Portable Event Radio System

[mwvernon]

I am trying to design and build a portable radio system for some events that i work with. We are not an actual business but we do a lot of volunteer work and have use for radios in a lot of things we do. I am thinking about using a Motorola GR 1225 radio repeater to work with our radios. What i need help deciding is weather i should try to acquire a business licence or use GRMS frequencies. If i did use GRMS every person would have to acquire an individual license. Is is possible to acquire a business license and yet have the repeater location portable?

Any suggestions would be very helpful.

 

[stmills]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

You can get an itinerant business license which is designed for use at temp locations. The nice thing about this is you do not have to pay for coordination if you use one of the established itinerant channels: 451.8000, 464.5000, 464.5500 are available for repeater pairs.

 

[mwvernon]

Thank you. Could you point me in the direction to find more info on the itinerant business license? The form i would have to fill out and what not. This would be very helpful.
Thank you.

 

[n5ims]

Is is possible to acquire a business license and yet have the repeater location portable?

The FCC Station Class code "FB2T" is used for portable, temporary repeaters so what you're asking about is possible. You must specify an area of operation, similar to how mobile stations are licensed for this class of station. You would still need to go through frequency coordination and the other steps for your license. A quality radio shop (or communication law firm) can guide you through the process (or more correctly handle it for you).

 

[stmills]

CFR-2010 title 47-vol5-part 90
§ 90.138 Applications for itinerant frequencies. An application for authority to conduct an itinerant operation in the Industrial/Business Pool must be restricted to use of itinerant frequencies or other frequencies not designated for permanent use and need not be accompanied by evidence of frequency coordination. Users should be aware that no interference protection is provided from other itinerant operations.

Full power itinerent Frequencies: - you would need to choose an area of operation : ie citywide, countywide, statewide, or nationwide.
451.8000
451.80625
451.8125
451.81875
456.8000
456.80625
456.8125
456.81875
464.5000
464.5500
469.5000
469.5500

Low Power itinerent frequencies (per 47.90.267)
(e) Group C Frequencies. The Industrial/Business Pool frequencies in
Group C are available nationwide for non-coordinated itinerant use as follows.
(1) Group C frequencies are available for voice and non-voice operations on a co-primary basis. Only mobile operations will be authorized on Group C
frequencies. Stations may operate at fixed locations for a temporary period
of time. No stations operating at a permanent fixed location will be authorized on Group C frequencies.
(2) Operation on these frequencies is limited to 6 watts effective radiated
power for fixed or mobile units and 2 watts ERP for portable units. Stations
operating at fixed locations for a temporary period of time will be limited to
an antenna height of 7 meters (20 feet) above ground.
(3) The Industrial/Business Pool Group C Low Power Frequencies are as
follows:
461/466.03125 461/466.15625 461/466.28125 462.8125
461/466.0375 461/466.1625 461/466.2875 462.8375 (unpaired)
461/466.04375 461/466.16875 461/466.29375 462/467.8625
461/466.05625 461/466.18125 461/466.30625 462/467.8875
461/466.0625 461/466.1875 461/466.3125 462/467.9125
461/466.06875 461/466.19375 461/466.31875 464/469.48125
461/466.08125 461/466.20625 461/466.33125 464/469.4875
461/466.0875 461/466.2125 461/466.3375 464/469.5125
461/466.09375 461/466.21875 461/466.34375 464/469.51875
461/466.10625 461/466.23125 461/466.35625 464/469.53125
461/466.1125 461/466.2375 461/466.3625 464/469.5375
461/466.11875 461/466.24375 461/466.36875 464/469.5625
461/466.13125 461/466.25625 462.7625 (unpaired) 464/469.56875
461/466.1375 461/466.2625 462.7875 (unpaired)
461/466.14375 461/466.26875 462.8125 (unpaired)

You need to create an account on FCC ULS system, then you can complete the application online. I would recommend monitoring the available frequencies and doing a license search on the Low power ones to make sure that a grand fathered system does not exist in the area of operation that would cause problems for your use.

 

[kk6696]

Itinerant freqs

Some of the itinerant channels available are limited to digital emissions only. For example, I'm licensed on the 451 and 456.80625 pair, and 451 and 456.81875 pair for NXDN (4K00F1E - 6.25 kHz single channel digital voice- IDAS). I'm licensed for digital and analog (narrow band) on most of the other itinerant channels that allow 50 watt (max) mobiles as well, and some limited to 35 watts.

To find out which frequencies have which requirements, do Google searches on "business itinerant frequencies" then take those frequencies you find and look through the Code of Federal Regulations, which has the Part 90 frequencies in table format, to find out which really are itinerant, their power limits, types of emission modes you can use, etc.: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:.

The license process is not difficult and you don't need a coordinator. I'm no radio tech, but the FCC ULS form catches your mistakes and keeps you from making a lot of them. They don't get in a big hurry about issuing the license though, which is to be expected, and I got mine last year after only waiting a month.

There are also a lot of idiots who have no license on those frequencies (speaking Spanish, if you're here in Texas) but going digital resolves most of that for me.