"Listening to ATC and pilots in the USA is something almost completely alien to what we are acustomed to over here, but great fun I find."
Im not going to dispute Paper Tiger, but I cannot believe that listening to Police Frequencies is illegal. The only reason I question this is because New York is such a weird place and nothing there would surprise me. Guns are illegal in new York city so you know who the only people there who have them. Scanning is done everywhere in the states and one can purchase a scanner at any Radio Shack store for a few dollars. I do know that transmitting on certain frequencies is illegal without the proper FCC license. I thnk that information can be obtained via
www.fcc.gov I hope Paper Tiger will come back with a website to prove the point, again anything in NY is possible.