parnass@ihu1h.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) (01/22/85)
from the 12/84 issue of the ARRL Southern NJ Section Report: =========================================================== Assembly No. 2393 State of New Jersey Introduced September 13, 1984 by Assemblymen Zimmer, Haines, and Weidel An Act Concerning Crimes and Amending N.J.S.2A:127-4. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey: N.J.S.2A:127-4 is amended to read as follows: 2A:127-4. "Any person who installs or has a short-wave receiver operative on frequencies assigned by the FCC for fire, police, municipal or other governmental uses, is guilty of a misdemeanor crime of the fourth degree, unless a permit therefor has first been obtained from the chief of the county police, or from the chief of the police of the municipality, wherein such person resides. This section does not apply to any fire, police, or other governmental official of the state, or of any county or muni- cipality thereof, nor shall it apply to a resident of New Jersy holding a valid radio amateur license of the Technician, General, Advanced, or Amateur Extra Class." This act will take effect immediately. -- =============================================================================== Bob Parnass, Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414
ndiamond@watdaisy.UUCP (Norman Diamond) (01/23/85)
> This section does not apply to any fire, police, or other > governmental official of the state, or of any county or muni- > cipality thereof, nor shall it apply to a resident of New > Jersy holding a valid radio amateur license of the Technician, > General, Advanced, or Amateur Extra Class." So if you're a resident of some jurisdiction other than New Jersey, and have a valid ham receiver in your car, you have to remove it when you enter New Jersey, right? As another netter suggested, you have the right to receive whatever signals you wish, but you just can't drive while receiving certain ones of those signals because driving is not a guaranteed right. So I guess you have the right to live outside of New Jersey too, but if you do, then you might lose the right to drive in New Jersey. (That isn't the case yet; it just needs one more step to get there.) -- Norman Diamond UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!watdaisy!ndiamond CSNET: ndiamond%watdaisy@waterloo.csnet ARPA: ndiamond%watdaisy%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa "Opinions are those of the keyboard, and do not reflect on me or higher-ups."
rpw3@redwood.UUCP (Rob Warnock) (01/25/85)
Bob, thanks for the update, but your "Subject:" says "mobile scanner law", and I don't see "mobile" anywhere in the excerpt you quote: +--------------- | 2A:127-4. "Any person who installs or has a short-wave | receiver operative on frequencies assigned by the FCC for | fire, police, municipal or other governmental uses, is guilty | of a misdemeanor crime of the fourth degree, unless a permit | therefor has first been obtained from the chief of the county | police, or from the chief of the police of the municipality, | wherein such person resides. +--------------- And I am just a little bit, no, a LOT concerned that this is just the tip of the iceberg, or the first slice of the salami game. Sure, hams are now a priviledged class, so that makes everybody in this newsgroup heave a big sigh of relief, but why should ANY class be so priviledged over ordinary people. (Note that there is no guarantee that the criminals this law is intended to deter are not hams... or politicians!) +--------------- | This section does not apply to any fire, police, or other | governmental official of the state, or of any county or muni- | cipality thereof, nor shall it apply to a resident of New | Jersy holding a valid radio amateur license of the Technician, | General, Advanced, or Amateur Extra Class." +--------------- And what about NON-residents of New Jersey who are hams...? or just people driving through...? And non-ham residents, will they all march up and register like good little boys and girls? And what are the possible grounds for denying an applications for such a permit? ("No! You disagreed with me in town meeting last week!", or, "You haven't lived here 10 years.") Or will there be surprise raids of suspicious-looking antennas? Or of anyone who receives out-of-state mail from an electronics store? Not to carry the extrapolation too far towards paranoia, folks, but I think once again our general civil liberties are being restricted on the (unproven) THEORY that such punishments deter criminals. Friends, I am not sure exactly what a "fourth-degree misdemeanor" is (not being a NJ resident), but it's surely inconsequential compared to the felonies such radios are being used for. Maybe more deterrence could be gained by making ANY use of a radio in committing a crime a "special circumstance" or something (as use of a gun is in California), that increases the penalties on conviction. Note: This does NOT make such use itself a crime (which could open up a whole host of other civil liberties problems), but merely adds "oomph" to a conviction. IF (and this is a big "if", I'd want to see some documentation first) the use of scanners (receivers) IS a MAJOR crime problem in New Jersey, the much better solution would be encryption of critical services' transmissions, or conversion to digital transmission (possibly with voice compression and coding redundancy to actually improve S/N in marginal areas). (Plus such a "special circ." law.) --- Not normally politically inclined, but suddenly worried by this new bit of legislative not-so-trivia, I remain (not a ham), Rob Warnock Systems Architecture Consultant UUCP: {ihnp4,ucbvax!dual}!fortune!redwood!rpw3 DDD: (415)572-2607 USPS: 510 Trinidad Lane, Foster City, CA 94404
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (01/28/85)
> > from the 12/84 issue of the ARRL Southern NJ Section Report: > =========================================================== > > Assembly No. 2393 > State of New Jersey > Introduced September 13, 1984 > by Assemblymen Zimmer, Haines, and Weidel > An Act Concerning Crimes and Amending N.J.S.2A:127-4. > > Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State > of New Jersey: N.J.S.2A:127-4 is amended to read as follows: > > 2A:127-4. "Any person who installs or has a short-wave > receiver operative on frequencies assigned by the FCC for > fire, police, municipal or other governmental uses, is guilty > of a misdemeanor crime of the fourth degree, unless a permit > therefor has first been obtained from the chief of the county > police, or from the chief of the police of the municipality, > wherein such person resides. > > This section does not apply to any fire, police, or other > governmental official of the state, or of any county or muni- > cipality thereof, nor shall it apply to a resident of New > Jersy holding a valid radio amateur license of the Technician, > General, Advanced, or Amateur Extra Class." > > > This act will take effect immediately. > Nice try, as both a ham and a member of the volunteer fire deptartment I am more than covered, but I'm still pissed off. Never before in Americas history has radio reception been banned. Now in the wars my grandfather modified shorwave sets to disconnect the transmitters for people, but they weren't required to turn in the receivers. I feel that the inanity law is even more cut and dried than Gun control. I find out a good deal about what is happening in my town by listening to the the police and fire frequencies. If scanners are outlawed, only outlaws will have scanners.
parnass@ihu1h.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) (01/28/85)
New Jersey overregulates everything. It has laws prohibiting: -self service gas stations -BB guns/BB rifles -sparklers -slingshots -mobile scanners I fled NJ in 1976, seeking refuge in the Midwest, and am now being harbored in Illinois, which prohibits none of the above (and requires no auto inspection!) =============================================================================== Bob Parnass, Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414 -- =============================================================================== Bob Parnass, Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414