GMRS Debacle

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rescuecomm

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I have been scanning the GMRS repeater output frequencies to determine the best one to use for a newly restored Uniden ARU150 repeater. I have heard all sorts of "unlicensed" users including today on 462.725, what appears to be the local grammar school.

I really believe that the FCC had no interest in what was going to happen to the service when the online stores and WalMarts (and other department stores) started selling the GMRS and GMRS/FRS radio equipment. The situation is analagous to the FDA allowing regulated drugs to be sold on the shelf at KMart but with a piece of paper in the box indicating that it is illegal to use the meds without a prescription from your doctor. DUH HUH!!!

The whole matter was driven by radio manufacturers looking for a quick buck and the FCC caved in to lobby. The FRS was a good idea. The GMRS bubble packs and the hybrids are not.

At least the Canadian's got it right from the start, No license for two watts and under.
 

JnglMassiv

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rescuecomm said:
...The situation is analagous to the FDA allowing regulated drugs to be sold on the shelf at KMart but with a piece of paper in the box indicating that it is illegal to use the meds without a prescription from your doctor...
Nah..that's a public safety issue..not to mention civil liability.

It's more like stores not giving the required notice that their farmed salmon is artificially colored. No one is hurt, no one important really cares, it's a dead issue.
 

Raven95150

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I think most of the problem is that people dont realize that you need a license to use a GMRS radio. Since they are sold at stores like Wal-mart on the shelf right next to the FRS radios, they think they are just a better FRS radio with longer range. Even though it is printed on the package and in the instructions that you need a license, people dont pay attention to it, they just rip open the package, put the batteries in and start talking.
 

Quickcall

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Has the use on unauthorized GMRS gone too far to keep on regulating it or can something still be done? In my opinion its pointless to continue on with requiring a license for the use of this band. This definitly could have been easily prevented.
 

n7lxi

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Here's my question... even if they the "other folks" HAD a license, they'd still be all over your repeater output frequency. There's no coordination of GMRS repeaters.

Sec. 95.7 Channel sharing.

(a) Channels or channel pairs (one 462 MHz frequency listed in Sec.
95.29(a) of this part and one 467 MHz frequency listed in Sec. 95.29(b)
of this part) are available to GMRS systems only on a shared basis and
will not be assigned for the exclusive use of any licensee.

It would be a different thing if you were setting up a repeater for a regular business band or PS frequency and there were unlicensed users "squatting" on your channel.

There sad situation is; the genie is out of the bottle when it comes to GMRS and the only thing we can do (as licensed uses) is try to educate the unlicensed folks kindly and when that fails, transmit with a full 50 watts of power and use DPL to keep from hearing bubble pack radios. ;)
 

Utah_Viper

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I dont recall all the details because it was before my time..... but isent this what happened with CB radio? I know you had to have a license at one time, then the FCC quit caring about it, and now its no longer required.
 

rescuecomm

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The CB license died because the administrative costs were more than what the license fees were bringing in. Which may be the reason the GMRS license is $80.00
 

rescuecomm

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The CB license thing died because the administrative costs were more than the license fees. The repeater will probably run 25watts output with 18 through the duplexer. The ERP will talk over the bubblepacks causing them to move to another channel.

Thats the way it is with shared freqs.
Bob
 

landonjensen

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Raven95150 said:
I think most of the problem is that people dont realize that you need a license to use a GMRS radio. Since they are sold at stores like Wal-mart on the shelf right next to the FRS radios, they think they are just a better FRS radio with longer range. .

That is Exactly What Happened To Me Untill I Found I Needed A License.
 

kd7rto

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It certainly would be nice to have a service where business users are prohibited, simplex use on output frequencies is minimal, and families could rent space on community repeaters and install mobiles in all the family cars. That is my vision of what GMRS should be.

I can only speculate that the FCC must consider such operations no longer needed, because of the proliferation of cell phones, and that is why they have unleashed all this simplex garbage, making repeater use all but impossible.

However, before the bubble packers, GMRS already had serious problems. Business users were very common, and repeater owners would activate every pl, in an attempt to prevent any new repeaters on "their" channel.
 

w4rez

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n6orz said:
It certainly would be nice to have a service where business users are prohibited, simplex use on output frequencies is minimal, and families could rent space on community repeaters and install mobiles in all the family cars. That is my vision of what GMRS should be.

I can only speculate that the FCC must consider such operations no longer needed, because of the proliferation of cell phones, and that is why they have unleashed all this simplex garbage, making repeater use all but impossible.

This would be wonderful. However, would people actually pay for and use the service? If they did would they keep it once they learn that the coverage for any given repeater is tiny compared to Nextel?

This will probably get me flamed, but... I would like to see more families use the amateur bands for such things. Sure you have the "no business" rule that must be adhered to, and you can't cover an entire family with a single license but...it would bring more people into the hobby.
 

kd7rto

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w4rez said:
This would be wonderful. However, would people actually pay for and use the service? If they did would they keep it once they learn that the coverage for any given repeater is tiny compared to Nextel?
Here in the west, the coverage of a mountaintop repeater is by no means tiny. Before cell phone rates came down, using GMRS was a much less expensive option. Now, you may be right in questioning whether the service would be financially viable.
w4rez said:
This will probably get me flamed, but... I would like to see more families use the amateur bands for such things. Sure you have the "no business" rule that must be adhered to, and you can't cover an entire family with a single license but...it would bring more people into the hobby.
I think the way to reinvigorate amateur radio is the same way AM Broadcast Radio was reinvigorated. We need to drop the attitude that controversy and contention must be avoided, and get some spirited discussions going. Let's hear Conservatives and Liberals battle it out every morning on two meters.

The reason that I'm on the internet right now, instead of on the air, is because I find the discussions here more interesting. If the QSO's on my local repeaters started sounding like the threads on qrz.com, I would spend more time on them. And I think a lot of others would too.
 

iMONITOR

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scanfan03 said:
Unless they are grandfathered in, no business can use GMRS for communications.

Thats what I thought, but I was corrected. A business can no longer apply for a GMRS license. However, if the business has each individual employee apply for their own license, then they can use GMRS for business purposes.
 

scanfan03

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GreatLakes said:
Thats what I thought, but I was corrected. A business can no longer apply for a GMRS license. However, if the business has each individual employee apply for their own license, then they can use GMRS for business purposes.

Yeah, that's what I meant, the business can't get a "blanket license" for everyone.
 
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