FCC rule regarding GMRS

[ab6ojll]

For the reference only.
This might be a little help for the beginng gmrs operators like me.

*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.
d) The station identification must be transmitted in:
(1) Voice in the English language; or International Morse code telegraphy.

* 95.181 Permissible communications.
(a) may communicate two-way voice messages concerning the licensee's personal
or business activities (see §95.179).
(1) Emergencies (see §95.143);
(2) Rendering assistance to a motorist; and
(3) Civil defense drills,
* must be in plain language (without codes or hidden meanings).

§ 95.183 Prohibited communications.
International distress signals, such as the word “Mayday” (except when on a ship,
aircraft or other vehicle in immediate danger to ask for help);

TECHNICAL REGULATIONS
§ 95.651 Crystal control required.
All transmitters used in the Personal Radio Services must be crystal controlled,
except an R/C station that transmits in the 26–27 MHz frequency band,
a FRS unit, a LPRS unit, a MURS unit, a MedRadio transmitter, or a WMTS unit.
[74 FR 22708, May 14, 2009]

§ 95.655 Frequency capability.
(a) and no transmitter will be certificated for use in the GMRS if it is equipped with a frequency
capability not listed in §95.621,
(b) All frequency determining circuitry (including crystals) and programming controls
in each GMRS transmitter must be internal to the transmitter
and must not be accessible from the exterior of the transmitte
operating panel or from the exterior of the transmitter enclosure.

//
//

 

[johnwashington]

GMRS form

I was having trouble finding which form to download from the FCC website for application for a GMRS license. I was sent a list of frequencies 462.5500-467.7250 but thats it. I also thought narrow banding 12.5 KHz was required but I saw somewhere the spacing between frequencies was still 25 KHz.

 

[W2NJS]

Start here:

General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) | FCC.gov

GMRS is not affected by the FCC's year 2013 narrowbanding mandate.

 

[ab6ojll]

It is alredy answered,I deleted mine here..
Thanks..


..

 

[johnwashington]

Narrow banding

That is the message I got today from the FCC. I applied for a license, paid for it and it was granted and will be shipped to my P.O.Box tomorrow. I was given a list of 23 GMRS frequencies but being new to this I did not request any special frequency so I guess the FCC will do that for me ranging from 462.5500 to 467.7250. My new question and please pardon my ignorance in this matter, Is the number of frequencies assuming they are assigned by the FCC am I allowed to use. the reason I ask is there is a radio with 8 frequencies or channels I am interested in. In the case that i can used the GMRS spectrum then I would ask the manufacturer of the radio to use all 8 channels. If I am restricted to using by the FCC to a specific number of those frequencies, then i guess i will have to choose another radio supplier, Any of you far more intelligent than me in these matters, any information you can provide me would be appreciative. I should say that the radio manufacturer I am interested in told me that if I use their in house frequencies, then I can fill all 8 channels.

Thanks

John

 

[W2NJS]

There are only eight GMRS radio channels and you can use all of them. You might wish to read about this at this site:

General Mobile Radio Service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is additional information about GMRS available online at hundreds of other sites. A Google search will turn up so much information that your head will be spinning.

 

[johnwashington]

Gmrs frequencies

John
The lady at the FCC said the GMRS licenses do not come with specific channels listed, just that I can operate the GMRS frequencies with the exception of those listed above.

A licensee's immediate family can use the licensee's radio(s) without obtaining separate licenses. The FCC grants GMRS licenses for a five-year term.

Frequencies: 462.5500, 462.5625, 462.5750, 462.5875, 462.6000, 462.6125, 462.6375, 462.6500, 462.6625, 462.6750, 462.6875, 462.7125, 462.7250, 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, and 467.7250.

Those are the frequencies available after I deleted the 4 above.


Hello Information from the FCC website:

The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is available for short-distance two-way communications for activities of an adult individual and his or her immediate family members, including a spouse, children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and in-laws.

A licensee's immediate family can use the licensee's radio(s) without obtaining separate licenses. The FCC grants GMRS licenses for a five-year term.

Frequencies: 462.5500, 462.5625, 462.5750, 462.5875, 462.6000, 462.6125, 462.6250, 462.6375, 462.6500, 462.6625, 462.6750, 462.6875, 462.7000, 462.7125, 462.7250, 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250.


