GMRS repeater linking and the FCC

[rf_patriot200]

As long as it's not Only Fans. No one wants to see that.

Listening to some locals guys talk about the "unlinking". One commented "it's a victimless crime", which it isn't as it ties up all available repeater outputs in my area AND he also admits it's a crime. He also said "It won't do much to advance the hobby", I thought ham radio was the hobby service and GMRS was geared more towards family...or am I wrong?

Amateur Radio and GMRS are Both hobbies, just two different flavors. Much like Astronomy, and Geostat Astronomy.

 

[KevinC]

I agree, I didnt know gmrs was a hobby....
Goobers

It got even better. One guy said "I guess I'll just have to go back to the ham side". Oh yeah, they are contacting "the governor" about this, but did add that getting a tech license is so easy that people should get one.

 

[bill4long]

Listening to some locals guys talk about the "unlinking". One commented "it's a victimless crime", which it isn't as it ties up all available repeater outputs in my area AND he also admits it's a crime. He also said "It won't do much to advance the hobby", I thought ham radio was the hobby service and GMRS was geared more towards family...or am I wrong?

Well, actually it's not a criminal matter, it's a civil matter. But the point is the same. These guys wanna play ham radio without using ham radio. GMRS was created for a specific purpose that these people are violating. The funny thing is, from what I can tell, 80+ percent of the GMRS users on these networks are licensed hams. [Shrug]

 

[bill4long]

It got even better. One guy said "I guess I'll just have to go back to the ham side". Oh yeah, they are contacting "the governor" about this, but did add that getting a tech license is so easy that people should get one.

Governor? State governments have no jurisdiction over the matter.

 

[KevinC]

Governor? State governments have no jurisdiction over the matter.

I'm only the messenger.

 

[bill4long]

I'm only the messenger.

Right

 

[mmckenna]

One commented "it's a victimless crime",

Did you ever notice that the person that likes to talk about "victimless crime" and it is ALWAYS the guy who's committing the "crime"? It's never the victims (who are supposed to remain quiet and invisible).

which it isn't as it ties up all available repeater outputs in my area AND he also admits it's a crime. He also said "It won't do much to advance the hobby", I thought ham radio was the hobby service and GMRS was geared more towards family...or am I wrong?

It's frustrating that hams are getting like this.
It's frustrating that people want to make GMRS a hobby radio service.
It's frustrating that there's no effort to understand that there are other users that don't agree with the idea.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I agree, I didnt know gmrs was a hobby....
Goobers

Its not, but lets be honest Amateur Radio is more a hobby than a "service" despite the ARRL's attempt to paint it as such.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Governor? State governments have no jurisdiction over the matter.

Florida has their own laws regarding pirate radio etc. The politicians try to usurp federal laws in a lot of other ways.

 

[KevinC]

I apologize for the petty reporting of what these guys said. I like to think we're better than that on RR.

 

[rf_patriot200]

I apologize for the petty reporting of what these guys said. I like to think we're better than that on RR.

No apology necessary, and you're right, we Are.

 

[mmckenna]

I apologize for the petty reporting of what these guys said. I like to think we're better than that on RR.

But it's so much fun, and it's so damn funny! We should get a bank of points every year that we get to use up on petty posts like this. It's a great stress relief.

Almost as much fun as when a ham gets busted for popping up on a public safety system.

 

[MTS2000des]

Did you ever notice that the person that likes to talk about "victimless crime" and it is ALWAYS the guy who's committing the "crime"? It's never the victims (who are supposed to remain quiet and invisible).



It's frustrating that hams are getting like this.
It's frustrating that people want to make GMRS a hobby radio service.
It's frustrating that there's no effort to understand that there are other users that don't agree with the idea.

When we have generations of people that don't like rules, the "victimless crime" card always gets pulled.
Sad hams are our own worst enemies, not just GMRS 8-channel army prepper whackers, but the sad hams that would rather break the law and be a frequency pig than use the endless amounts of modes and spectrum we have practically free reign over.

Unlike the confines of part 95, the limit of what a licensee can't do on part 97 are very limited. One is free to pretty much run whatever mode they wish, link anything to everything, and have fun so long as they operate in their band and ID. But instead, silence while 8 repeater pairs are tied up with prepper whackers, weather whackers, and sad hams talking about their piss bags being full tying up all 8 pairs in the state.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

But it's so much fun, and it's so damn funny! We should get a bank of points every year that we get to use up on petty posts like this. It's a great stress relief.

Almost as much fun as when a ham gets busted for popping up on a public safety system.

I was about to get the GMRS doll out and ask mmckenna where the Evil GMRS Linking Cabal hurt him. MTS2000des would be the next one.

 

[MUTNAV]

So what does this group do/plan to do if/when, their inputs start getting interfered with?

Call Ghostbusters?

Thanks
Joel

 

[mmckenna]

I was about to get the GMRS doll out and ask mmckenna where the Evil GMRS Linking Cabal hurt him. MTS2000des would be the next one.

No hurt, I just love watching all this go down. I'm only disappointed there aren't more posts from the pro-linking folks here. That would make it even more interesting.

Plus, it's kind of fun to poke the beehive every now and then, just to keep things riled up. Keeps me entertained between endless Zoom meetings at work. (and sometimes during them…)


I really think that if the linking thing had been kept to a reasonable level, there wouldn't have been enough complaints for the FCC to pay attention to this. But I guess some took it too far, and as usual, wreck it for everyone else.

Shouldn't someone start up a 38MHz CB proposal about right now?

 

[MTS2000des]

So what does this group do/plan to do if/when, their inputs start getting interfered with?

Call Ghostbusters?

Thanks
Joel

I imagine when the enforcement bureau starts getting complaints, they'll pick the biggest fish with the loudest mouths (like those challenging the FCC to "do something") and they'll do just that: ram it in hard and make the violator pay a bunch of money, post the NAL as a public notice, and keep it moving.

 

[KK4JUG]

I really think that if the linking thing had been kept to a reasonable level, there wouldn't have been enough complaints for the FCC to pay attention to this. But I guess some took it too far, and as usual, wreck it for everyone else.

The North Georgia systems run from near Knoxville, TN, down to the middle of Florida.

 

[mmckenna]

The North Georgia systems run from near Knoxville, TN, down to the middle of Florida.

Yeah. Sometimes low profile is a good thing. That ain't low profile.

 

[12dbsinad]

I was about to get the GMRS doll out and ask mmckenna where the Evil GMRS Linking Cabal hurt him. MTS2000des would be the next one.

It isn't about who gets butthurt. It's about the measly 8 repeater pairs that share the same simplex freq's as 10's of thousands GMRS radios, and the fact that clubs are tying up all the frequencies across multiple states or across the Country doing radio checks (with roger beeps of course) and sending DTMF tones all hours of the day and night.

Short range communications. 1 repeater. 1 conversation. Whatever that site covers is what it covers. You want more, get your ham license.