Did you know radios you purchase from some online dealers may be illegal for use in Canada?
Many popular and cheap ‘walkie talkie’ style radios from overseas are actually illegal for use in Canada. Before you buy a radio, ensure that it is approved for use by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). Use this link to check it out. If you’re not sure what you’re looking at CALL US! 778-932-0539. We would be happy to help you figure out if the radio you are looking at will actually help you – or just cause you more problems once it shows up. We will NEVER sell you anything illegal to operate!
At Vernon Communications we are proud to host Kenwood’s complete line of commercial Land Mobile Radios as well as the full Kenwood Amateur Radio Catalog. We also carry Tait, Motorola, Uniden, and various other types of marine and consumer grade radios and we service and repair ALL makes and models of radios. Inquire today to get connected to your new personal radio nerd!
Mobile radio communication on resource roads has historically been highly variable across B.C. for a multitude of reasons: Road users were required to know unwritten local protocols. Heavy radio traffic caused overlapping calls and interference. Radios had to be reprogrammed to local channels with each location change. Road signage was inconsistent and unclear. A standard mobile radio communications protocol was needed and has been developed to standardize and simplify, and thus make travel on resource roads safer. As the transition has been made to new resource road radio channels and communications protocols, road users are advised to exercise additional caution when travelling on resource roads. Most forest service roads and natural resource roads are radio-assisted, but not all roads are radio-controlled. Road users are reminded not to drive exclusively according to the radio. Where posted, road users using mobile radios must use the posted channels and calling protocols.
The Ministry of Forests also provides the following User Guide to safety and the FSR’s. It’s worth a read through as it reminds us of the basics we have to remember to stick to!
Excerpts from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/natural-resource-use/resource-roads/radio-communications
Your journey starts when you turn your bush rig on! When your leaving your house, you tune your new Kenwood NX Series radio to LADD 1. As a seasoned highway warrior, you know most truckers are tuned in to LADD 1 and 2 and usually Flaggers and Road Construction Crews are on LADD 3 or 4. This gave you an edge getting out to the bush before the rest of your group because you heard about the accident blocking the main highway, about 15 km past the new road work and single lane area…
You were able to detour with the commercial traffic while your friends got stuck in traffic because you heard about the detour opening on the Infrastructure Channels you had in your radio. What Luck!
Now you’re at the Forest Service Road Trail-head. Your radio was programmed with BC’s allocated 35 Resource Roads frequencies accompanied by 5 LD Channels (Known as Loading Channels, but very different from the Hiway LADD’s you used to get to the bush.) You’re not going to have issues talking to logging traffic while your out cruising.
While driving around you’re calling out your kilometres on RR-10 just like the sign indicated, and you start hearing chatter on the radio, “Seymour…Loaded… 18 km Down…” You realize the truck is up around the corner a few km’s, but it’s not problem, you’ve been calling our your km’s all along and you had plenty of time to get to a pull-out and wait for him to pass!
- You have just been able to avoid numerous set backs!
- You have traversed our back country while safely communicating!
- You have interfaced legally and safely with your local loggers!
You’re now a pro! While your driving out to your favorite camp site you notice some potential bad weather rolling in and you turn your radio to the Weather Channel Bank. Its just some wind, nothing to worry about, but at least now you know and can make more good decisions.
| FRS, GMRS (sometimes known as walkie talkies) and CB radios are license free but, At Vernon Communications and Vella Radio, we sell primarily Land Mobile Radios, all of which require licensing through ISED. Most of our customers require permissions for the RR channels, known as the ‘RR appendix’ and the ‘appendix 6’ frequencies which give you permission for the LADD’s. Licenses are per radio, per year. Fees are generally around 42$ per radio. When you purchase a radio, you are required to obtain a license through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. This license is per radio, per year. Further, you must add to your license those frequencies you are using, Appendix 6 (BC), Appendix RR etc. If you wish to have special frequencies added, you must have a letter of authorization to apply to add the frequency to your license. |
Very often people will come in hoping to buy front programmable radios to use on resource roads (The FSR’s). Unfortunately, programmable radios are not permissible for land mobile use. And are also Illegal to transmit on unless you’re an amateur radio operator, Helicopter pilot, or a Radio Tech like us. Frequencies are managed by the government for specific purposes. Thus, ISED wants to ensure whoever is programming a radio understands what frequencies are permitted and how they can be used. If your wanting to use these types of front programmable radios, please ask us to help you find information on your local amateur radio club! We would love to help point you in the right direction.