Rules: CFR 47, Subpart A, Part 95.1 through 95.181


Effective 2/16/99 the GMRS rules have been amended and you may operate on any of the primary or interstitial channels shown in section 95.29. Exception: Licensees who operate North of Line A and East of Line C may not operate on channels 462.650 MHZ, 467.650 MHZ, 462.700 MHZ and 467.700 MHZ unless your previous license authorized such operations

 

[ab6ojll]

hello Johnwashington..
Congratulations for new license.
For these couple of days, your gmrs knowledge becom already top of the level.
Regarding the frequencies:
Don not pay attention too much.
The frequencies are already set in the radio when you purchase and no choice regarding frequencies.
Normally you will mention it as a channel.
Yes mentioned above
(1) 8 channels for gmrs simplex 462.xxx (three decimal digits)
(1-a) ** 8 additional frequencies are paired with item(1) for duplex 467.xxx(duplex input only)
xxxx in item 1 and xxxx in item (1-a) are identical.

(2) 7 channels for gmrs/frs sharing 462.yyyy(4 decimal digits).

( 3) 7 channels for FRS only 467.yyyy(4 decimal digits).---Not for GMRS

Again, the frequencies are already set into the radio.

 

[johnwashington]

As you can see I am far from an expert.Thanks for the information.- greatly appreciated.

 

[S1deband1t]

Hi all. I am new to the forums here. Before I begin I just wanted to say that I have the utmost respect for all licensed hams. In fact, I am currently being mentored by a ham for my no code license. I just wanted to state that before I continue my post.

Moving on.....

I have been interested in amateur radio since the early '90's. From my first CB to my final acquisition, an RCI-2985DX transceiver. I currently have scanners, multi-band radios, shortwave SSB receivers and transceivers so I am familiar with alot of the Radio Spectrum. I decided to post because:

1) I am new here and thought I could give a fresh/different perspective opinion on GMRS radio.
2) If I get "chased out of town" then it's OK since I am a newb here anyway so it will be no major loss for you guys.

I have 3 trasceivers that cover the GMRS/FRS frequencies. The 2 decent ones are Motorola Talkabout Distance DPS's that I purchased in 1996 for $529 for both. Back then the FCC license was $35. These radios have 10 frequencies @ 2W power output. The frequencies are:

1 - 462.5625
2 - 462.5875
3 - 462.6125
4 - 462.6375
5 - 462.6625
6 - 462.6875
7 - 462.7125
A - 462.5750
B - 462.6250
C - 462.6750 (Emergency)
S - Scan

I originally bought these radios for camping, hunting and opening day weekend fishing trips up in the Poconos for myself & my group of outdoor enthusiasts. These get used in extremely rural areas to cover large amounts of open land when we split up hunting or fishing different areas. Some of us use spinners and some of us are fly-fishermen so we can't always fish the same bodies of water. I myself thought it ridiculous that the FCC would even have the audacity to try and micro manage such a small sphere of influence these radios have. Even back when I first bought the radios, I snickered at the idea of the FCC chasing around people in the middle of nowhere trying to get them within compliance for hand held radios of such low power. How could they possibly enforce it? How would they even find you operating out of compliance? Moreover, in a world as chaotic as ours with jihads going on, growing tensions with our overseas neighbors, racial tension, a distraught economy, immigrants moving in to our country ect...it seems to me like they have (or SHOULD have anyway) their hands full with far more pressing matters. I myself opted out of purchasing a license. Why? What do I get out of it? If you are going to bring up repeater towers well, the persons who own / run the towers can always put the Interference Eliminator codes up. That way no "riff raff" like myself can interfere with them. My radios are about 20 years old and they have 38 different codes. I know for a fact the newer radios today have much more and are far superior than what I have as far as codes are concerned.

Not only that, where I go to use these radios is miles from any homes or even borderline residential areas. Who then can I interfere with since my range is claimed as "up to 5 miles"? It's not like I am shooting skip on CB radio and a country in Europe will pick up my strategy of flushing out an animal into my compadres direction. Or that my 2 watt signal will knock down a Strategic Air Command Post for the USAF while I brag to others of the huge brook trout I just caught on an artificial lure.

Just because I did not opt to pay Uncle Sam for a service that the government does NOTHING for or even cares about, please don't think of me as undiciplined. I did not do it because I am cheap. Nor did I do it because I am an anarchist. I did it because I saw no point for the government to collect a fee for something that (imo) should be completely free. Especially because I use the radios in a completely rural area where there is 40 miles to the nearest EMS.


