Hi,
We will be traveling to Italy from US 3 weeks vacation with my family, I'm planning to bring two way radio or walkie talkie (nothing fancy just the one you can buy in a local store) we will be using it with my kids. Do Italy allow you to bring a two way radio???
Anybody know...thanks!
Nope. Wrong frequencies -- they interfere with other allocations.
I can't use walkie talkies purchased in the US abroad. They will interfere with communication as a different set of frequencies are used. Best to purchase them locally when you get to Italy.
redgie,
As the others have mentioned, it's not legal to use North American two-way radios in Europe as the frequency allocations are different and they could interfere with legal users there, including emergency services. What type of things were you planning to use them for, and at what distances? Two-way radios have limited power and the signal will be attenuated to some extent by buildings and other structures, so range may not be that great.
US two-way radios are illegal in Europe as they use frequencies assigned to other services. Chances are you won't disturbing anyone, but if your transmissions spill into some assigned frequency and somebody does complain, they will send post police after you and you risk being given an hard time. I have seen with my own eyes the post police car with a rotating antenna looking in the centre of Florence for an unauthorized transmission that triggered a bank alarm (I saw also the end of the story: it was an official TV operator that had wrongly set up his gear, without realizing he was near a big bank vault).
By the way, do not trust people in forum writing: we brought the radios, used them and nothing happened. The same rogue transmitter may be unoffensive in open country and be a nuisance in a city. A frequency that sounds free most of the time may be in actual use; a frequency sounding free in a place may be busy somewhere else.
In a typical twist of Italian law, local walkie talkies are free to buy, but you need to notify authorities in writing before using them and pay a small tax.
Just to clarify what I believe asps2 is saying when he/she wrote: "By the way, do not trust people in forum writing: we brought the radios, used them and nothing happened." Asps2 is saying "Don't trust someone on a forum who writes that they brought the radios and used them and nothing happened."
(Asps2, the way you wrote that sentence could mean the exact opposite of what you intended. It could mean that people should not trust what the other writers are saying, and that you brought the radios, used them and nothing happened.)
This forum does not advocate law-breaking. Why would you risk interfering with the assigned users of those frequencies?
The OP has never shown up after the OP. Didn't care or didn't get the answer he wanted.
Thank you all this is very helpful!
