Re: New HA product development

[gwhite <rank@xxxxxxxxx>]

Joel Kolstad wrote:
>

> Ah, well TRANSMITTING on the police bands is another issue.  That certainly is
> illegal (for your friend).

I believe true maydays are never illegal on any band.  Note you do not
claim he was arrested for illegal operation.  (I admit it has been over
25 years since I took the license exams.)

> But note that the FCC confiscated the device
> specifically because it was modified and therefore no longer type accepted...

As I wrote, seizure of a non-type accepted radio, that has been legally
used, is different than saying the particular mayday use itself was
illegal.

> if you friend had purchased, say, a police radio from eBay and had used it,
> technically I believe he would have been OK!  (Since, in general, during an
> emergency you're allowed to use whatever frequencies and equipment you want to
> obtain help, but if the cops discover anything illegal after all the dust has
> settled, they can still pursue it....

You sort of got it there.  I do not believe a true mayday requires type
accepted equipment.

> Keep in mind that while you can find stories where doing something like your
> friend did ended up saving someone's life, someone else could find a story
> where some moron transmitting on the police bands to report someone's house
> being robbed prevented a cop from calling in that he'd been shot and was lying
> there dying.

The perfect way to have the government put the clamps on maydays, is to
make them a nuisance.

The normal comm channels into 911 work pretty well, so in practice,
these fears won't likely materialize.

> You have to decide for yourself when the overall good
> outweighs the bad if you choose to commit a crime...

The point is that context itself can define criminality.