Alot of people think HAMs are arrogant and stuffy. I am just offering up a different perspective from someone fresh on this site. Obviously, I am not the only one since there is only a small miniscule fraction of radio owners vs. licenses out there.

Hopefully the backlash won't be too bad.

 

[aussierescueil]

Hi all. I am new to the forums here. Before I begin I just wanted to say that I have the utmost respect for all licensed hams. In fact, I am currently being mentored by a ham for my no code license. I just wanted to state that before I continue my post.

Moving on.....

I have been interested in amateur radio since the early '90's. From my first CB to my final acquisition, an RCI-2985DX transceiver. I currently have scanners, multi-band radios, shortwave SSB receivers and transceivers so I am familiar with alot of the Radio Spectrum. I decided to post because:

1) I am new here and thought I could give a fresh/different perspective opinion on GMRS radio.
2) If I get "chased out of town" then it's OK since I am a newb here anyway so it will be no major loss for you guys.



Just because I did not opt to pay Uncle Sam for a service that the government does NOTHING for or even cares about, please don't think of me as undiciplined. I did not do it because I am cheap. Nor did I do it because I am an anarchist. I did it because I saw no point for the government to collect a fee for something that (imo) should be completely free. Especially because I use the radios in a completely rural area where there is 40 miles to the nearest EMS.


Alot of people think HAMs are arrogant and stuffy. I am just offering up a different perspective from someone fresh on this site. Obviously, I am not the only one since there is only a small miniscule fraction of radio owners vs. licenses out there.

Hopefully the backlash won't be too bad.

Good for you, I guess I took the approach that I wanted reliable communications for my family, using a repeater and higher wattage mobiles and portables.

While operating without a license is your choice, many of us do have a license and operate per the rules set aside by the FCC. You obviously operating simplex, and your right, 2 watts will probably garner you a few miles and out in the middle of nowhere what or who would you interfere with.

I am thinking you are trolling though and just trying to flame up the board.

If not, I would hope that all that fishing you do is done with a license, which I am betting you do, so really it's no different.

 

[S1deband1t]

I am thinking you are trolling though and just trying to flame up the board.

If not, I would hope that all that fishing you do is done with a license, which I am betting you do, so really it's no different.

.....and I am thinking that YOU are one of those stuck up HAMS who will complain about anything being in violation or some minor non-compliance rule by the FCC, but, on the same token, will have a couple of drinks before driving a vehicle.

Let me reiterate.

1) I have the utmost respect for operators who paid for a license. (Thought I already made that clear)...I personally won't pay due to "principle". The FCC doesn't monitor the frequencies, they don't govern or enforce those frequencies and they personally don't give a #@$%! If they did, they would not be considering dropping (if they haven't already) the licensing for those frequencies. What then is the money going for? Certainly not for enforcing the laws of that band. If you choose to give $ to our government for no apparent reason (and by "apparent" I mean to get some sort of service in return) then that is YOUR choice. I won't freely throw money away for something that is self-monitored to a government that does nothing for it except to demand money to line a politician's pocket. Sorry.

2) I am NOT trying to "Flame up the board". I was only offering an outside perspective. (Gee, wonder why there's not too many new ppl on these threads)

3)Concerning my fishing license. YES. I have and pay for a license....because the "STATE" Government controls the restocking and reallocation of the trout in our state. State taxes pay for the fish, fish food, trout ponds where they are incubated ect....Not only that, but MOST of the funding that comes from licensed ppl (like ME) goes towards the conversation of OUR state lands, parks and public facilities. I have probably paid more into Pennsylvania's environment and done more for it than any tree hugger in this state. At $32+ per license with trout stamp, plus state taxes, state wages ect...I am in the upper echelon for keeping PA's state parks open, beautiful and accessible to anyone who chooses to visit (whether a resident of PA or not).

So, YES. There IS a difference.

 

[S1deband1t]

p.s. btw, how bad will you feel if, or "when" the FCC decides to drop the licensing fee? Will you hold the same attitude?

 

[mmckenna]

I doubt anyone is going to heavily flame you for these posts. You do bring up some very good points.

I was licensed for quite a while on GMRS. I was using 35 watt commercial radios and had access to a repeater. The repeater owner likely wouldn't have let me on if I hadn't produced a license.

There are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of FRS/GMRS radios floating around out there. I'd be surprised if more than 2% of those were actually licensed. It's rare, but the FCC does occasionally carry out enforcement on GMRS, but it's usually when someone is specifically interfering with licensed users on a repeater, and always after a GMRS licensee has done all the leg work for the FCC.
Unlikely you'd have an issue.

