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GMRS identity procedures

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sunnyeveryday

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I just received my GMRS license but am puzzled about something.

THE FCC web site

eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations

says:-

95.119 Station identification.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (e), every GMRS station must transmit a station identification:

(1) Following the transmission of communications or a series of communications; and

(2) Every 15 minutes during a long transmission.

(b) The station identification is the call sign assigned to the GMRS station or system.

(c) A unit number may be included after the call sign in the identification.

(d) The station identification must be transmitted in:

(1) Voice in the English language; or

(2) International Morse code telegraphy.


So, I have a radio and my wife has a radio. I have the GMRS license and callsign e.g. . PRTT286

So if I want to call her I announce 'PRTT286 - 204' (picks a random number to assign to her)

If the wife wants to call me she announces 'PRTT286 (do I need a number e.g. 120) as the licensee ?)

Any other family members I give numbers to as well. 69, 42 (no names, just numbers ?).

So a full conversation...wife calling one of her sisters.

PRTT286-42 PRTT286-204. Start chatting. After 15 minutes one of them announces PRTT286 (likely the caller). Ends call with PRTT286 (do you need to add 204) clear.

I have been unable to find any GMRS communication example to follow so any advice to the correct procedure would be appreciated.

SunnyEveryDay.
 

mmckenna

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You are not required to use unit ID's. Using your names is sufficient:

Me:
WPQL444, Patti, are you there?
She answers, we talk.
At the end, WPQL444, clear. Wifey would repeat that.

While you should follow the rules as best as you can, I doubt anyone is going to report you if one of the people operating under your license forgets to ID. By making yourself legal and getting the license, you are already in the top 2% or so of people on GMRS.
 

redneckcellphone

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If you really wanted to use you call sign couldn't you just say a b or something after the call sign? Would be much easier


Sent from my iPhone yes iPhone using Tapatalk app thingy
 

quarterwave

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Don't make it over-complicated, it's no big deal.

As long as you give your Call each 15 minutes that you use the radio, you're fine. I usually just rattle on for a while and give it at the end, when we are done. As long as you do that....you are doing better than 90% of the other people you will hear on GMRS.
 

Dantian

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Right, it is not necessary to give the callsign at the beginning. Nor are unit numbers required, though these are so common in GMRS. They are usually assigned by the group owning the repeater.

The rule says you may include the unit number after the callsign, but it is usually used before the callsign (which is allowed of course). So a typical sign-off would be, "101 clear, KAA 8144".
 

RodStrong

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I have monitored GMRS heavily for years, and I have never heard anyone state a callsign. Not by any means suggesting you don't, but based on the fact that zero compliance is the norm (at least from my experience), I wouldn't get too worked up if you forget or slip up now and then. Good luck.
 
D

DaveNF2G

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I have noted that the worst ID offenders are the "grandfathered" businesses still using GMRS. Individuals tend to be more conscious of the fact that they are licensed and have to identify.
 

rapidcharger

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If you're using your own repeater you can just have it ID in morse code automatically every 15 minutes.
You don't have to give out the call signs verbally. You can just go "Jim to Mary" or "Mary come in please" (or whatever you want). And you can conclude each conversation with a 10-4 or "thank you" or whatever you want.

Some of these GMRS "group" repeaters we have in my area are run like amateur radio repeaters where everyone has to ID with their call sign and are given unit numbers for abbreviation purposes but in that case, there's multiple stations using the repeaters.
radioReferenceRL.gif


Anyway, that might be what's going on in the post above with grandfathered businesses if you don't hear everyone IDing, it could be happening in morse code and it might be going out without any PL/DPL tone.
 

quarterwave

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If you're using your own repeater you can just have it ID in morse code automatically every 15 minutes.
You don't have to give out the call signs verbally. You can just go "Jim to Mary" or "Mary come in please" (or whatever you want). And you can conclude each conversation with a 10-4 or "thank you" or whatever you want.

Some of these GMRS "group" repeaters we have in my area are run like amateur radio repeaters where everyone has to ID with their call sign and are given unit numbers for abbreviation purposes but in that case, there's multiple stations using the repeaters.
radioReferenceRL.gif


Anyway, that might be what's going on in the post above with grandfathered businesses if you don't hear everyone IDing, it could be happening in morse code and it might be going out without any PL/DPL tone.

Good, this proves I am not the only one who knows about stripping PL. Thank goodness, some know it all tried to tell me I didn't know what I was talking about.
 

Dantian

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If you're using your own repeater you can just have it ID in morse code automatically every 15 minutes. You don't have to give out the call signs verbally. You can just go "Jim to Mary" or "Mary come in please" (or whatever you want). And you can conclude each conversation with a 10-4 or "thank you" or whatever you want.

I call bullfeathers.

It doesn't matter if it's your own repeater or if you are even using a repeater. Every GMRS station must identify, period (95.119(a)).

Using a repeater has never avoided the requirement for every station to identify. And you do have to speak the callsign verbally -- if you are human and not a machine, unless perhaps you can beat-box your call in Morse.

So "10-4 Mary" is not legal ID.

The only exemption is 95.119(e). The repeater doesn't have to ID, if the people using the repeater ID their stations.
 

rapidcharger

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I call bullfeathers.

