Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
adriaticum
i think you have to have a license to be transmitting
No “think” required. Technically, you are required to have a federal license to own or operate VHF radios in Canada. This includes just monitoring channels. User programable radios (like the Baofengs) are straight up illegal even if you do have an amateur radio license. You can have a radio dealer program them for you, and “lock” them so they are no longer user programable and make them legal, but you legally need a license to have them.
I really doubt anyone has ever, or will ever be busted for distracted driving using a VHF or CB radio while driving.
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Redthies
I really doubt anyone has ever, or will ever be busted for distracted driving using a VHF or CB radio while driving.
Guess again....
https://www.trucknews.com/regulation...al/1003151205/
In the end the driver did win the court case but it did have to go to the supreme court to have an earlier decision overturned.
Your mileage may vary if you have a handheld rattling around in your cup holder.....
Edit:
I also find it the chances are quite remote of being busted on a logging road for using a hand held device, however, .....
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
Well, there you go. Seems in the end, sanity prevailed?
If one reads the linked article, in the case of the Baofengs or other handhelds, just put the radio in your console and have the remote mic outside or clipped to your shirt. The only button you can legally touch while driving is the PTT.
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
No, if so every trucker out there would be breaking the law everyday.
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
I use mine on city streets from my pickup all the time.
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
I think we need a sticky about radios for off road use !
Arctic Lake
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Arctic Lake
I think we need a sticky about radios for off road use !
Arctic Lake
Sure, but let’s let someone who is actually CLEAR on the law write it. There is a ton of dis-information in all the radio threads. Most of us using radios for personal use are breaking one or more rules every time we do it. I have licensed work radios, but when I use my personal ones, I am breaking a rule. I stick to FRS frequencies, but my radios exceed the maximum wattage by about 25%. I don’t think that’s a bad deal given that nobody should get too uptight about those channels... but technically speaking, mine have too much power. Worst case scenario in my case is the family camping next valley over hears me talking to my hunting partner if they are using the same frequency to keep in touch with little boopsie while he walks their labradoodle puppy.
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
You can lock a Baofeng so that it is not "field programable" buy using a CHIRP type program. Go to the work mode setting and then go to line 3 and change the setting to enabled. This is quite different from using the "lock" feature on the keypad. And you dont have to go to a dealer to have it done.
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
Redthies What are FRS frequencies ?
Arctic Lake
Re: Am I breaking the BC law using my radio and external mike?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Arctic Lake
Redthies What are FRS frequencies ?
Arctic Lake
"Family Radio Service"
Bubble pack radios you get from Walmart....
They are UHF, In Canada the FRS frequencies are limited to a half watt. With the explosion in popularity in the US of GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) Canada adopted the GMRS frequencies and permitted them to be 5 watts.
"Type approved" radios are limited in power, cannot have a removable antenna and not be programmable.
edit: there is nothing special about the frequencies themselves. I have the frequencies programmed on a UHF kenwood and Icom portable radio... Illegal, yes....