Channels 1-7 on your radios are shared with FRS. With the inefficient antennas on those radios, it would be really difficult for anyone to be able to tell the difference between your radio running 2 watts and a radio operating under FRS running 1/2 a watt.
If anything, the only place you'd really be at risk would be on channels A,B and C, but again, hundreds of thousands of FRS/GMRS radios out there that are not licensed.

I think one benefit of actually getting a license is that it shows the FCC that there are serious users who utilize GMRS as it was designed. With so much of the RF spectrum being auctioned off to commercial interests, it's beneficial for amateur and GMRS users to make it known that there spectrum is in use.
Still, unlikely that anyone will be trying to get these two little slices of spectrum.

I doubt you have anything to worry about. FCC is limited in what they can do and there are bigger fish to fry.

Enjoy the radios.

 

[aussierescueil]

I doubt anyone is going to heavily flame you for these posts. You do bring up some very good points.

I was licensed for quite a while on GMRS. I was using 35 watt commercial radios and had access to a repeater. The repeater owner likely wouldn't have let me on if I hadn't produced a license.

There are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of FRS/GMRS radios floating around out there. I'd be surprised if more than 2% of those were actually licensed. It's rare, but the FCC does occasionally carry out enforcement on GMRS, but it's usually when someone is specifically interfering with licensed users on a repeater, and always after a GMRS licensee has done all the leg work for the FCC.
Unlikely you'd have an issue.

Channels 1-7 on your radios are shared with FRS. With the inefficient antennas on those radios, it would be really difficult for anyone to be able to tell the difference between your radio running 2 watts and a radio operating under FRS running 1/2 a watt.
If anything, the only place you'd really be at risk would be on channels A,B and C, but again, hundreds of thousands of FRS/GMRS radios out there that are not licensed.

I think one benefit of actually getting a license is that it shows the FCC that there are serious users who utilize GMRS as it was designed. With so much of the RF spectrum being auctioned off to commercial interests, it's beneficial for amateur and GMRS users to make it known that there spectrum is in use.
Still, unlikely that anyone will be trying to get these two little slices of spectrum.

I doubt you have anything to worry about. FCC is limited in what they can do and there are bigger fish to fry.

Enjoy the radios.

Exactly! I allow access on my repeater, but you have to be licensed. Also again if everyone ignored the fee then the FCC would again destroy another public band like they did in the past.

BTW, I don't drink, not a ham, and I am probably more along the lines of will not comply (strong 2A proponent) similar to your take. But I will fight the fights that mean the most. A partly 80'ish dollar fee is not making or breaking me, and allows me to have access to a community of repeaters (especially in my area) to use in times of trouble of to just tell the sammich machine I am headed home from the range, work or even out in the yard.

Like McKenna, I run "used" radios, gotten for probably the price paid for those radios you got, and yes they are Motorola's, I trust the brand, but also run Vertex for the repeater. No high horse here, just looked for radios that were economical and allowed a decent radio network that covers the AO we are in.

I think Sideband if you would license and utilize them more it would benefit you even more though YMMV.

 

[prcguy]

I owned a couple of GMRS repeaters on high locations and everything was licensed and legal. Then some A-hole calling himself a "Kalifornia State Citizen" showed up on my channel and tone claiming he didn't need a license because nobody can regulate the free airwaves. To this hole and his twisted principles, the same applied to drivers licenses and other things we all must pay for.

Then he proceeded to use my repeaters without permission or license and claimed since I could not control the airwaves over his house then they were his to use as he and his friends see fit. This went on for a couple of months and I eventually gathered lots of info on the hole and where he hangs out, then ran into him a few times at "state citizen" gatherings set up for complete idiot, don't want to pay for anything, A-holes like himself.

I finally got even, err, I mean, "fixed the problem" and I doubt the A-hole ever used another repeater system without permission since then.

My question to S1deband1t is, are you one of these complete idiot, state citizen, don't want to pay for anything, A-holes?

Or just stupid?
prcguy

Hi all. I am new to the forums here. Before I begin I just wanted to say that I have the utmost respect for all licensed hams. In fact, I am currently being mentored by a ham for my no code license. I just wanted to state that before I continue my post.

Moving on.....

