In all actuality

[DOAUSMC0331]

Outside of us paying license fees has anyone ever been harassed by the FCC. I really don't see them busting down doors because someone is using to much wattage on example 50watt on channel 1 gmrs, or on the wrong freq. Is it just me?

 

[Hans13]

I was harassed due to some baseless allegations by a local radio a$$ociation. I could've just ignored Uncle Charlie's email but I decided to call and see what they wanted. The guy was a clueless idiot. I recorded the conversation. They should be ashamed to employ such morons.

For the most part, I don't think they really do much when it comes to GMRS. In my case, the a$$ociation kept bragging how they had a friend in the FCC and one member was associated with the FBI. It was the typical federal corruption and cronyism.

 

[DOAUSMC0331]

I was harassed due to some baseless allegations by a local radio a$$ociation. I could've just ignored Uncle Charlie's email but I decided to call and see what they wanted. The guy was a clueless idiot. I recorded the conversation. They should be ashamed to employ such morons.

For the most part, I don't think they really do much when it comes to GMRS. In my case, the a$$ociation kept bragging how they had a friend in the FCC and one member was associated with the FBI. It was the typical federal corruption and cronyism.

How much of it happens to ham bands as well?

 

[Hans13]

How much of it happens to ham bands as well?

I haven't ever had any harassment or contact about amateur bands. IMHO, it was just this pay a$$ociation here and the fact they want to control all of GMRS in the area and are butt-hurt that they can't. lol

 

[mmckenna]

Outside of us paying license fees has anyone ever been harassed by the FCC. I really don't see them busting down doors because someone is using to much wattage on example 50watt on channel 1 gmrs, or on the wrong freq. Is it just me?

If you want to see the FCC really react, step on the toes of I♥Media or Cumulus, or one of the big broadcast conglomerates. Those big companies have the FCC on a short chain and yanks it periodically. You'll see a LOT of FCC enforcement on the FM broadcast bands when someone pops up with a pirate transmitter. They've gone as far as to bust the landlords for allowing it to happen.

They'll react with public safety interference, if there's enough of a complaint, and said public safety agency does most of the hard work for them. They have busted people for interfering with public safety, or hams transmitting on public safety frequencies.

GMRS enforcement is pretty rare, but it does happen. Usually it takes a real dumba$$ that doesn't get the hint and keeps up with the stupidity. The FCC will step in and can levy some pretty hefty fines.

But, transmitting with a few more watts than you are supposed to on GMRS? You'll probably get struck by lightning a few times before the FCC shows up.

Generally if someone is halfway intelligent and doesn't get stupid with the power levels or other idiotic behavior, they'll never get caught. But if someone does get stupid and starts causing issues for other radio users, then the odds of something happening change.

So, generally playing by the rules and not annoying your fellow radio users is a good practice. If you piss someone off enough, they'll complain.

Also, playing nice on the bands helps everyone else. There aren't a lot of GMRS channels, and in a congested area a poor radio operator will quickly draw the attention of those that like to keep things running smoothly. The "do unto others" thing sort of applies here. If you do something that annoys the others on GMRS, they may start doing it right back to you.


But, no, the FCC is NOT going to show up in black helicopters or SWAT vans and haul you off to jail. What will happen is that the FCC releases their enforcement action in public record, and those of us that pay attention to such things will post it on this site. The perpetrators name and call sign will get talked about here and we all laugh about what a dumb a$$ they are.

Reality is that it's not hard to play by the rules/play nicely on the bands. There's really not a reason not to. Most of us have been doing it for decades, all within the rules, and not pissing off our neighbors.

 

[mmckenna]

Outside of us paying license fees has anyone ever been harassed by the FCC. I really don't see them busting down doors because someone is using to much wattage on example 50watt on channel 1 gmrs, or on the wrong freq. Is it just me?