It doesn't matter if it's your own repeater or if you are even using a repeater. Every GMRS station must identify, period (95.119(a)).

Exactly.
Every station must identify.

If I go put up a repeater for my station that me and my immediate family members use under one license, then the repeater can id for everyone just as it does for part 90 licenses. If other gmrs licenses use my repeater then they must identify their stations.

That is my interpretation of it anyway.
 

Dantian

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Exactly.
Every station must identify.

If I go put up a repeater for my station that me and my immediate family members use under one license, then the repeater can id for everyone just as it does for part 90 licenses. If other gmrs licenses use my repeater then they must identify their stations.

That is my interpretation of it anyway.

Every means every. The plain language of the rule does not allow any person to skip IDing. It has nothing to do with family members, one license, repeaters etc. The repeater cannot ID for any GMRS station using it, regardless of family.

This should be plain from reading the rule -- in Part 95A, that is, not Part 90. It's not complicated.
 

quarterwave

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Every means every. The plain language of the rule does not allow any person to skip IDing. It has nothing to do with family members, one license, repeaters etc. The repeater cannot ID for any GMRS station using it, regardless of family.

This should be plain from reading the rule -- in Part 95A, that is, not Part 90. It's not complicated.

No it's not...4 people with the same call sign in GMRS don't all have to speak their same callsign at the end of a conversation between said 4, especially if the repeater is going to put out (their own) as CW for them anyway. "Stations" is commonly known to refer to individual licensees within a "system", modern GMRS communications are also, and regularly between persons covered under one license.

Stop trying to confuse people, either help or jump off.
 
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quarterwave

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...

The rule says you may include the unit number after the callsign, but it is usually used before the callsign (which is allowed of course). So a typical sign-off would be, "101 clear, KAA 8144".

"Usually", so that's in your dream world of opinions.

Yeah, it's me again, and no we still don't get along. People come here for help...and you are not helping them.
 

stmills

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Multiple family members operating on the same license are all on the same system, but may be different stations. It is clear if multiple fixed radios are used they are different stations, However 95.21 b, and 95.23 a define a mobile station as one or more mobile units which makes it appear that one mobile unit in the group making up the mobile station could cover the ID requirement for all.
Each Station must id after each series of transmissions or 15 minutes of talking using plain english or Morse Code. Repeaters are not required to ID as long as the transmissions are IDed, but not vice versa.

§ 95.21 GMRS system description.

A GMRS system is one or more transmitting units used by station operators to communicate messages. A GMRS system is comprised of:
(a) One or more station operators;
(b) One mobile station consisting of one or more mobile units (see § 95.23 of this part);
(c) One or more land stations (optional);
(d) Paging receivers (optional); and
(e) Fixed stations (optional).
§ 95.23 Mobile station description.
(a) A mobile station is one or more units which transmit while moving or
during temporary stops at unspecified points.
(b) A mobile station unit may transmit from any point within or over any
areas where radio services are regulated by the FCC except where additional considerations apply.
(c) A mobile station unit may transmit from an aircraft or ship, with the
captain’s permission, which is:
(1) Within or over any area where radio services are regulated by the FCC
except where additional restrictions apply; and
(2) On or over international waters, if the unit is transmitting from an aircraft or ship of United States registry.
§ 95.119 Station identification.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (e), every GMRS station must transmit
a station identification:
(1) Following the transmission of communications or a series of communications; and
(2) Every 15 minutes during a long transmission.
(b) The station identification is the call sign assigned to the GMRS station
or system.
(c) A unit number may be included after the call sign in the identification.
(d) The station identification must be transmitted in:
(1) Voice in the English language; or
(2) International Morse code telegraphy.
(e) A station need not identify its transmissions if it automatically retransmits communications from another station which are properly identified.
 

Dantian

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That works for me, stmills, though it might surprise or invite pushback from FCC depending on the situation.

As to your other point about repeater ID, you are correct of course. I think 95.119(e) removed the illusion that people had legal justification for having a repeater transmit ID regardless of whether it was carrying traffic. They did it because it's fun to hear the ID, because they think GMRS is like Part 90 or it is to hold onto the frequency.

But because the rule says the repeater "need not" ID and not "must not" ID, people still set their repeaters to ID for no reason. The FCC will never say a station must not ID, even when it is a nuisance.
 
D

DaveNF2G

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But because the rule says the repeater "need not" ID and not "must not" ID, people still set their repeaters to ID for no reason. The FCC will never say a station must not ID, even when it is a nuisance.

...unless it is causing "harmful interference" to another licensed station. That is the trump card over every other rule about transmitting.
 

rapidcharger

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The question seems to be not what is a "mobile station" but rather what is a "station".
It looks like they're calling a station (i.e. fixed station) a "system" and it says a system must identify.

It's all clear as mud. Yet another reason they should make it license by rule, not to open that can of worms.

Then again I got my law degree at Sears so you'll have to pardon me if I don't quite get it.
 

stmills

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95.119 says every station must identify except repeaters. It makes no reference to system only stations.
95.21 describes that a system is made up of stations. It then describes what each station is: all mobiles make up a mobile station and each fixed station is a station.
 
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