I have been interested in amateur radio since the early '90's. From my first CB to my final acquisition, an RCI-2985DX transceiver. I currently have scanners, multi-band radios, shortwave SSB receivers and transceivers so I am familiar with alot of the Radio Spectrum. I decided to post because:

1) I am new here and thought I could give a fresh/different perspective opinion on GMRS radio.
2) If I get "chased out of town" then it's OK since I am a newb here anyway so it will be no major loss for you guys.

I have 3 trasceivers that cover the GMRS/FRS frequencies. The 2 decent ones are Motorola Talkabout Distance DPS's that I purchased in 1996 for $529 for both. Back then the FCC license was $35. These radios have 10 frequencies @ 2W power output. The frequencies are:

1 - 462.5625
2 - 462.5875
3 - 462.6125
4 - 462.6375
5 - 462.6625
6 - 462.6875
7 - 462.7125
A - 462.5750
B - 462.6250
C - 462.6750 (Emergency)
S - Scan

I originally bought these radios for camping, hunting and opening day weekend fishing trips up in the Poconos for myself & my group of outdoor enthusiasts. These get used in extremely rural areas to cover large amounts of open land when we split up hunting or fishing different areas. Some of us use spinners and some of us are fly-fishermen so we can't always fish the same bodies of water. I myself thought it ridiculous that the FCC would even have the audacity to try and micro manage such a small sphere of influence these radios have. Even back when I first bought the radios, I snickered at the idea of the FCC chasing around people in the middle of nowhere trying to get them within compliance for hand held radios of such low power. How could they possibly enforce it? How would they even find you operating out of compliance? Moreover, in a world as chaotic as ours with jihads going on, growing tensions with our overseas neighbors, racial tension, a distraught economy, immigrants moving in to our country ect...it seems to me like they have (or SHOULD have anyway) their hands full with far more pressing matters. I myself opted out of purchasing a license. Why? What do I get out of it? If you are going to bring up repeater towers well, the persons who own / run the towers can always put the Interference Eliminator codes up. That way no "riff raff" like myself can interfere with them. My radios are about 20 years old and they have 38 different codes. I know for a fact the newer radios today have much more and are far superior than what I have as far as codes are concerned.

Not only that, where I go to use these radios is miles from any homes or even borderline residential areas. Who then can I interfere with since my range is claimed as "up to 5 miles"? It's not like I am shooting skip on CB radio and a country in Europe will pick up my strategy of flushing out an animal into my compadres direction. Or that my 2 watt signal will knock down a Strategic Air Command Post for the USAF while I brag to others of the huge brook trout I just caught on an artificial lure.

Just because I did not opt to pay Uncle Sam for a service that the government does NOTHING for or even cares about, please don't think of me as undiciplined. I did not do it because I am cheap. Nor did I do it because I am an anarchist. I did it because I saw no point for the government to collect a fee for something that (imo) should be completely free. Especially because I use the radios in a completely rural area where there is 40 miles to the nearest EMS.


Alot of people think HAMs are arrogant and stuffy. I am just offering up a different perspective from someone fresh on this site. Obviously, I am not the only one since there is only a small miniscule fraction of radio owners vs. licenses out there.

Hopefully the backlash won't be too bad.

 

[mikewazowski]

I'm not sure why this thread was revived after 4 years?

Closing.

 

[Citywide173]

Mike,

I apologize for the post after closing, but to the person who revived it, I must point out the following:;

1. You are not alone in unlicensed use-the majority of those that purchase bubble pack radios that should be limited to FRS use that blatantly ignore the warning that a license is necessary to use the GMRS frequencies in the radio is illegal without a license is probably 100,000+.

2. If you are in such a rural area and have not encountered any interference, it is probably not an issue. However, if someone with a license decides to put up a repeater, and you interfere with that operation, they may complain to the FCC, who may take action-that ability is something that a license holder has-one that would protect you against that same person putting up a repeater that interfered with you.

3. Uptight hams are not the only ones that would be offended. I'm sure every GMRS repeater owner who reads this is offended. I only got my ham license so that I could use a scanner in the car when I'm in Detroit (not that it matters any more.) I recently had the local middle school complain to me that my repeater was interfering with their operations-when I showed them the rules and pointed out it was in fact them that was operating in violation of the rules, they were shocked. It's one thing to be ignorant of the rules, it's entirely another to flagrantly flaunt your knowledge and blatant disregard of the rules. I'd be careful, as IP addresses are subject to disclosure by subpoena, and I don't see RR trying to protect your info should someone point out your arrogance to the FCC.