I'd add:

If you are thinking about getting your ham license, you may want to pay attention. Hams do a lot of self policing on their bands, and bad behavior will not go unnoticed. Hams absolutely LOVE to narc on each other. They get really whiny and love to post the call signs/names on the internet of those they think wronged them. Turns into a real pissy situation. Kind of fun to watch from a distance. Sort of like watching a nerd fight with them slapping each other.

 

[DOAUSMC0331]

Awesome explanation. Yes I am studying for the tech license right now. To a degree I could see why jam gets frustrated some because they did study I suppose and take a test. The helicopters circle my place all though the letters are not FCC, there some other 3 letters I think...

 

[kirk5056]

The FCC is not likely to come down on anyone for violating GMRS rules, but I think that those rules are the reason why most of us come to GMRS and not one of the other radio services.

Let's look at your 50 watt example. I am glad that the 50 watt option is available to us but when I want to limit the chance of being over powered by a stronger source I can switch to a 5 watt channel, and still meet most of my communication needs. Is there another radio service allows a user to control the power of another user on a freq? I can also see where, for the same reasons, you may want to use one of the 1/2 watt channels.

If you really feel the need for 50 watts we have channels for you. If you think you need 50+ watts on any freq then maybe Ham is where you need to be. IMHO failure to voluntarily conform to RF power limits is one of the reasons that CB is all but dead.

 

[Hans13]

To reiterate on the OP' question...

As others have adeptly pointed out, generally the FCC isn't really getting involved unless it is egregious, repeat behavior. Involve interfering with a large business or agency and one increases their chances of a negative interaction with the FCC multiple-fold.

 

[mmckenna]

Let's look at your 50 watt example. I am glad that the 50 watt option is available to us but when I want to limit the chance of being over powered by a stronger source I can switch to a 5 watt channel, and still meet most of my communication needs.

And 50 watts is usually more than enough. More power doesn't gain much when dealing with line of sight frequencies.
Plus, it's better to add antenna gain rather than RF output power. Increasing RF output power only works in one direction. Adding antenna gain, instead, works to improve transmit range as well as receive range.

A lot of new hobbyists come with the "CB Radio" mindset that if a little power is good, more must be better. Newbies don't understand that line of sight is the usual limitation to communications range on these frequencies, not power.

 

[Hans13]

And 50 watts is usually more than enough. More power doesn't gain much when dealing with line of sight frequencies.
Plus, it's better to add antenna gain rather than RF output power. Increasing RF output power only works in one direction. Adding antenna gain, instead, works to improve transmit range as well as receive range.

A lot of new hobbyists come with the "CB Radio" mindset that if a little power is good, more must be better. Newbies don't understand that line of sight is the usual limitation to communications range on these frequencies, not power.

This cannot be stated enough. At one time I thought about having it printed on business cards because I was having to say it so many times in a day. lol

 

[mmckenna]

This cannot be stated enough. At one time I thought about having it printed on business cards because I was having to say it so many times in a day. lol

About 15 years ago our chief needed new mobile radios. He asked me for a recommendation. I provided one. 50 watt Kenwood TK-5210's.
After the P/O went through, I got a call from the tech at the Kenwood shop. He was setting up the new radios on the bench. He recommended we turn the 100 watt RF decks down to 70.
So,
1. someone got to the chief and convinced him he needed 100 watt radios after I recommended 50 watt radios. OK, fine by me, not my money.
2. Bench tech knew what I knew, that 100 watts wasn't needed in our application and cranking down the RF power would absolutely not impact coverage and would extend the life of the radios.

Here we are 15 years later and those TK-5210's are chugging along just fine and the mobile radio coverage is fine.

CalFire, a huge agency, used to spec high power TK-790's in their trucks. They've since switched to (last time I looked) 50 watt TK-5210's. A huge fire agency like CalFire, covering some really huge areas and rugged terrain, realized that 100 watt radios were not necessary, and by keeping power levels reasonable they were able to reuse channels on separate incidents without as much interference.

