scanner hobbyists are out in the cold....encryption must be used also and not all jurisdictions are adding encryption. While there are some advantages to digital over analog one particular failing of digital is it is basically an "all or nothing" signal. If the signal strength is strong enough the transmission goes through. If not there is no transmission. For digital the signal must meet a minimum threshold strength. In the analog systems it is possible for the signal strenght to be decayed significantly and still allow a usefull transmission to occur even though it might be cluttered with static and noise. |
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