iversm24
Member
Does anybody know how difficult it is to get a license for private use of radio frequencies? I will need at least 4 frequencies to use.
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Purchasing a frequency license
- Thread starter iversm24
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nd5y
Member
Industrial / Business Licensing
Licensing Individuals or entities desiring to operate on frequencies listed in the Industrial/Business Pool are required to obtain a radio station license for these frequencies. Below is some helpful information to aid you with the licensing process.
To expand a little, you need to work through a frequency coordinator. Can you elaborate if it is for base, repeater, mobile usage and whether it is for your business or a public safety / governmental organization or your family (GMRS)? Also, do you know what frequency band you want to operate in?
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
You would need to tell us more about what you want to do with them. It's not as simple as just picking a couple of frequencies and licensing them. Frequency coordination may be required.
iversm24
Member
UHF and it would be for a private EMS business
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
You will need to work with a frequency coordinator to pick suitable frequencies for that service. The frequency coordinator will help find you 4 frequencies that are available in your area. They can also help you fill out and file the FCC paperwork, which will save you a lot of headaches.
Here's a list of frequency coordinators:
Public Safety Frequency Coordinators
Personally, I'd recommend IMSA over APCO. IMSA can be much easier to work with.
Don't purchase any radios until you have that done. I've seen people buy radios first only to find out no frequencies were available in the band.
iversm24
Member
Ok good info, thanks.
GrumpyGuard
Member
When we needed frequencies for our church, we used a frequency coordinator and after we talked we ended up with five frequencies. One for use while traveling and four that can later be used with a repeater if needed. I found them to be helpful and easy to work with.
what’s your use case? Are you an IFT service? 911? Will you be interacting with other agencies on the radios? It may be easier to just rent services from a radio company.
Another concern... If you're providing EMS, you might be operating over a large area. If so, you'll need to think about proper wide-area radio coverage for those 4 frequencies. Simplex coverage would be fairly limited without repeaters. Would mobile coverage be adequate, or will handheld radios be required? If so, this further complicates the coverage issues. Depending on the circumstances, the cost for wide-area coverage for a 4-channel private radio system could easily run into six or seven figures. +1 for the rental option.
captaincab
Member
Add another vote for renting radio space on an existing ltr or dmr or nxdn system.
short answer for FCC licensing is:
* private for-profit ambulance service: Apply for frequencies under "business/industrial" pool.
* private for-profit ambulance service, dispatched under a E911 contract: you would be eligible to apply for frequencies under "public safety pool", but I would stay away from public safety freqs, more of a hassle. Just get "business/industrial" frequencies, and you can get VHF or UHF, and if you want direct/simplex or a repeater pair.
WRBK832
here is our FCC license, as an example, which includes a for-profit ambulance service like yours:
We exclusively use VHF which has worked out the best for us. So it includes some VHF repeaters and VHF direct/simplex tactical frequencies. For radios we use a mixture of Kenwood TK-5710H which are VHF 110-watts high-powered mobiles, some Kenwood NX-5700 VHF 50-watts, and Motorola XPR5550e VHF 50-watt mobiles. The Kenwoods we use analog & P25 modes and the Motorola is analog & DMR (i.e. Motorola MotoTRBO) digital. With the digital VHF repeaters we get about 50-80 miles of coverage. VHF works best if you are out in the country, and not in a city.
* private for-profit ambulance service: Apply for frequencies under "business/industrial" pool.
* private for-profit ambulance service, dispatched under a E911 contract: you would be eligible to apply for frequencies under "public safety pool", but I would stay away from public safety freqs, more of a hassle. Just get "business/industrial" frequencies, and you can get VHF or UHF, and if you want direct/simplex or a repeater pair.
WRBK832
here is our FCC license, as an example, which includes a for-profit ambulance service like yours:
We exclusively use VHF which has worked out the best for us. So it includes some VHF repeaters and VHF direct/simplex tactical frequencies. For radios we use a mixture of Kenwood TK-5710H which are VHF 110-watts high-powered mobiles, some Kenwood NX-5700 VHF 50-watts, and Motorola XPR5550e VHF 50-watt mobiles. The Kenwoods we use analog & P25 modes and the Motorola is analog & DMR (i.e. Motorola MotoTRBO) digital. With the digital VHF repeaters we get about 50-80 miles of coverage. VHF works best if you are out in the country, and not in a city.
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