I really wish hams/hobbyists would learn to focus on the antenna, not just the RF power output. I've noticed that a lot of the CCR manufacturers are noticing that hams/hobbyists love their high power hand held radios. Seeing a lot of 8, 10, 15 watt hand held radios on the market now. I guess it makes some people happy.

 

[mmckenna]

I provided one. 50 watt Kenwood TK-5210's.

Sorry, obviously that should have been TK-5710's

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

If you want to see the FCC really react, step on the toes of I♥Media or Cumulus, or one of the big broadcast conglomerates. Those big companies have the FCC on a short chain and yanks it periodically. You'll see a LOT of FCC enforcement on the FM broadcast bands when someone pops up with a pirate transmitter. They've gone as far as to bust the landlords for allowing it to happen.

They'll react with public safety interference, if there's enough of a complaint, and said public safety agency does most of the hard work for them. They have busted people for interfering with public safety, or hams transmitting on public safety frequencies.

GMRS enforcement is pretty rare, but it does happen. Usually it takes a real dumba$$ that doesn't get the hint and keeps up with the stupidity. The FCC will step in and can levy some pretty hefty fines.

But, transmitting with a few more watts than you are supposed to on GMRS? You'll probably get struck by lightning a few times before the FCC shows up.

Generally if someone is halfway intelligent and doesn't get stupid with the power levels or other idiotic behavior, they'll never get caught. But if someone does get stupid and starts causing issues for other radio users, then the odds of something happening change.

So, generally playing by the rules and not annoying your fellow radio users is a good practice. If you piss someone off enough, they'll complain.

Also, playing nice on the bands helps everyone else. There aren't a lot of GMRS channels, and in a congested area a poor radio operator will quickly draw the attention of those that like to keep things running smoothly. The "do unto others" thing sort of applies here. If you do something that annoys the others on GMRS, they may start doing it right back to you.


But, no, the FCC is NOT going to show up in black helicopters or SWAT vans and haul you off to jail. What will happen is that the FCC releases their enforcement action in public record, and those of us that pay attention to such things will post it on this site. The perpetrators name and call sign will get talked about here and we all laugh about what a dumb a$$ they are.

Reality is that it's not hard to play by the rules/play nicely on the bands. There's really not a reason not to. Most of us have been doing it for decades, all within the rules, and not pissing off our neighbors.

Here in Florida the broadcasters have so much pull they have created a state law so that local police can bust Pirates, etc. When I left Chicago in the 1980s, Chicago being an excellent and diverse market, Miami was 100% Miami Sound Machine (Gloria Estefan) and little else, Except for the legit college station at University of Miami and a Pirate station also at U of M. I listened and recorded those stations (Maxell premium C90) and still have hours of those , now much converted to digital. The Florida radio market is much worse now with all the advertisements, terrible programming, All AutoTunes All The Time. Awful programming. I am enjoying and paying for the 80's First Wave on Ch33 XM Radio.

As far as the OP and 50 watts on FRS. Please lets not and say we did. If you are going to use Part 90 radios on GMRS, at least stay inside the lanes.

 

[KK6HRW]

Here in Florida the broadcasters have so much pull they have created a state law so that local police can bust Pirates, etc. When I left Chicago in the 1980s, Chicago being an excellent and diverse market, Miami was 100% Miami Sound Machine (Gloria Estefan) and little else, Except for the legit college station at University of Miami and a Pirate station also at U of M. I listened and recorded those stations (Maxell premium C90) and still have hours of those , now much converted to digital. The Florida radio market is much worse now with all the advertisements, terrible programming, All AutoTunes All The Time. Awful programming. I am enjoying and paying for the 80's First Wave on Ch33 XM Radio.

As far as the OP and 50 watts on FRS. Please lets not and say we did. If you are going to use Part 90 radios on GMRS, at least stay inside the lanes.

Yes, XM Channel 33 gets my money every month.